Towards Winter

We’ve all been busy in various ways of late – domestic, personal, burnout from high season fungi forays. We did get out to Longshaw as part of the Symposium run by Sheffield Hallam University on Waxcaps and Allied Grassland Species in early November, which was a really good event, and gave us the opportunity to meet and share ideas with other wildlife enthusiasts and professional from all over the country. Sadly, the session we had at Longshaw was marred by heavy – and I do mean heavy – rain. We did find quite a number of species even in those conditions and tea and cake in the Moorlands Centre afterward went some way to cheering us.

Since then, on 12th November, a few of us had a look round Lawrence Field – an area previously neglected. There was still a surprising number of species around, but our most exciting find was a new-to-Longshaw species which rejoices in the name Stinking Fanvault.

Here are Steve’s notes and some of his images of it:

Camarophyllopsis foetens – Stinking Fanvault

Found 12/11/14 by Neil Barden, Rob Foster

Recorder: Steve Clements

Location: Lawrence Field near Owler Tor

Grid Ref: SK25614 80016

ID from Bioimages Website, Courtecuissse (1999)

Field Image

Field Image

Macro

Interveining (“Fan vaulting”)

Spores x 1000 in water (5-5.5 x 4-4.5)

x 1000 in Congo Red (rehydrated slide). Basidium approx 6 um wide.

We had another meeting scheduled for 26 November, but once again we were thwarted by circumstances. I went up there in the rain just to be sure no one turned up who was expecting it still to be taking place. No one did. I used the opportunity to do a brief scan of the Woodland Pasture around Granby Wood where there were still species to be found including

Ascocoryne sp

Hygrocybe  calyptriformis

Russula sp

Lactarius sp

Galerina sp

Clitocybe sp

Stropharia sp

Armillaria sp

Lycoperdon sp

but I didn’t make any formal records. Instead, I went down to the pond and managed a few images of some of the 35+ Mandarin Ducks which were there.

Showing off

Our next planned meeting is on December 17th – see Meetings page for details.

We will be meeting indoors in January to plan for next year.

A Big Catch-up

October has been a really busy month for all of us. As well as the number of and forays and other fungi-related events, we all seem to have had other things going on, so the blog, amongst other things has been a bit neglected. I’ll try my best in this post to sum up Longshaw happenings and finds to date  as best I can, by cobbling together records, notes and photos.

The Waxcap Workshop which was organised by Rob was a great success – it was very well attended, the weather was kind, and plenty of waxcaps and allies were found across the estate on Saturday. Additional ones were found on Longshaw Meadow on Sunday and interesting and informative talks and demonstrations followed in the Moorlands Centre. I did a quick video on my iPhone just for myself, but it only occurred to me after share it – so apologies for the quality. It will give you an idea of some of the finds.The blog didn’t seem to like the format, so you’ll find it (hopefully) by following this link.

My last outing to Longshaw was on 15 October with Rob, ably assisted by Sally and newcomer Peter.  Not quite the blind leading the blind – we did manage a respectable list of 26 species, 12 of which were Waxcaps and included 4 species new to the survey – Volvariella gloiocephala (see below), Pholiota squarrosa, H. acutoconica and H. pratensis forma pallida.

Volvariella gloiocephala – Stubble Rosegill

A couple more finds:

Hygrocybe colemanniana – Toasted Waxcap

Stropharia caerulea – Blue Roundhead

This Survey was no. 26, so as you can see, quite a few seem to have gone missing – I miss one one whilst on holiday, and I suspect the Waxcap Workshop visits and a few impromptu visits account for 22-25 inclusive. Steve sent me some lovely photos, which I am posting below  (his captions)

Cystoderma amianthinum – Earthy Powdercap by Oxhay Wood on 1st Oct 2014

Lepista luscina at Lawrence Field on 16 Oct 14

Mycena speirea – Bark Bonnet near Granby Barn – 16 Oct 14

Postia ptychogaster in Granby Wood on 27 Sep 14

Nectria coccinea – a Coral Spot, in Granby Wood on 27 Sep 14

Puccinia menthae – Mint Rust at Longshaw Vegetable Garden on 16 Oct 14

Ramariopsis kunzei – Ivory Coral by Granby Woods on 27 Sep 14

Stropharia albonitens near Rough Wood on 1st Oct 14

Tricholoma ustale – Burnt Knight, at Granby Pond 16 Oct 14

Here is Steve’s latest update on Waxcaps found this year:

We have now found at least 23 kinds of Waxcaps at Longshaw this autumn, a number of them rare, with about half of the records from the under-recorded  western “Surprise Addition” part of the Longshaw Estate (below Surprise View down to the railway). 

