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A veritable Fungus Foray Ernie - some really interesting looking species but the one that stands out (again) for me is the Parrot Waxcap - stunning looking mushroom

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Wow! You sure know your fungi, ernie, and I would say that those last few posts have presented more diversity within this class than any ever posted on UKB prior!!

Keep seeking out the butterflies though. I'm sure there'll be a few before the real winter weather starts by the back end of November.

Wurzel: Yes, the Waxcaps are my favourite fungi and the Parrot Waxcap is odd being green - not a colour you find in mushrooms often.

David: Thanks. I'm glad you like the fungi entries. Some years are good, others bad. This year has been OK, around average I would say. And of course I am always on the lookout for butterflies. If I could get one to land on a mushroom it would make my year!

Alice Holt - 3rd Nov 2018

The fungi season marches on!

The Butter Caps are out now for example. They can vary a lot. This one is fairly typical of var. asema.
But it is “hygrophanous” and as it ages it tends to lose its cap colour quite dramatically like this one nearby.
Then the Club Foot. The base of this mushroom can get very big compared to the rest of the stipe. I inadvertently deleted the pic I took today. This is a past shot.
The Lilac Bonnet is fairly common in these woods but this is the first I have seen this year.
On the other hand the Clouded Funnels were just about anywhere you cared to look. This bunch had decided to grow in an arc of a “fairy ring”. Nice.
And lastly today, growing right beside where I had decided to park my car, a group of Blushing Wood Mushrooms.

Chawton Park Wood - 4th Nov 2018

Now Stinkhorns stink to attract flies to them to distribute their sticky spores. I was lucky enough to see two Stinkhorns side by side, one fresh with its gelatenous spore mass and the other gone-over without its gelatenous mass but both still attracted the flies.
There was a very nice example of a Stump Puffball.
Then there was what I think was the Flat Oysterling, these going darker as they aged. 80% sure of ID.
A group of the tiny Variable Oysterling. This shot from below. 90% sure.
And this one I think is the Greyling Bracket – showing the pore surface underneath. 80% sure.
And the very widespread and common Coral Spot.
Turkeytails again, this time a bunch of them from underneath.

The Brocas - 5th Nov 2018

This pic taken today is not my best pic of the Bloody Brittlegill but shows enough for a positive ID.
Kingsley Churchyard - 5th Nov 2018

A parasol mushroom just emerging.
Sleaford - 6th Nov 2018

On the grassy bank were a large number of Earthy Powdercaps…
… and Common Bonnet ...
… and Moss Bell - this shot taken from below. It’s a tiny mushroom so I had to rest the camera on the ground and point it upwards looking at the view-screen from a very acute angle.
In the woods on the other side of the road there were…

Yellow-cracked Bolete – 90% sure.
Tawny Funnel
Soft Puffball - 90% sure.
Psathyrella bipelis – 60% sure. I had trouble ID-ing this one. There were a lot of them growing from the mossy path-side verge in the conifer woodland and they all had this colouration no matter whether they were newly fruiting or old. I am not even absolutely certain it is one of the Brittlestem species (Psathyrella).
And fallen on the ground, an oak twig with the remains of two Marble Galls. You can clearly see the wasp emergence hole on one of them.

Broxhead - 8th Nov 2018

A nice group of False Chanterelles
With close-by, some Fleecy Milkcaps.
And some Ugly Milkcaps too. The Beauty and the Beast of the Milkcap world.
There was a Sulphur Knight under an Oak. This is similar to its cousin the Yellow Knight but those usually grow under Pines and are more frequent in the north of the country than in the south.
Also a clump of Veiled Poisonpies a couple of metres away.
A Blackening Brittlegill was gone over almost completely. They start off whitish but end up totally black.
The was a small section of Birchwood with green colouration shot though it, clear evidence of the Green Elfcup, although as usual, no fruiting bodies. I have never seen the fruiting bodies of this species - their incidence is quite rare.
Kingsley - 8th Nov 2018

Right beside the car park, a number of standard Poisonpies.
Deadwater Valley woods - 8th Nov 2018

A large number of Sheathed Woodtufts growing along a single log.
Lumpy Bracket. There is a kind of green algae that loves to grow on this fungus just as it is doing here.
Also Jelly Rot.
The Waxy Crust fungus was doing its thing of making the bark of a tree unfurl.
I am pretty sure these are Milking Bonnets (80% sure).
But the highlight for me today was my first ever Benzoin Bracket. It was a little shabby but quite substantial.
And what is this? Not a fungus! Is it some kind of Butterfly perhaps? It was near the trail-head close to where I had parked my car and was flitting around in the sunshine.
I looked back through my records and found that I had never seen a Speckled Wood as late as the 2nd week of November before. In fact the latest I had ever seen one before was the 2nd week of October, a clear month difference! And this one wasn’t in bad shape either.

Great to see that Speckled Wood in the last photo Ernie I've occasionally had them into early November in my garden but my last sightings are usually in the first or second week of October.

Cheers,

Neil

Fabulous, ernie. Your interest in fungi extends the season markedly.

In addition, it allows you to get out when you perhaps wouldn't have done to see very late season Speckled Woods!

