Oudemansiella …

Porcelain Fungus (Oudemansiella mucida)

O. mucida is a widespread and common beech wood species. Appearing in late summer to late autumn it is typically found on rotting beech trunks and fallen branches where it grows in clusters. It is semi-translucent, slimy and white in appearance. When O. mucida is found on a beech tree it usually outcompetes other fungi nearby by means of a powerful anti-fungal agent called strobilurin. It is saprobic [deriving its nourishment from non-living or decaying organic matter] or weakly parasitic to living beech trees. While it has a strong connection to beech, it has also been found growing on oak on rare occasions.

The above group was recently photographed around three metres up a mature beech tree.

References:

Buczacki, S., Shields, C. and Ovenden, D. (2012). Collins Fungi Guide: The most complete field guide to the mushrooms and toadstools of Britain & Ireland. London: HarperCollins, p. 200, fig. p.201.

Phillips, R. (2006). Mushrooms. London: Pan Macmillan, p. 116, fig. a.

Sterry, P. and Hughes. B. (2009). Collins Complete Guide to British Mushrooms and Toadstools. London: HarperCollins, p. 138, fig. pp. 138-139.

https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/oudemansiella-mucida.php

Not a bee in sight…

Beeswax Bracket (Ganoderma pfeifferi)

G. pfeifferi is a widespread but uncommon find in England and very rare in Scotland and Wales. The above group was recently found and photographed in a cavity within a decaying beech in West Sussex woodland. My thanks to Martin Allison, county recorder for basidiomycetes, for confirming identification.

References:

Buczacki, S., Shields, C. and Ovenden, D. (2012). Collins Fungi Guide: The most complete field guide to the mushrooms and toadstools of Britain & Ireland. London: HarperCollins, p. 484, fig. p.485.

Sterry, P. and Hughes. B. (2009). Collins Complete Guide to British Mushrooms and Toadstools. London: HarperCollins, p. 268, fig. p. 269.

https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/ganoderma-pfeifferi.php

https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NHMSYS0001482804

Simocybe ...

Simocybe sumptuosa

Little brown jobs are often far more than that when viewed through a macro lens. The above specimens of the delicate S. sumptuosa were recently found and photographed on a rotten oak log at Wiggonholt Common, West Sussex. My thanks to Martin Allison, county recorder for basidiomycetes, for confirming their identification.

Common maybe ...

Tawny Grisette (Amanita fulva)

But I do like a nice Amanita fulva emerging from its 'egg' ...

References:

Buczacki, S., Shields, C. and Ovenden, D. (2012). Collins Fungi Guide: The most complete field guide to the mushrooms and toadstools of Britain & Ireland. London: HarperCollins, p. 242, fig. p. 243.

Sterry, P. and Hughes. B. (2009). Collins Complete Guide to British Mushrooms and Toadstools. London: HarperCollins, p. 94, fig. p. 95.

Fungi that bite ...

Velvet Tooth (Hydnellum spongiosipes)

H. spongiosipes (Thelephorales: Bankeraceae) is an uncommon stipitate hydnoid fungus. These are a group of ‘tooth fungi’ [fungi that release their spores from tooth-like structures], which have a short stalk or 'stipe', hence the name 'stipitate'.

Stipitate hydnoid fungi are ectomycorrhizal; forming close symbiotic relationships with trees and deriving some of their nutrients from the tree's roots. This aids them in obtaining nutrients where soil quality is poor and means they are always found in association with trees. H. spongiosipes is typically associated with oak, sweet chestnut and, less frequently, beech; this provides a useful, but not necessarily accurate way of distinguishing between this species and H. ferrugineum, which occurs mainly under pine.

References:

Ainsworth, A.M., Parfitt, D., Rogers, H.J. and Boddy, L. (2010). Cryptic taxa within European species of Hydnellum and Phellodon revealed by combined molecular and morphological analysis. Fungal Ecology, 3(2), pp. 65-80.

Dickson, G. (2000). A field key to British non-resupinate hydnoid fungi. Field Mycology, 1(3), pp. 99-104.

Kibby, G. (2017). Mushrooms and Toadstools of Great Britain & Europe, Volume 1, pp.40-41.

