Fungi Friday 🍄

New Forest National Park, Hampshire, August 2023

It’s rare that you find mushrooms in the brittlegill (Russula) family in clean and un-nibbled condition. They are usually eaten by squirrels, slugs or deer.

There were lots of red russulas in the New Forest on this day, and this pair were the pick of the bunch. It was quite interesting just how many of these mushrooms had already been plucked and then left. Whether that was because of people or animals I don’t know.

I don’t spend much time trying to separate these mushrooms into an individual species ID as there are so many that look just like this. Instead I savour the range of colours they appear in, especially when their condition is as good as this.

The name Russula points to their redness. I like the fact that Russia is so named because it was founded by the red-bearded Vikings from Scandinavia. The ‘Rus’.

p.s. 🇺🇦

Thanks for reading.