Name                                                                Records

Hygrocybe acutoconica var. acutoconica               1

Hygrocybe calyptriformis                                            10

Hygrocybe cantharellus                                                1

Hygrocybe ceracea                                                         2

Hygrocybe chlorophana                                               12

Hygrocybe citrinovirens                                               1

Hygrocybe coccinea                                                       13

Hygrocybe colemanniana                                            2

Hygrocybe conica                                                            19

Hygrocybe insipida                                                         6

Hygrocybe irrigata                                                          5

Hygrocybe laeta                                                               5

Hygrocybe miniata                                                         2

Hygrocybe pratensis                                                      9

Hygrocybe pratensis var. pallida                              1

Hygrocybe psittacina                                                     13

Hygrocybe punicea                                                         3

Hygrocybe quieta                                                            7

Hygrocybe reidii                                                              17

Hygrocybe russocoriacea                                             2

Hygrocybe virginea                                                        24

Hygrocybe vitellina                                                        1

The maps were produced from Ordnance Survey data using freeware provided by Adrian Middleton, downloadable from datmapr.jimdo.com/downloads/

Rob was intending to go up there yesterday, when the rest of us were otherwise engaged, so I will report back on what he found when we hear from him. Also, a few of us are attending a conference at Sheffield Hallam University next week on Waxcaps and Allies which will include a short visit to Longshaw, so I hope to report back from that soon.

Survey 21 and news from earlier outings.

Survey 21 saw us back along the track beyond Padley, across some fine sheep pasture and woodland pasture before dropping down into the woodland by Kettle farm and on into Rough Wood, thus covering some of the area where the Network Rail proposals would do the worst damage. Things have gone quiet on that front. We are hopeful that the proposed loop will now be sited elsewhere, in a less sensitive area, but we will keep our radar on alert!

It was another good turnout with a few newcomers. Fungi are higher on people’s radar now Autumn is well and truly with us and a Saturday outing is easier for some who have weekday commitments. There were plenty of woodland species found  – Russulas, Lactarius, Honey fungus, False Chanterelles, Ceps, even Chicken of the Woods, along with Waxcaps, Cone caps, Entolomas  and Parasols, in the grassy areas.

A large Beech tree by the path seemed to be host to an astonishing number of species, including some younger specimens of the Porcelain Fungi which Steve and I found there earlier.

Oudemansiella mucida – Porcelain fungus, young stage

Honey Fungus – Armilleria mellea

Chicken of the Woods – Laetiporus sulphureus

Parasol Mushroom – Macrolepiota procera

Russula sp. probably Cyanoxantha – Charcoal Burner, green variant.

Milky Conecap – Conocybe apala

News from some of our previous surveys, firstly from Steve:

The tiny white mushroom which we found on Duke’s Drive on 13 Sept, and sniffed, puzzled over and re-sniffed – looks to be a tiny Miller-like mushroom – Clitopilus scyphoides (probably var. scyphoides). This is subject to confirmation. In all the 78,600 local fungi records which I have collated there is only one previous record, by Tony Lyon in 1990 – at Longshaw!

Clitopilus scyphoides on Duke’s Drive, Longshaw Estate, 13/9/14

And from John:

This is a fungus I collected 13th August on stems (nettle and Umbelliferae). At the time it was barely visible so I kept it inside a propagator to incubate. You do have to keep an eye on the material when you do this but it can be quite rewarding even if it does take a little longer to ID!

It turned out to be:

Trichopeziza sulphurea

18, 19, 19a, 20, 1000?

