Millyford Bridge
Sat 28 Oct 2023
Calocera pallidospathulata
Photo © Dave Shute
Field event ID HF2322
OS Grid areas: SU2316
Report: Although rain was forecast, in the event, we just had to shelter a couple of times for brief showers. The mild, wet weather of late was reflected in the numerous fungal sporocarps on offer. In the morning session, we probably ventured no more than 400 metres from the car park.
Close to the river we found Mycena pseudocorticola (Steely Bonnet) on a moss-covered trunk, Leotia lubrica (Jellybaby) and what were thought to be Macrotyphula fistulosa (Pipe Club).
Beside the main gravel path there was an Alder bearing a fantastic tiered display of Mensularia radicata (Alder Bracket) and nearby we discovered Lactarius chrysorrheus (Yellowdrop Milkcap) and Russula fellea (Geranium Brittlegill).
We then climbed up to drier ground, where the finds kept coming. A nice troop of Hydnum repandum (Wood Hedgehog) and numerous Lactarius blennius (Beech Milkcap) were followed by Leccinum scabrum (Brown Birch Bolete) and Leccinum cyaneobasileucum (Greyshank Bolete). A Cortinarius (Webcap) with a very slimy beige cap and a lilac-stained stipe was probably C. mucifluoides but there was no doubt about a large specimen of Cortinarius bolaris (Dappled Webcap).
Many of the dead Bracken stems were host to rows of the tiny white Typhula quisquiliaris (Bracken Club), no more than 4mm high. Beneath the Bracken there were some Cortinarius violaceus (Violet Webcap) and Tricholoma sulphureum (Sulphur Knight).
A couple of rotting Beech stumps provided us with Phleogena faginea (Fenugreek Stalkball), Calocera pallidospathulata (Pale Stagshorn) and a very dark blue Entoloma (Pinkgill) species, a sample of which was collected for more detailed examination.
After lunch, most of the group then joined Russ on a longer walk to see the inkcap, Coprinopsis alnivora, that he recorded as new to Britain in 2022 and that had reappeared in the same beech rot-hole this year.
On the way, we stopped to admire a large group of Pholiota aurivella (Golden Scalycap) on a fallen Beech and paused at a patch of burnt ground where there were some Scutellinia scutellata (Common Eyelash) and a pale cup fungus, later identified as Trichophaea hemisphaerioides. Our arrival at the rot-holed beech coincided with the heaviest shower of the day but we admired the five fruiting bodies of the extremely rare inkcap. On the return walk, we spotted a clump of Pholiota squarrosa (Shaggy Scalycap) at the base of a tree.