Fungi Friday 🍄

Haywards Heath, West Sussex, September 2023

Earlier this week I received an evening introduction to a very interesting complex of small woods in the Haywards Heath area in West Sussex, ahead of a walk I’m leading in October.

There were very few mushrooms or fungi at all to be seen, mainly due to the severe trampling combined with the dry conditions. In the main it was just birch polypore, as below.

But then we found ourselves in a quiet part where birch trees were dropping yellow leaves among crab apples. I noticed a patch of yellow that wasn’t quite in keeping with the surrounds and went for a better look. It was a pleasant surprise to find a large smattering of chantarelles.

These chantarelles had been plucked already, maybe by rabbits or squirrels. I wasn’t looking to take any home myself.

The photos here are Fairphone pics jazzed up in Lightroom.

Thanks for reading.