Our last outdoor meeting for 2019 was to look for Fungi in Swinsty Woods having had good finds in previous years. However, this time we were first confronted by closed Toilets then serious logging in the woods.
As usual the grassland near the trees and picnic tables got us going quite quickly. We were able to discuss the gill attachments though not necessarily decide between free and sinuate! An early find of a Bolete allowed us to see pores rather than gills. One with a very slimy cap we thought was Slippery Jack.
A Bolete
Slippery Jack Suillus luteus
We ventured a short way along a different path and found several Amanitas, not the well known “fairy toadstool” but brown ones. The first had scales on the cap where the bag or Volva had left bits stuck to the cap and slight evidence of the bag at the base of the stem. Another had a wonderful big floppy bag at the base and no remnants on the cap, we thought this might have been a Grisette.
Venturing past the log piles we found several Russulas, Brittlecaps, coloured caps white stems and crowded white gills, under the deciduous trees. One or two Lactaria or Milkcaps showed us how damaging the gills gives rise to the production of varying amounts of ‘milk’. If tasted this can be another identifying feature depending on how mild or hot it is.
A very successful day just looking at some of the identifying features of the many varied Fungi.
Josephine Drake
