Fungi Foray

We had another fascinating day in Beer Woods and the weather had been kind to us by raining during the week but giving us a dry day for our search.

I've just received a preliminary listing of the fungi spotted by the 14 members and friends who spent over two hours looking for specimens.


We are lucky that we have records of previous forays starting with 2004. A check on the numbers of different species seen shows a wide variation.
2004: 36; 2005:25, 2006:42, 2007:42, 2008: 48;  and now in 2011 a total of 23,  maybe with a few more awaiting identification.
Most fungi enthusiast in this area reckon it has been a bad year weather wise for fungi and our count reflects that.

Our group got quite excited by the discovery of a single specimen of Battarrea phalloides also known as Sandy Stiltball.  A rare find here apparently and a Red Data Book listing. When you have spent hours looking for the Holy Grail I think its reasonable to get a bit excited.