Foray in Drumboe

Based on sightings and numbers of fungi seen recently, I suspected we were having an early and productive year for them, so I went to Drumboe to see what was going on. Drumboe is usually pretty good for more common fungi, but I was astonished at the numbers and wide range of fungi that I found close together, sometimes finding half a dozen different species under a single tree: every step brought new specimens into view.

First sighting was the Porcelain Mushroom - Oudemansiella mucida:

Porcelain mushroom - Oudemensiella mucida

It grows on the upper ends of dead Beech wood, so it's always easy to get an underside shot, which shows the beautiful and delicate cap:

Oudemansiella mucida underside

The next tree was a very live Beech, and the floor below it was covered with mushrooms of every colour: an amazing sight. The first to catch my eye was a batch of Chanterelles:

Chanterelles

These have a wonderful scent reminiscent of apricots. Wonderful flavour, too.....

There were various Russulas and Lactarius, mostly in some degree of wear and tear. I used Geoff Kibby's excellent new key to Russulas to identify this specimen as Russula aurora:

Russula aurora

The key features of this Russula are: the blood-red cap, fading to cream in the centre, cuticle peeling to 50%, mild taste, mild smell, white spores.

New to my species list.

The Lactarius family can be recognised by the production of 'milk' from the gills when damaged. This 'milk' can be very useful when identifying Lactarius species, as it can taste hot, bitter or mild, and the taste can be instantly obvious, or develop slowly over time:

Lactarius 'milk'

This specimen turned out to be Lactarius brittanicus, which has a strong association with Beech.

I also found Lactarius piperatus, which has very hot milk.

The same tree was host to the bolete Xerocomus chrysenteron - the Red Cracking Bolete:

Xerocomus chrysenteron - Red Cracking Bolete

(Although I'm pretty sure that one was renamed a few years ago). 

There were also plenty of specimens of the Beechwood Sickener - Russula mairei:

Beechwood Sickener

The Blusher - Amanita rubescens - is a fairly frequent find under broadleaf trees:

The Blusher - Amanita rubescens

Mycena pura can vary dramatically in size. Some specimens are small and very dainty, measuring 15-20 mm across the cap, but others - like the following specimen - can be large enough to be confused with Wood Blewits:

Mycena pura

Fortunately, the smell is instantly recognisable: it can be described as being like radishes or raw potatoes: raphanoid.

Earthballs can be separated from Puffballs by the absence of a stem:

Earthball Scleroderma citrinum

I also find earthballs are heavier for their size.

I spotted this Ascomycete, and realised that I hadn't seen it before:

Tarzetta cupularis

Tarzetta cupularis is identified by the teeth around the rim and the downy exterior, and is associated with mosses. There are a handful of Irish records.

New to my species list.

Helvella macropus is another scarce fungus, which I have previously seen on only one occasion:

Helvella macropus

It is essentially a grey cup fungus on a long, thin, felty stipe. Again, a handful of Irish records.

Another fungus which I rarely see: 

Earth Star - Thelophora spiculosa

Thelophora spiculosa is a ground-hugging fungus that can be very easily overlooked. It grows in moist soil, as do the liverworts underneath it.

No trip to Drumboe is complete without finding one of my favourites - Marasmius hudsonii:

Marasmius hudsonii

Marasmius hudsonii is specific to Holly leaves, and that shot shows a spike on a Holly leaf to the right for size. The spines which cover the minute cap can clearly be seen in silhouette. 

I feel a trip to Ards coming on for Sunday.

Still new

A few interesting opportunities have presented themselves over the last couple of weeks.

I rather like this shot of three different hoverflies all nectaring together in a rare opportunity. Normally these insects would disturb each other and the smaller ones will fly off to find other flowers, but in this gap in the rain, any source of food is welcome and their tolerance is greatly increased.

The larger one is a Syrphus sp., probably Syrphus ribesii. The medium-sized one is a male Platycheirus sp.: you can just make out the elongated and yellow front feet. The third is a female Melanostoma scalare in the locally frequent dark form.

Trio of hoverflies on Dandelion

In the last post, I showed one of the many male wasps that can be found wandering over flowerheads at the moment. Male bumblebees have also been ejected from the hives, and can be found in much the same situation: surplus to requirements:

Male bumblebee

Male bumblebees can be identified by basically being more colourful than the workers or queens, usually in conjunction with wider yellow bands and yellow on the face.


The lights at the front door are still attracting the occasional moth, along with other insects that are attracted to light.

The wet weather tends to flush scales off their wings, so identification becomes even trickier than usual. This shot of the Common Marbled Carpet shows just enough detail to provide an identification:

Common Marbled Carpet

A number of different Thorn moths appear in Autumn: their colours and shapes enable them to merge in with fallen leaves. This is a new species for me - the Canary-shouldered Thorn:

Canary-shouldered Thorn

Food plants are Birch, Alder, Willow, Lime and (not around here!) Elm.

New to my species list.

Pink-barred Sallow is another Willow feeder:

Pink-barred Sallow

The larval foodplant is Willow catkins and the adults nectar on Ivy flowers.

The Ichneumonid Ophion luteus is also attracted to light, and is often found inside light traps that have been set out to attract moths.

The Ichneumonid Ophion luteus

This micromoth appeared on my kitchen window in broad daylight, and I was delighted to notice that it is also new to me. It's Acleris sparsana, a Beech feeder.

Acleris sparsana micromoth

New to my Species List.

I spotted this pair of pink mushrooms on my lawn:

Mycena pura

They smell strongly of raw potato (some say radishes), so that points us neatly towards Mycena pura.

I also noticed this little mushroom nearby:

Psilocybe semilanceata

The little pimple on the top alerted me to the fact that it might be Psilocybe semilanceata - the original 'magic mushroom', so I took a spore print to check:

Psilocybe semilanceata spores x 400

• Spores oval and smooth
• Spores 12-15 microns
• Spores purple-brown

That'll do.


One of the questions that I'm most commonly asked is "When did you start being interested in wildlife?", and my answer is simply "As soon as I could walk". My father was recently going through his collection of 35mm slides and he found this shot of me with a young Starling chick:

Me aged 7 with a Starling chick

Maybe I should make that my profile picture.

Drumboe fungi

Drumboe is that rarest of things...an urban ancient woodland. Native trees 200 years old rub shoulders with introduced species of all kinds on the banks of the river Finn a mere 100 metres away from a bustling town centre. It's a little more 'managed' than I'd like, but it's still a wonderful place to visit for fungi at this time of year.

This young Fly Agaric - Amanita muscaria - has only just surfaced, and already it has been nibbled:


The remains of a Stinkhorn - Phallus impudicus - after the dark brown spore mass has been removed by flies:


An Earthball - Scleroderma citrinum:


Mycena pura, which smells 'raphanoid' - strongly of raw potatoes or radishes:


A single specimen of Chanterelle - Cantharellus cibarius - was confirmed immediately by the appearance of the thick, forked, gills:

Sadly, a single specimen isn't enough to eat, but the perfume now lingers in my study.

At first I thought these might be Jelly Baby - Leotia lubrica - but the stipe is wide and creamy-opaque (see top specimen). So they will go down as Cortinarius sp.


A batch of Honey Fungus - Armillaria mellea - suggests buried dead wood at this spot.