Tony Hardware's Fungi Finds: Waterbridge Woods visits (Treraven and Bishop's Woods 14/15 November and Pencarrow House 16th Nov 2019

Tuesday, 19 November 2019

Waterbridge Woods visits (Treraven and Bishop's Woods 14/15 November and Pencarrow House 16th Nov 2019

After looking forward to leading my first CFRG meeting around Treraven Woods near Wadebridge, Cornwall with permission of the local Ghaia Trust the weather became the worst this year for wind and rain. However, undaunted and some would question my mental state, I thought I'll just get wet and see what I found. There wasn't much in the woods to speak of but on entering the SE fields at the top of the woods I came across quite a few waxcaps, with a Parasola conopilea or Conical Brittlestem found on the on the famous wood-chip pile where I have seen so many different species over the few years I have been here. Next day I decided to go to Bishop's Wood for the first time and now not the last. Didn't realise what a beautiful site this is and on a damp November day. There is mixed woodland but I headed for the conifers and good to see these are more or less on the level rather than the usual 1:3 steep inclines to streams. The best find here was the last fungi seen and was growing in a gully below Silver Fir trees. Probably around 40-50 specimens of various ages of Craterellus tubaeformis or Trumpet Chanterelle. First time for me but not that uncommon. Next day I headed for Pencarrow House open weekend for Xmas gifts but I use the occasion to check out this wonderful location for waxcaps at this time of the year on what was untreated lawns. Once again this year not only was there a lack of waxcaps but the level areas had all been mown very recently. Great shame and nothing like this site used to be so well known for. However, I still managed to locate a few more interesting species in the six found. One grey low lying waxcap turned out to be extremely fowl smelling and so had to be Neoohygrocybe nitrata or Nitrous Waxcap. A few nice H. punicea or Crimson Waxcaps were around still on the banks (had't been cut). Lastly, a small group of Cystoderma amianthinum showed, looking a little darker than normal but microscopy showed these to be this species.