Tuesday was a busy but enjoyable day for me. Firstly it was an early start at the Vis-mig watch point but there were not many birds moving through.
Then at 11.00 Sarah Goldsmith from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust had arranged a Fungus Walk through Raw Nook NR and Toad holes Beck with her colleague Kat Woolley (YWT)a fungus expert. Sixteen excited people attended and my job was to record how many new species Kat could find to add to our fungus list of 30. Well we had only gone a short distance before Kat found a new species a Deer Shield Fungus Pluteus cervinus. As we walked to where the paths divided a member of the group point out a large group of mushrooms…and another new species….
Glistening Inkcaps Coprinus micaceus Left
So as I was busy writing down the minimum count of 17 new species found….One of the group said to Kat ” What this tiny orange one over here” So Kat got on her knees to have a look…then suddenly with a very excited..OH! Brilliant!…I’ve never seen one before…It’s a Scarlet Caterpillarclub (Cordyceps militaris) ( below ) which is not a common fungus and we were lucky to find it.
So after searching Raw Nook NR the plan was to visit TH Beck but we were finding so many interesting fungi that we ran out of time..
However on the way back we just had enough time to view and learn about the White Saddle fungi Helvella crispa ( below
So the end of the walk was over and Kat had taken away a number of fungi for further research so more new species may be added to the list.
A big thank you to must go to Kat for her excellent knowledge and time and to Sarah for organizing this wonderful event.
