Mushroom Update – 2011/12

I’ve been off the scene for a while these last two months and feel deservedly ashamed of myself. But Christmas and New Year was a busy time for all, so I can blame it on that – and the fact it’s pretty baron out in the world of mushrooms. Roll on Spring…

This post is just an update of my future plans with ‘The Mushroom Diary’ this year, and also to look back and summarise 2011 on what it had to offer.

I will be continuing to add all my best fungal findings, most of which will be the ones I didn’t have time to include earlier in the year. With this in mind I will be labelling them with the relevant date, but also plan them show on the first page of the website until I add another.

Last years’ experiences is that 2011 wasn’t all that bad in delivering the goods. Earlier in the season, Morels had eluded me once again (much to my annoyance!), but there was plenty of other choice discoveries. The main season was an odd one indeed. September was a slow starter, and most of October was as dry as a bone! It was as if we were out of season! But November came to the rescue with perfect conditions – delivering a late, but bountiful season.

Who knows what the weather will get up to this year, so far it has been mild and slightly damp. It could encourage some early starters. I read somewhere last year that Shaggy Inkcaps (in some part of the UK) had shown themselves as early as May! We’ll just have to wait and see.

Additions to the website this year (I hope) will include an introduction to mushroom hunting for newcomers, a seasonal calendar chart showing the most common species throughout the year and an extended gallery to show the more detailed pictures I’ve taken but not included in my posts. Hopefully this will make the site a little more interesting for everyone. Thanks to those who have already shown an interest to the website/blog, it makes my work on it all the more rewarding and enjoyable. Thanks again.

And for anyone interested, I have several downloadable documents here showing all the species discovered from a selection of three great forays with the Leicestershire Fungi Study Group. Select from the list below and click to download. The files are in .doc format – the lists are pretty self explanatory.

• Lists for Cademan Wood and Cademan Moor – 13th Nov. 2011
• List of Fungi for Cropston Waterworks – 30th Oct. 2011
• List of Fungi for New Lount Nature Reserve – 6 Nov. 2011

Have a happy mushrooming year everybody and just for a bit of fun, I thought I’d include this picture of a very rare species I found earlier in the year. I think it may be Agaricus adidasicus! Very strange…

A rare species indeed! It’s strange what you can find while out foraging.