I fantastic set of Fungi Ernie and congrats on getting a November Specklie

Have a goodun

Wurzel

A wonderful set of fungi pics Ernie - you are inspiring me to get out more! Didn't have any luck today though.

HI Ernie,
Like others I am enjoying your fungi forays, a subject on which I have no expertise.
It would be good to know which varieties are prized by chefs, and those which would
cause an urgent trip to Hospital if eaten, or worse.

Trevor.

Trevor, Janet, Wurzel, David and Neil - thank you all for your welcome comments.

I am glad you are liking the fungi. I seem to be quite lucky where I live for them. I have seen over a hundred species within a 10 mile radius of my house over the years.

And the November Specklie was an added bonus of course.

Broxhead - 12th Nov 2018

Despite all the wind and rain we have been having recently, it has remained reasonably warm and even today was around 10 degrees.

Usual fungi already noted in previous diary entries but three newcomers…

The Birch Brittlegill was very common, some were ageing white.
Angels Bonnets festooned many a tree wherever they found a rotting foothold (80% sure – they were often smaller than I have seen before).
And hundreds (perhaps thousands) of Slender Club growing up from the path in the woodland beside the road.
But what really surprised me (this being nearly the middle of November) was:

A Common Darter still flying around the pond.
And a Fox Moth caterpillar marching purposefully across the sand.
Deadwater Valley - 13th Nov 2018

More fungi…

First the Black Bulgar.
Then the Rusty Porecrust.
And another Amethyst Deceiver. I have already shown this species before but I liked this sunny shot from above.
Finally another pic of the Coral Spot. The last shot I showed of this species was in its orangey pre-sexual stage (Conidial Stage). When it becomes sexually mature (Perfect Stage) it turns red. This latter stage includes the coral-pink fruit bodies which give the species its name.
I was here a couple of days ago and saw a Specklie if you remember. He was here again today dancing in the dappled sun.
Back Garden - 14th Nov 2018

Dave (Miller) is not the only one lucky enough to be having fun with Red Ads in Mid November. While I was raking some leaves up in my garden, a Red Admmiral swooped down and landed on the trunk of our Beech Tree and stayed there just long enough for me to rush in, get my camera, come back out, set it and snap a quick pic. Then it flew off!
But I have not seen a fresh Holly Blue for some time like Dave has. How do you do it, Dave?

At Home - 15th Nov 2018

However a Peacock butterfly came inside our house today but decided it wanted to go back outside again. I opened the window and he flew out, up and over our neighbours house - but not before I had taken a couple of pics of him!

I think the relatively warm weather is deceiving the butterflies, Ernie. Nice to see that Speckled Wood - I haven't had any near me for a few weeks now - and the Peacock too. No doubt it will find a suitable hibernation spot over the next day or two.

Cheers,

Dave

Great posts Ernie ! Loving the Fungal forays ,me and Lynne tend to move on to fungi when the last of the butterflies (and most of the moths ! ) have finished for the year ,looking at your excellent pics ,has helped me to put names to a few fungi we,ve stumbled across .
I think we may have found the Green elf cup (fruiting bodies ) last year,(i,ve got one or two pics ) we may get out for a look for ourselves over the weekend,weather permitting ! Keep up the good work ! regards Allan.W.

Well done with the Butterflies ernie a Peacock has well, not had one of those in the Garden all year Love your shots of the Fungi Goldie

Some great sightings Ernie I can't remember the last time I saw a butterfly - I've already gone into winter mode Love the Angels Bonnets

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Dave - You are right. The (relatively) warm weather is allowing some butterflies to get out and about still.

Allan - I am envious of your seeing the fruiting bodies of Green Elfcup. Here is a green elf to prove it.

Goldie - It is my first Peacock at my house too this year. Amazing to think the first will also be the last this year.

Wurzel - While the fungi are out I have an "Autumn" mode. I think my "Winter" mode will begin soon though.

Kingsley Churchyard - 17th Nov 2018

The Waxcaps of this Churchyard and really getting going now. We now have…

Golden Waxcaps
Meadow Waxcaps
A not yet fully black Blackening Waxcap
And the fuscescens variety of the Snowy Waxcap – slightly darker in the cap than the normal variety.
Deadwater Valley - 17th Nov 2018: 11.30 am, temp 9 degrees – full sun

Wrinkled Crust.
But I was really here today to see if my Specklie friend was still about. If he was, this would be the first time that I have ever seen a Specked Wood in the third week of November.
He was!

Deadwater Valley - 18th Nov 2018: 12.30 pm, temp 9 degrees – full sun

The forecast from tomorrow onward is for a sharp fall in temperature, possibly with daytime maxima stuggling to reach 7 degrees. I thought therefore that this might be my last chance to see a butterfly this year so I came back to Deadwater Valley and there he was again, my Specklie friend. He would flit back and forth between three of his preferred trees where he would perch and bask in the sun. Sometimes he would chase a falling leaf in the mistaken view it was a rival male. Sometimes he would perch on the carpet of ground leaves. It made for a variety of photo opportunities.
I decided to call him Woody. (I never was very creative!)
Looking back through my notes I realised this was, for me, a record. This is the latest in any year I have ever seen a free-flying outdoor butterfly.