Fungi Friday 🍄

On 25th September 2025 I made my annual visit to the New Forest National Park to walk a 10-mile circular route from Brockenhurst railway station.

I say ‘annual’ but my last visit was August 2023, which was very fruitful! You can read those posts here: New Forest National Park.

As with most of my posts about the New Forest, allow me to explain my ethics first of all:

1. I’m visiting to take photos, submit species records, and cause as little impact as possible while thoroughly enjoying being in this magnificent place for the day
2. The New Forest is of continental importance for trees and wildlife and I don’t feel that it’s ethical for me to arrive on a train (or any other transport) and remove natural resources

I saw people carrying large bags filled with concealed items during this visit, which I believe were almost certainly large, edible mushrooms like boletes. I also spoke to other walkers at length about this, including one couple who live deep in the Forest and had watched foraging taking place at scale over the years. They said they had witnessed people leaving by train with large bags of mushrooms.

I think taking shopping bags-worth of mushrooms from a location like the New Forest is unethical, but I need to be reasonable in making that point. Some people may not understand and I do not want to attack people for having a love of mushrooms. If it’s commercial activity, well that’s something else entirely. In some situations, the law is just the law and it will do its thing regardless of how you feel about it.

However, there is definitely an issue with landowners being unable to convey key messages about the Countryside Code, people’s legal rights, the sensitivities of these places and the life that they are home to. Trust me, I know from personal experience how hard that is!

The fact remains that we evolved in woodland and are hard-wired to forage mushrooms, and foraging can help us to become stewards of nature in ways that many of us struggle to be today. Foraging also gives a sense of the vulnerability of natural food sources, whereas shopping in the supermarket doesn’t until the shelves are bare.

Due to decades of mismanagement, the woodland shelves are rather bare.

We need to make space for patience, different cultural interpretations, but fundamentally the needs of our vulnerable ecosystems.

I’ve written about foraging before. I’ll leave it there.

So here’s the best, image-wise, of what I found! I took 300 photos, which may not sound like a lot to bird photographers but in mushroom terms it’s a lot. The photos are in chronological order. As ever, I am keen to be corrected or advised differently to what I have said or guessed below 🙂

The first proper mushroom I saw on the walk, a species of parasol. It was warm on the day and the lack of rain was extremely evident in the sounds, smells and texture of the woodland. The mushrooms were also quite desiccated, as you will see here.

A milkcap, showing its oozing latex after I cut the gills to check.

The first of many mushrooms in the bolete family that I saw, this was a group of orange boletes (Leccinum) growing among a grassier area of woodland I passed through.

More boletes began to appear alongside the paths. I thought this was scarletina bolete (iNat), but rather chewed by hungry slugs. It may in fact be bronze bolete, which would be a new species for me.

You can see how diverse the New Forest is for fungi in the range of boletes present. I think this is ruby bolete (iNat). The right hand photo is from my phone, hence the unreconcilable difference in white balance with the first pic taken on my camera. This is a first ruby bolete sighting for me, or at least when I’ve known what it is.

Sulphur tuft was in its pomp, but this is how it looks after drought. The caps crack and the gills split.

Now we’re getting into big bolete territory. These are probably summer bolete (Boletus reticulatus) or similar, but they’re mainly here for the heavenly vibe.

Now we enter into bolete heaven proper. I found an area out of view of the main path (you are allowed to walk there) where a trove of large Boletus edulis-like mushrooms were growing. I got the LED light out! I think these are also summer boletes.

Here’s my setup – no need for a tripod or anything like that. I use the Olympus 12-45mm f4 lens on a trip like this because it can do macro and get quite close to focus.

Another massive bolete, probably about 20cm high, and likely the same species as before. The shape is different but the colouring and webbing on the stipe is the same.

At the foot of a fencepost nearby more summer boletes were popping.

This could be another one, but I’m not sure. I like the little bolete popping up under the umbrella of its elder.

It wouldn’t be September oak woodland without rooting shank. This was a lovely example of this super-long-stemmed mushroom (it goes much deeper).

Porcelain fungus is something you would expect to see on beech in late-September (I’ve seen it as early as June in Sussex). And here it is.

This was a nice little scene of what is probably upright coral fungus. There was some sulphur tuft in there too among the twigs.

This is another bolete, perhaps it’s summer bolete again.

Spectacular rustgill was bursting from the soil next to the footpath. I used the LED light to brighten the shadows.

On farmland just outside the woodland, this parasol was growing. I’m not sure of the species. Parasols pass me by somewhat.

At this point I left the ancient woodland and entered the realm of the heath. The lack of rain was more pronounced out there because there’s no shade.

These blushers were looking very dry and wrinkled indeed!

This could be another scarletina bolete, or another Neoboletus.

The fly agaric were confined to the edges of the heath. I’ve edited the colours here to bring them out. They had a very strong September in West Sussex.

The heath came to an end with this gateway to bolete HEAVEN!

These are some of the strangest Boletus edulis I’ve seen. Again I think it’s the impact of the drought, which makes their growth so unusual.

Panthercap is a species I am always hopeful of seeing in September-October because it’s not something I encounter often. There were a number of them near the boletes.

This was an unplugged baby panther I found. I wonder if the ponies do this, or maybe a dog, or if they sometimes lose their connection to the soil in extended dry weather.

Another bolete, probably another summer bolete, and not the last in this post. But definitely a pleasing one.

This more open woodland area was extremely rich in mushrooms, especially boletes.

Summer boletes, again! We’re in the realm of mushroom portraiture here. I used the LED light again, to good effect I think.

More boletes, but potentially lurid bolete on this occasion rather than scarletina. Definitely Neoboletus. Again these had been uprooted before I found them.

A more typical Boletus edulis growing next to another unknown species.

Summer bolete lol. I enjoy the autumnal evening glow here. This was one of many boletes in this patch.

I was really pleased to see this shaggy bracket in prime condition. I think this was on an ash, where they’re usually found. I do sometimes see them below head height, but they’re often unseen as they grow high up on the limbs of the tree.

Not long before I got back to Brockenhurst I found these fly agaric in one of the forestry areas. It should go without saying that the semi-natural ancient woodlands free from forestry practices are far more diverse than the plantations. But the plantations are still worth perusing, especially in more damp autumn season.

See my posts from 2023 for more sightings in those kinds of woodlands.

Finally, upon returning to Brockenhurst I passed this oyster mushroom growing from a horse chestnut on a bank right next to a lane. I jumped up there and got these nice images. This is one of the most photogenic oysters I’ve seen in a long time.

That’s all from me and September in the New Forest. It was a great walk, lovely weather (if unnerving due to the dryness) and some great shrooms. If only the season was longer, and there was more time to spend on photographing these beautiful things. The perfect way to spend the last day of my 30s!

Thanks for reading.