Fungi Friday 🍄

Colgate, West Sussex, September 2025

There’s a lot of different colours happening in this post.

I’ve been wondering what makes a place ‘good’ for certain species of fungi. None more so than when I witnessed hundreds of fly agarics in some ancient woodland in Colgate in late September.

This is one of those lovely spreads of fly agaric before the leaves fall and the October rain melts many of them. They were everywhere I looked, pretty much. But why were they so prolific?

I think it’s mainly the abundance of birch in this woodland and the additional presence of spruce. These two tree species, in this case silver birch and Norway spruce, share mycorrhizal relationships with fly agaric.

But I have also seen them where there’s no birch or spruce, but plenty of oak.

Here is a lovely one alone in the shade. You can see the veil that’s left on the stipe under the cap, and the bulb or vulva in the soil (like an egg) that the mushroom emerges from. The white spots on the cap are remnants of the veil that cloaks the fruiting body as it emerges. This is one of the better ways to identify a lot of amanita mushrooms.

This fly agaric was nose to nose with a bay bolete growing from a mossy patch. I have only ever really found bay bolete growing in moss above the ground.

I’ve already featured this flaming scalycap colony, an uncommon species. It has lasted over a month which perhaps shows how little rain fell in late summer 2025.

I love these russulas that appear from little mossy mounds.

I’ve souped-up this image of a violet webcap to bring the colour through. Purists please forgive me. This is the only one I’ve seen so far in 2025 as of early November.

I don’t recognise this species but the pattern on the stipe is interesting and perhaps may help me to identify it later.

Now then, CAN YOU SEE THE GLOW?! I found these sulphur tufts growing in deep shade and was sure the bioluminescence was visible. But I think the glow-in-the-dark-ness it can also be seen in the photos. These are phone pics.

I was sure I had a better photo of this dyer’s mazegill, which was hanging out with the sulphur tuft like some kind of neon rave. Goodness that makes me sound old.

This mess of jelly is one of the Phaeotremella species. I need to spend more time getting to know my jellies. Evidently I am not ready.

Thanks for reading.