More Brush Hill fungi

We went back to Brush Hill this morning to see if there were more fungi around. I'd been there Wednesday and there were lots of new fungi just starting to grow. As we've had warm, damp weather for the last few days, I was quite hopeful for today's fungi hunt.

As soon as we pulled into the car park, we found clumps of hundreds of Fairies' Bonnets. These had popped up since Wednesday, as there was no sign of them then.

 

The Candlesnuff fungus that had just started to appear on Wednesday, had grown much bigger. The white ends had started to turn into their distinctive antler shape.

 

#100DaysOfNature Day 94

 

We found some nice bracket fungus, some of which had a pretty yellow edge to it.

 



 

Then we stumbled across a miniature forest of toadstools in one little patch of the woods.

 

#100DaysOfNature Day 88 - Fungi Forest

Half the fun of going on a fungi hunt is discovering all sorts of shapes, sizes and colours. This is just a selection of what we found today ....

Coral Spot Fungus

Curled up edges, showing the gills underneath

Green Wood Cup







Jelly Ear

#100DaysOfNature Day 89
Spiky ones - I think these are called Spiny Puffballs

A clump of smaller Spiny Puffballs

A small white bracket fungus, that looks like popcorn

More popcorn

 

We found one of these, well camouflaged in the fallen leaves -
 I believe this is called an Amethyst Deceiver

A well chewed Amethyst Deceiver

The slugs were out in force and seemed to be really enjoying the sudden appearance of the fungi. They're an important source of food at this time of year, so the dry weather and poor growing conditions must have caused problems for lots of creatures that rely on them.

 

A slug munching it's way through a clump of Fairies' Bonnets

A massive orange slug

 

Lots of the fungi had been eaten

 

It looked like a lot of scrub had been cleared from the woods, opening out the ground under the trees. This has probably been done to help the wildflowers that grow up there in spring, such as Bluebells and Helleborines. It meant it was much easier to get off the main path and explore and we found a couple of ponds that I didn't know existed. It looks like one was naturally occurring and had been there a while and the other was in the process of being made. I assume this is the work of the Chiltern Society, who manage this wood. Should be great for the wildlife!