Fungi Friday 🍄

West Sussex, Friday 20th October 2023

There’s a small cemetery I can walk to from home that has been quite good for mushrooms during previous autumn visits. In the past I’ve seen a number of different waxcaps, goblets, parasols and blewits. Ironically I once saw a deathcap growing from a grave!

On this occasion there was a red brittlegill (russula) resting well-nibbled in the waxcap area, some Victorian graves by the roadside. The closest I’ve seen to this was plum and custard mushroom, but this was a little different. I knew it was a brittlegill because the gills were white and flaking. I’ve seen squirrels pick these and spin them round by the stipe nibbling down the gills.

I think these are the first waxcaps (hygrocybe) of the season as it’s a common patch to find them. But I’m unsure. My best guess is heath waxcap (Gliophorus laetus).

Elsewhere I found the first sulphur tufts (hypholoma fasciculare) I’ve seen this year. A very common species, poisonous but photogenic.

And finally, earthballs (scleroderma) growing on my street in a patch of grassed-over gravel.

Thanks for reading.