O’Reilly, P. (2016). Fascinated by Fungi – exploring the majesty and mystery, facts and fantasy of the quirkiest kingdom on earth. Llandysul: First Nature, pp. 203-205.

Phillips, R. (2006). Mushrooms. London: Pan Macmillan, pp. 323-327.

Sterry, P. and Hughes. B. (2009). Collins Complete Guide to British Mushrooms and Toadstools. London: HarperCollins, pp. 296-301.

http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/_speciespages/374.pdf

https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NBNSYS0000021229#overview

http://www.fieldmycology.net/GBCHKLST/gbsyns.asp?intGBNum=3195

Variation in concept …

Sowerbyella radiculata

Until someone calls it something else …

The British Mycological Society records 124 British records of S. radiculata (Pezizales: Pyronemataceae) on its FRDBI database [18 October 2017] with just 5 from Sussex; the most recent being in 1957 from Friston Forest, East Sussex. There are two early records, one dating back to 1876, from Stopham, West Sussex. However, S. radiculata has also been recorded from Lullington Heath, East Sussex, where it was first recorded in 2014. There is also a modern record from Ashdown Forest, East Sussex (M. Allison, 2017, pers. comms., 14 October).

Buczacki et al. (2012) state, ‘usually in small trooping-tufted groups’ and ‘on soil with conifers.’ Sterry et al. (2009) state, ‘solitary or in small groups in coniferous woodland.’ The above specimens were found amongst coastal chalk grassland in East Sussex; so quite distinct in habitat from that described. There is a lot of variation in the current concept of this uncommon species, including a few ‘varieties’, which will no doubt be described as separate species in the future. Apart from the untypical habitat in which the above examples were found, the spores are quite wide and have a nice dense reticulate ornamentation; shown above dyed with Cotton Blue.

My thanks to Nick Aplin for the above photomicrograph and his considered opinion.

References:

Buczacki, S., Shields, C. and Ovenden, D. (2012). Collins Fungi Guide: The most complete field guide to the mushrooms and toadstools of Britain & Ireland. London: HarperCollins, p. 606, fig. p. 607.

Sterry, P. and Hughes. B. (2009). Collins Complete Guide to British Mushrooms and Toadstools. London: HarperCollins, p. 324, fig. p. 325.

www.fieldmycology.net/FRDBI/FRDBIrecord.asp?intGBNum=57192

www.ascomycete.org/2000Pezizales/TaxonView/tabid/129/ArticleId/30/language/en-US/Sowerbyella-radiculata.aspx?mapid=16#prettyPhoto

Cnoc Salltraim ...

Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)

C. canorus is a familiar herald of spring and a species that is thinly distributed over a wide breeding range throughout most of Britain, Europe and the Palearctic. It is a fairly common but rapidly declining summer visitor to Sussex, where the males commence singing soon after their arrival; typically in early April. Recent satellite tracking technology has shown that the males usually leave the UK to their wintering area south of the Sahara only a few weeks after first arriving here in the spring.

C. canorus has a well-known breeding strategy as a brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of other birds; typically those of the Dunnock (Prunella modularis), Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis), Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba) and Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) in the UK. The female, who will specialise in one particular host species, will only ever lay one type of egg and will always target her egg-laying appropriately. The genes for egg pattern and colour are thought to be carried on the female chromosome, so they are passed down from mother to daughter regardless of who the female mates with. This means that a Cuckoo targeting a Reed Warbler always produces eggs with a Reed Warbler pattern and she knows which nests to target thanks to the process of imprinting. As a young chick, she will have learned to recognise the song and appearance of her foster mother; and as a returning adult she will seek out the nests of females that match this mental image and lay her eggs accordingly.

The above images of a female were recently taken on North Uist in the Outer Hebrides.

References:

Yates, B. (2014). Common Cuckoo. The Birds of Sussex. Thetford: British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Books on behalf of the Sussex Ornithological Society, pp. 360-361.

Whitcomb, P. (1996). Cuckoo. Birds of Sussex. Sussex Ornithological Society, pp. 358-359.

www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/cuckoo

www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/cuckoos