Tony Hardware's Fungi Finds

After retiring in 2013 and already absorbed in birdwatching around the world, I began to seek out new records and biodiversity in many new forms. In 2015, I started to look towards the world of fungi. This is my story of my key finds, but starting in August 2017. First few years were finds in Bucks and Northants. Moving to Cornwall in May 2018 changed my focus. From October 2020 I only focused on rare or uncommon species. I moved to Stroud, Gloucs. in March 2021 and the Cotswolds awaits.

Tuesday, 9 February 2021

Rare, Uncommon or New to UK!! Doesn't get much better than this. Oh, and a new species to science?

January proved to be a very successful month for finding all types of fungi, also one that was recorded on 20th Dec 2020 is reported here, as confirmation of a new species FOR THE UK takes time!!

Starting here, on a short walk pre-lockdown before Christmas on a footpath near Sladesbridge, just down the road from me, I spotted a couple of white looking agarics which at first I thought were crepidotus. I hadn't seen much except icicles forming inside my gloves so thought I had better check before calling it a day. Three weeks later I had my first Basidiomycetes new to the UK namely Mycena supina. Thanks to Alick Henrici of the Brit. Mycological Soc. who confirmed the species.

On a later trip to confirm the location of the above species, I also found the delightful hairy ascomycete Lasiobelonium variegatum. A trip to another local woodland at Bishop's Wood gained three species all of which were significant finds. I had decided to target the Spruce at the entrance to the woodland and just focus there. This paid off and I think I checked every good looking rotting branch in the wood. One small ascomycete I found in Anthostomella tomicoides on rubus proved to be my second record of this rare species and the same for Cornwall. On the same branch and centimetres away from each other, I found an Obilia type and Stactis type ascomycetes. Both proved difficult to identify, the first I thought was O. occinella, but when checking with Otto Baral's monograph on Oribiliomycetes I found this has been found only a few times on the Pacific Rim! He describes this species in Europe as O. eucalypti and this was confirmed by him direct to me later. So most authors and book wrongly depict this incorrectly as far as I am concerned as Otto is THE person for Orbilia and has named countless new species to science. Close to this was a Stactis type, but checking at home after microscopy proved to be inconclusive. Certainly not one of the recognised species known to me. Paul Cannon of Kew kindly checked this for me and after checking decided this was a probably new species to science and created a log of the species on Fungi of GB and Ireland for verification later. It wasn't a Stactis after all but it's close cousin Schizoxylon. Thinking of going somewhere different for a change, I went to a local reservoir where a spruce small woodland was deteriorating fast under a marshy grassy habitat. This led to finding a pale grey thin resupinate which I felt was worth checking under the scope, as usual. This turned into a Tubulicrinis species, with another Tubulicrinis within the same material!! Rare species anyway, but two in one. Amazing. After careful microscopy and checking once again with Alick Henrici these were identified as T. glebulosus and T. accedens. The latter a 1st for Cornwall and the former a 2nd for Cornwall after ... AlickH, found at The Lizard years before!

Mycena supina - new species for the UK

Mycena supina - spores Qav - 1.25

Mycena supina - cystidia

Anthostomella tomicoides

Lasiobelonium variegatum

Orbilia eucalypti

Orbilia eucalypti spores asci

Orbilia eucalypti

Schizoxylon sps - new species?

Schizoxylon sps

Schizoxylon sps - new species?