STOP PRESS: Waxcap Workshop at the Longshaw Estate on the weekend of 11-12 October 2014. For more information, please contact Rob directly via robdfoster@yahoo.co.uk.

See Meetings page for more info

I’ve got a bit behind with the Blog, so here goes with a catch-up.

We’ve had a couple of Saturday outings to enable people who can’t join us midweek to come along. The first one of these was on the Saturday of the Bank Holiday weekend – I think people must have had other plans, as there was just the three of us (John, Steve, and myself) plus a lady from Doncaster Naturalists who joined us from the morning. As this was also before the short sharp drop in temperatures and brief wet spell, there wasn’t a huge amount of stuff around in the Longshaw meadow, and little more in the small woodland at its edge, although I was distracted by a couple  of Great Spotted Woodpeckers having a bit of a territorial scrap. The heather was beginning to bloom, so there were fine views to be had

View towards Carl Wark and Higger Tor

The next outing, Survey 19, saw Steve and John on holiday, leaving Rob and me in charge, with the company of another John. We started off by walking up to Kettle Pasture in the hope of finding a few grassland species. We found a few Entolomas, a couple of Waxcaps and a lot of small brown mushrooms, which we dutifully recorded to the best of our ability. A lot of bracken growth obscured a lot of the pasture, but we did manage to find this:

Mosaic Puffball – Lycoperdon utriforme

Entering the woodland, we found many more fungi – far too many for the two of us to record, so we concentrated on a few small areas. Here are some of the highlights:

Lycoperdon pyriforme – Stump Puffball

Coprinellus disseminatus – Fairy Inkcap

A final walk back to the main track threw up a few more finds – a couple of Waxcaps, a Russula – probably Russula cyanoxantha – the Charcoal Burner and a couple of Field Mushrooms.

Steve and I made an impromptu afternoon visit to Rough Wood on his return from holiday and were joined by Sally, the aim being to catch up on a few of the new woodland arrivals that we had not had time to investigate on the previous visit. We had a few very nice finds, on of the more special ones being this cup fungus inside a Turkey Oak cup

Lanzia echinophila (subject to microscopy)

and one of those you see in the book and hope to find in real life:

Hemimycena tortuosa – Dewdrop Bonnet

Returning via the main path, we found some fresh waxcaps, including:

Hygrocybe psittacina – Parrot Waxcap

and a very impressive clump of Porcelain Fungi

Oudemansiella mucida – Porcelain Fungus

Survey 20 was another Saturday meeting, and this time the attendance was much better, with a few newcomers including the lady who had been commissioned to do the survey for Network Rail. We were hoping to reach 1000 species for the site –  the results will be in when the IDs have been confirmed! It was another fine day, and there was much more variety to be found in the grassland to the South East of the Lodge including a good range of wax caps, a few club fungi, and the inevitable small brown mushrooms – Roundheads, Mottlegills and Bells. Quite a few where showings signs of the lack of rainfall over the last week or two.

Panaeolus papilionaceus – Petticoat Mottlegill

Hygrocybe coccinea – Scarlet Waxcap

One of those pesky little yellow waxcaps – Hygrocybe sp.

Clavulinopsis sp – a Club

Oh, and one of our favourites was found on some nice juicy cow dung –

Pilobolus crystallinus – Hat Thrower or Dung Canon

I’m updating the meetings page too, so please check that out. Everyone welcome!

Survey 17: Onward and Upward

Our most recent visit was to Bolehill Quarry, a steep climb from Padley, but well worth it – it’s a beautiful spot and there is always something of interest. A few more larger fungi today including lots of Fomes fomentarius (Hoof Fungus), Russula vesca  and the extremely beautiful Amanita crocea (Orange Amanita). One or two there required more detailed examination so Steve and John took these. There was also much small stuff around, as always – ascos and crusts, a few slime moulds, including some nice Lycogala sp. This lichen in particular caught my eye (the photo was taken with my iPhone with a macro lens mounted):

Lichen – possibly Baeomyces sp.

