Foxglove Fungi Focus

Wednesday, October 19th 2016

A plethora of fungi across the reserve at Foxglove is a sure sign that autumn is in full swing! Today volunteer Chris Meek took a walk with her camera to identify and photograph some that are around at the moment.

Fly agaric, Amanita muscaria, is one of the most well known – often seen in illustrations of children’s fairy stories. This species is poisonous and the common name fly agaric comes from the practise of using it to stupefy flies by breaking the cap into platefuls of milk.

A number of ink caps are around at the moment – so called because of the dripping, black, inky fluid formed when the gills auto-digest.

Common inkcap, Coprinus atramentarius

Glistening inkcap, C. micaceus

A favourite of mine are the common puffballs, Lycoperdon perlatum; such a clean white when young and then producing clouds of spores at only the slightest knock when mature!

Small is beautiful in the form of this elegant candlesnuff fungus, Xylaria hypoxylon – found on dead wood.

Others are not so pretty, such as this elfin saddle, Helvella lacunose.

If you’d like to come and see some more of our fungi (accompanied by volunteers experienced in fungi identification) and then learn how to paint fungi with a professional artist book on our Botanical Painting of Fungi Event: https://www.foxglovecovert.org.uk/events/

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