Tubulicrinis accedens

Tubulicrinis accedens spores

Tubulicrinis glebulosus

Tubulicrinis glebulosus spores

Tubulicrinis glebulosus

Tubulicrinis glebulosus on Picea

Sunday, 27 December 2020

Uncommon species found December 2020

Well December produced a sack full of lovely new species mostly ascomycetes, but also one or two unusual basidiomycetes also. And that was before Santa ignored all the "Only essential travel" signs. Found on horse dung on Bodmin Moor at Bolatherick was the beautiful Cheilymenia fimicola asco, other than it's substrate. Sometimes, beautiful things are attached to ugly so called supports. At the same place I found the unusual yellow based stem of Cuphophyllus flavipes waxcap, a big surprise this late in the season. At my local patch of Hawkes Wood, now past 100 species here from my records, I found what looked like a common Lachum, but after careful microscopic work turned into L. subvirgineum, 2nd for Cornwall. A visit to Shell Wood was disappointing, to see that most of the woodland under the Forestry Comm. had gone and access to the River Camel had been banned by a landowner, where normally 100's of folk walked their dogs through a beautiful part of Cornish woodland. What a miserable thing to do. Maybe there are just so many black bags a landowner can take hanging from what is normally a tranquil tree laden river walk. It is becoming a habit now. However, I found a part of the ancient woodland at the north end still dripping with moss and old wood and it was here I found Merismodes anomala, but you would need a magnifying glass to see it on the wood yet alone call it fungi. 3rd for Cornwall. Also here I found a few FB's of the crust fungi Stereum but at home proved to be the more unusual S. rameale. Back at Hawkes Wood once again on 11th Dec., I found a lovely looking Myxomycete which gave up its identify when under the microscope as Trichia decipiens. Also here I found a discomycete type fungus in Polydesmia pruinosa, 1st for me but apparently quite common elsewhere. A return trip on 14th to Little Petherick estuary footpath provided some rare species and I only covered 50 meters from the start of the FP. First up was a Resupinatus looking fungi, found on a Ash branch close to water but under intense scrutiny and a little help from 'my friends' agreed on Hohenbuehelia cyphelliformis. Nice. Also here and under damp conditions and later under the scope I found my second but rare minute hairy Lasiobelonium lonicerae, 2nd for Cornwall - er ... after my first a few months ago agreed by the good-n-great of asco mycology. Not finished, and only had walked 10 metres, I came upon a stem of dead Hog Weed, inspecting this in case, found a most unusual ascomycete. After carefully checking all the books etc., I found nothing. It wasn't until I checked Dr Paul Cannon's site at Kew gardens and checking hosts, that I located Ophioceras leptosporum. 100's of tiny minute stalks. Rare in the rest of UK, but many more records found by the intrepid mycologist in Cornwall Ken Preston-Mafpham. An unsung hero of fungi discovery in Cornwall.

Cheilymenia fimicola

Cheilymenia fimicola spores asci

Cuphophyllus flavipes

Cuphophyllus flavipes yellow base to stem

Hohenbuehelia cyphelliformis spores

Hohenbuehelia cyphelliformis

Lachnum subvirginineum asci

Lachnum subvirginineum

Lasiobelonium lonicerae

Merismodes anomala

Ophioceras leptosporum

Polydesmia pruinosa spores

Polydesmia pruinosa

Stereum remeale

Trichia decipiens var. decipiens

Trichia decipiens var. decipiens spores/capill.

Sunday, 22 November 2020

Rare to uncommon species Mid-October - mid November 2020

Visit to Sheba Woods, near Callington produced some very unusual sightings. This included Chromocyphella muscicola a very small cyphelloid fungus growing on moss, Baeospora myosura or Conifercone Cup, a few unusual Incocybes with I. fuscidula and I. whitei showing itself in a mature state of orangey/red whereas most see it white when younger. The best of all and 1st for the West Country was Hebeloma pseudoamarscens, growing on an old fire site by a river. While being very idle and avoiding the shopping at Sainsbury's in Bodmin so searching the small grassy pathway nearby found Cortinarius decipiens. A short visit to my favourite spot in Pencarrow Woods (conifer section) came across the beautiful blood red webcap as its common name suggests Cortinarius sanguineus. Gorgeous. Another shopping trip, this time to Par Market near St Austell I checked out a grassy knoll and came across a Russula looking like a Lactarius but ended up as 1st for Cornwall in R. cuprea. Amazing what you can find if you keep looking. A survey at a private site near St Teath proved amazing where I was able to identify 11 waxcap species with the owner of the natural grasslands he looks after but also finding Stropharia caerulea or Blue Roundhead but where the gills remained blue/green. Very odd. A quick rain soaked visit to Dunmere Woods produced Cortinarius obtusus in among the needle litter/moss and the best of all and 1st for SWest England - Postia wakefieldiae, showing a conifer stump covered in this small overlapping bracket. Highly unusual. Lastly, in this edition of my Blog, a visit to St Mawgan produced a 1st for me in the small grey myxo. of Arcyria cinerea along with Psathyrella prona, which took some time to isolate after microscopy and the best of all growing out of a bank on soil (an unusual substrate for Flammulaster) in F. grandulosus. Again, difficult until cystidia and spores tested well and was convincing.