There was lots to see in the way of invertebrates – not our area of expertise, but a bit of research yielded results. Any corrections or amendments welcome!

Birch Shield Bug – final instar

Angle Shades Moth Photo by FungiJohn

 

Acronicta leporina caterpillar – final instar
Photo by FungiJohn. ID help with this was given by a guy on the Butterfly conservation stand at the Rutland Bird Fair.

Below are some of Steve’s images with his captions

Stacking using freeware was used to make the image of this yet unidentified toadstool.

A tiny Oysterling, identifiable only by microscopy.

Mycena stylobates, the Bulbous Bonnet – last recorded at Longshaw by Tony Lyon pre-1987.

 

Survey 16: Sheffield Plantation

A select group this time – 5 of us set out promptly to explore Sheffield Plantation which is in the process of undergoing a major transformation into Woodland Pasture. It was quite a contrast to last time we were there, when it was very wet and boggy – very dry. The jellies that were around then were not to be found and an early flush of mushrooms was limited to a few, namely Tawny Grisette, Swamp Russula and a nice Shield – probably Willow Shield – Pluteus salicinus

Pluteus salicinus – Willow Shield

Tarzetta sp.

Steve found a good number of Crusts to keep him going, and higher up the site, we found some Tarzetta Sp, and close examination of cow dung turned up some nice finds – Fungi John’s sharp eyes and powers of prediction located some Hat Thrower Fungi (Pilobolus sp), which were my personal favourites of the day They are the fastest living things on the planet, and more information can be found at this BBC website.  There were also a few Slime Moulds and Ascos on dead wood and dung to keep John happy. My photo of the Hat Throwers is not as good as John’s but I’m still quite pleased as they were almost invisible to the naked eye.

Pilobolus – Hat Thrower

Survey 15: Oxhay Wood and Pasture

As Steve was poorly, FungiJohn was our recorder-in-chief. We had a good turnout, for what was a lovely day, with a total of 9, including 2 newcomers, whom we were delighted to have join us. Still relatively few mushrooms around but we did find a few Coprinellus and a rather splendid Tawny Grisette. We are still finding plenty of ascomycetes and Slime Moulds. Now we are well into July, there were plenty of bugs and butterflies around, some of which you can see on the Other Stuff  page, along with a list of Invertebrate records kindly supplied by Sorby Invertebrate Group.

Check out News and Updates for an article which appeared recently in the local press.

Next Meeting will be on July 30th

A summary of what we’ve found so far…..

From December to June 4th we identified almost 200 fungi to species level with a high level of confidence, but we have a large number of unidentified herbarium specimens which we can re-examine later. Not all the fungi found were little dots or crusts!

Over the winter and spring we looked at a lot of tiny fungi on wood, but found a surprising number of mushrooms and toadstools as well, some such as the Spring Cavalier and the Spring Brittlestem, which would be missed if we just looked in the autumn. Macrofungi and microfungi are crude divisions which are variously interpreted– microfungi can be taken to mean all manner of fungi – here it’s mostly fungi which need a lens just to see them properly.

Just over a third of the records were of microfungi, but these probably took 90% of our time to identify.

 

Our detailed study is proving that their is a huge variety of fungi in places like Rough Wood in Longshaw.

Records of fungi found, mostly in Rough Wood, from 19 December 1913  to 4 June 2014.

Macrofungi                                            

Mushroom/Toadstool                       68

Carbon Fungus                                      31

Crust                                                         28

Bracket                                                     25

Jelly Fungus                                           25

Slime                                                        15

Larger Asco                                             5

Gasteromycete                                    2

Club/Coral                                              1

Total records                                          200

 

Microfungi                                                                   

Small/Tiny Asco – Disco                                          51

Small/Tiny Asco or Hyphomycete                      44

Rust                                                                                 8

Fungi on Fungi                                                            2

Cyphelloid Basidio                                                   2

Downy Mildew                                                          1

Total records                                                               108

Using the herbarium to identify an unusual Pluteus

Originally identified as Pluteus hispidulus, re-examination of herbarium material shows this to be an even more significant find from the threatened Rough Wood in Longshaw.

