Oct 12th Mousehold Heath

 

The Blusher

This afternoon, I made it in time to join up with a fungi foray group at Mousehold Heath. It was quite a good turn out for it and it was led by Will the Mousehold warden and fungi expert Dr Tony Leech. This year, we were to cross the road to the other half of the site to search for fungi for the first time since I've attended these annual forays. It was rather wet, muddy and rainy at times and I was more concerned about not slipping over or getting my camera wet than looking for fungi. Thankfully, the group had many experts and enthusiasts that did most of the finding for me. Together, we actually found 18 new species for Mousehold, which is fantastic news. Here's some of the ones I can remember and some I need reminding (help please!!)...

Another Blusher

Red Cracking Bolete

Osterling

Young Turkeytail



Birch Polypore



Blushing Bracket



Jelly Ear

Jelly Spot

Earthball

 Milkcap

Geranium Brittlegill

Glistening Inkcaps

Blackedge Bonnet






Not sure

 

Some sort of Bonnet?

Dog's Vomit Slime Mould

Lilac Bonnet

Some sort of Bonnet?

Russet Toughshank?

Not sure

Yellow Stainer



Not sure



Not sure

Porcelain Fungus

Out of all the fungi we found, there were a couple of highlights. My personal favourite was the porcelain fungus with shiny, delicate looking caps sprouting out of the branches of a tall dead tree. It was worth walking through the worst of the mud and rain to photograph it. Probably the highlight for the fungi experts in the group were the dripping bonnets, which is a rare find in Norfolk. They were growing on a stick and were extremely tiny, I am amazed that anyone managed to find it in the first place. They are called dripping bonnets because the bonnets ooze with slimy mucus that drip off the caps. If you look carefully you may be able to see this mucus dripping from them.

Dripping Bonnet