Tony Hardware's Fungi Finds: April 2023

This month turned out to be one of the most productive ever since I started my blog and recording fungi. Somehow, I managed to find and ID 10 species where there are less than 5 other records in the UK, and also these and others making it 15 county firsts, inc. a few in Devon and Wilts as well as Gloucs. this time. I'll be brief, as so many species to describe as I don't want to bore my subscriber list of 3,683 members, hang-on, sorry, got carried away, with my 3 member subscriber list, that's me, my alto ego and my wonderful wife. First up is new for most of West and Mid England with Athelia acrospora growing under the length of a fallen Picea abies trunk. For a further month I tried culturing Sheep and this time Rabbit dung/pellets with the resultant find of rare or under recorded Chaetociadium jonesii - 3rd UK. The delightful cyphelloid Chromocyphella muscicola was growing on moss near a stream at Bowbridge. During a visit to north Devon for a break, I still managed a few hrs at some lovely habitat at Wistlandpool Reservoir and Atlington NT park (public area). At the former I found the diminutive discomycete Cistella peparvula (4th Uk), best of all and second time for me after Cornwall, Orbilia rubrovacuolata on Picea this time. A wonderful ruby red discomycete. This being the 6th UK record after my 5th! I passed the material onto Kew's new Darwin Tree of Life project. At the latter, was Eutypella quarternata (4th UK) as well as my second Hypoxylon ceridicola on dead Ash branches. This species seems restricted to this substrate especially with so much Die-back being cut, we should see a lot more of this species being found. Bumping into a Giant Sequoia tree of one I have always wanted to find fungi on this wonderful tree species and failed, almost as though it has a great resistance to fungi, which must be good. However, I did find a discarded branch and on this single arm found Leucostoma kunzei and Valsa pini, 2nd and 3rd in UK respectively.! Same branch! I know, I don't believe me either, but it's true! Also here, hiding away on a dead stem of Phampus grass by a large pond was Phomatospora berkeleyi. The next day we spent time at Exmoor Zoo, one of the best Zoo's in the UK for us and relatively small. Near the Maned Wolf and the Spider Monkey's enclosures is a small growth of Bamboo. On it I found a small growth of a Rosellinia type ascomycete. At home and with the help of the French expert in the field for Pyrenomycetes, Jacques Fournier this was identified as probably 2/3rd record in the UK for a now renamed Rosellinia amblystoma, now accepted as Astrocystis sublimbata. A short trip back to Ebworth NT Estate produced Coprinus stercorea off Sheep's dung, a wonderful discomycete in Durella suecica as 3rd in UK, as well as Mollisia strobilicola. Also at Bowbridge Carr (my local bash) I found Lasiobelonium variegatum a 1st for Gloucs. A trip NE of the County at Sherborne Water Meadows with a group from Gloucs. Nat. Soc., proved fruitful with the tiny Colletotrichum graminicola being found as well as a mystery cyphelloid which was growing at the base of Cow Parsley. At home this proved very difficult to identify, with hardly any spores of note but it had to be some sort of Flagelloscypha species, maybe F. niveola, as one of the few growing on Dicots. Still working on this one! The hairs have 6/7 septate tapering structure and something I can't place to species. A short walk near Malmesbury along a delightful riverside walk and so on Salix alba was Discostroma tostum (1st for Wilts) as well as a much rarer species on a wet dead offcut with large 6/7 septate spores and Thyridaria macrostomoides - 4th in UK. Phew, it doesn't get much better than this. But I'll keep trying. I also eat food during the month and go to sleep. For anyone that thinks I make some of these up, off my rocker etc., you can always check the microscopy/macrophotography at the BMS FRDBI records datasets and judge for yourselves. It's hard for me to believe sometimes, but I always illustrate my findings, unlike most who put up records with no evidence whatsoever. Surely on very rare species this is needed?