Note finely scaly cap surface, barely extending to the edge of the cap.

Stacked image, showing pink gills

Found on a mossy log in Rough Wood, Weds 21 May. It’s just over 1 cm across. Recorded only once this century in the Sorby area (2004, White Peak). We have one other record from 1897 (Barnsley). This makes it a very rare toadstool for the Sorby area, and another first for Longshaw. ID confirmed by Chris Yeates at Wild About Britain using FungaNordica. Microscopy includes spores sub-globose, 5-6 x 5.5-6.5(7), cheilocystidia (left) and gill trama (bottom right).

Microscopy shows gill edge cystidia more typical for P. exiguus (FungaNordica).

However, re-examination of the herbarium material with Carol Hobart of the BMS last week (July 15) suggested strongly that this is in fact Pluteus exiguus – not even recognised as authentically British by Kew. The most important features were the width of the gill-edge cystidia heads, their overall shape, and also the long apical cuticle cells attached to much shorter sub-apical cells. The overall appearance of the cap surface also looked more typical of P. exiguus.

Field identification or ID without microscopy based on the kind of features shown is inadequate for most fungi.

A look at some Longshaw lichens

On a twig of an old Oak in Oxhay Wood. Physcia tenella (grey foliose, with long cilia, Parmelia melanelia subs. glabratula (green foliose when wet, brown when dry), and Lecanora chlarotera – looking just like little Ascos – which is what they are!)

We’ve spotted some fine lichens in Rough Wood over the winter, including bushy Usnea, or Beard Lichens. These are hard to spot now that the vegetation below the old trees is almost impenetrable, so the lichens on woodland pasture trees and the Millstone Grit in more open areas of the Longshaw Estate is a better option at present.
On 18 June we had a look at Oxhay Wood, on higher land to the east of Rough Wood. We weren’t able to get into the woodland proper, which is currently fenced off, so whilst everyone else went to search for fungi proper amongst the rough grassland and scattered trees by the track, I had a look at lichens on an old Oak. The track links the old homesteads of Barn in the Woods (or Barn i’ the Woods) and Greenstead Farm, grade 11 listed buildings which seem to have kept their old-world character – they are pictured in a 1935 local newspaper report about the desperate appeal by the National Trust to save this idyllic spot from the designs of a Hathersage property developer. The apppeal, based in Sheffield, succeeded within the year and instead of 900 houses and big roads we still have the splendid woodland pasture, peserved “forever” in its wild state. The big Oak I looked at was in a well-lit place and so had plenty of lichens. I recorded the following – though my list would have likely been at least twice or three times as long had Steve Price, our local lichen recorder, done the job.
Parmelia saxatilis, Cladonia coniocraea, Evernia prunastri (once used for making face-powder and on wigs), Parmelia sulcata, Lepraria incana, Parmelia subreducta, Ramalina farinacea, Hypogymnia tubulosa, Melanelia subsp. glabratula, Physcia tenella, Lecanora chlarotera, Xanthoria parietina, Xanthoria polycarpa.
Just one specimen was difficult to name – a rather greyish shade of buff on the apothecium, and quite pruinose-looking, but otherwise similar to the browner Lecanora chlarotera which I had already named. It looked as though it could possibly be L. albella or L. carpinea – the first being a southern species with no definite Derbyshire records, and the second much less common then L. chlarotera. The cortex was C- (no reaction with simple bleach), there were no yellow granules on the apothecium surface, and “massive” crystals were present in the ascocarp margin – so I took this to be a pale variety of L. chlarotera, which is described as being a variable species. Measuring the squashed-out simple hyaline spores feels a bit odd as mycologists always like to look at deposited maturespores – I might try to get a “spore print” – though this technique isn’t mentioned in Dobson – maybe because lichens like Ents do things very slowly.

The Lecanora species usually have little ascos which look very familiar to mycologists:

On a twig of a veteran Oak by the track in Oxhay Wood.

Close up of the ascocarps which looked a bit grey for Lecanora chlarotera, but the LED lighting does make the image more blue-green.