Fungus Foray

3rd November 2024

The Club’s annual fungus foray was a bit further afield than usual this year, but it was well worth the journey.

Our leader, Peter Creed, suggested a trip to the Malvern Hills to look for grassland fungi, and we met him near the church at Hollybush, at the southern end of the Malverns between Tewkesbury and Ledbury. The weather was dry but rather murky, which was a shame as on a clear day the views from there are spectacular. Peter told us about the area, and how the local geology, which includes both areas of granite and limestone, provides habitats for different types of fungi.We walked down the Golden Valley next to the church, quite steep grassy slopes that had been grazed earlier in the year, but where the grass was now quite long. We had to hunt around for the smaller fungi but with Peter’s help found a good range of waxcaps and others, including dog sick slime mould (ok, not a fungus) and yellow staining mushroom, which looks very like a field mushroom but stains yellow when bruised. Not one to be eaten. We passed a small farm with numerous rare breed sheep, cattle and pigs, and two large birds, tentatively identified as rheas.

We returned to the small church, originally built in 1869 for the local miners, and surrounded by a ditch and wall to keep out the sheep that graze on the surrounding common. Inside the churchyard the short turf was dotted with many colourful waxcaps, and we learned the difference between scarlet and crimson waxcaps, yellow and butter waxcaps, and smelled the sweetly scented cedar waxcap.

Can you spot the odd one out? (click on an image to enlarge)

We finished off our trip with a quick visit to Midsomer Hill, a site that might be worth visiting again in summer for its flowers, particularly the rare spring cinquefoil.

A list of the species seen can be found here.

All in all a most successful trip, well worth the long drive. Thanks as always to Peter for sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm.

Sue Morton, 21 November 2024