Issue 02 August 2014

(Fluted Birds Nest) at Coed Y Bwl Nature Reserve, Vale of Glamorgan

Inside this Issue………. Myxo madness, Fungi Art, Foray Summary, Members Gallery, Beginners Notes, Pick a patch, Favourite Fungi and more! My Favourite Fungi

There are so many different fungi that it is difficult to pick a favourite but this month is top of my list. Its not one I am likely to see as it is found in . This member of the family looks like a sponge, which is why it is named after one of my favourite cartoon characters, Spongebob Squarepants!

The fruit bodies are up to 10 cm wide and 7 cm tall. Like a sponge, they will resume their original shape if water is squeezed out. Not sure I would want to take one into the bath though!

Rudi Bright (Age 10)

Spongiforma squarepantsii Spongebob Squarepants What's on? - Diary Dates Group Foray to Taf Fechan Nature Reserve , Merthyr Tydfil - Saturday 6th September

Group Foray to Oldcastle Down, St Brides Major, near Bridgend - Sunday 5th October

National Day - Fun Day at Parc Slip Nature Reserve, Tondu, Bridgend - Sunday 12th October

Group Foray to Penllegare Valley Wood, Swansea - Saturday 1st November

In addition to these events, the group holds an informal foray once a month (usually the last Sunday of the month) at various locations throughout Glamorgan (VC41). For further information, please contact Mike Bright at [email protected] or keep an eye on the group Facebook Page And don’t forget, Contributions for our Newsletters are always gratefully received!! (Articles, photographs, stories, thoughts and letters - all welcome) So, you have read the article in our first newsletter and now know what information to record when you find your fungi. You have splashed some cash and ‘tooled up’ with a shiny new guidebook, hand-lens, knife and the all-important basket. You look the part but what do you do next? Well, the obvious answer is ‘go outside’ but it’s a big world out there, where should you go?

It’s all very well poring over a map looking for different habitats to go in search of new finds but when you are starting out, the sheer number of fungal possibilities can be overwhelming and you run the risk of giving up before you start, abandoning your new hobby and just leaving your guidebook to gather dust on the shelf. If you want to learn quickly and keep your interest throughout the year, you need to focus down, do what many birders do and pick a patch!

You are going to want to visit your patch as often as possible (I usually visit mine at least once a week) so somewhere within a short walk of home or work is ideal. Keep it small, we all lead busy lives and if it takes you too long to have a weekly nose Around, you run the danger of skipping visit - and we all know when you skip a visit that is when the really interesting stuff will be out. Try and choose somewhere with a mixture of habitats, your main concern being to pick somewhere that will have interest throughout the year, which means that a certain degree of woodland is needed. It helps if your patch has definite boundaries; mine is a small woodland surrounded by a wall which conveniently stops me wandering off into the distance.

Right, now it’s time to get out there! Before you start, be conscious of your speed, the adult world is fast-paced but that’s no good if you want to find tiny tiny things in a big dark wood. You need to go at toddler-speed, as toddlers take forever to walk the smallest of distances because they are totally absorbed in their immediate surroundings. This is exactly the frame of mind you need to be in to find fungi! If you are having trouble slowing down and have access to a toddler (or child), I would highly recommend taking them along with you to slow you down (with the parent’s permission of course). It’s no good dreamily floating around your patch - you must get stuck in and that means dirty hands and dirty knees! Head for rotting timber and log-piles, getting down to ground level as often as possible. Don’t just look on the top surface, check out the ends, gently lift and look underneath and make use of your nice new hand-lens. Do not visit your patch if you are in a rush!

Found something? You know what to do, take pictures (from different angles), take field notes (size/shape/smell/gills/pores/what’s it growing on?), collect a specimen (if you need to) for further examination and to take a print. Try to identify it yourself using your books but remember you are a beginner don’t expect an ID For everything you find, sometimes that is only possible with a microscope and decades of experience – no matter how much you want to identify that LBM (Little Brown Mushroom) you may have to let it go, don’t be dejected. What’s this? Its may be Snowy Disco) but you need a microscope and a stack of books to be sure.

If you can’t identify it, then it’s time to put the details that you have recorded together with the pictures and ask for some help (you can upload to Ispot or use facebook FB Glamorgan Fungus Group or FB British Mycological Society ) – just remember, some fungi can be identified from photos alone but most will need a copy of your field notes and colour of the (from your spore print) to get you a positive ID.

There is still a lot that we do not know about fungi and one of the ways for the professionals to make inroads into this is for us all to keep records of our finds (specimens, dates, locations, habitats). Keeping records might seem boring but lists can be fun especially if you are keeping a running count of the finds on your patch. Within a month you will be at one with your patch and feel in tune with the seasons. You will know the best spots to look and the best times to go and you will feel great when you find something new. If you hit a dull patch with not much around wait for the rain and visit 1 or 2 or 3 days after to see the full succession of fruiting bodies. Visiting the woods once a week will enable you to appreciate the seasonality of the fungal world and you really never know what you might find.

When you are starting out there are many things to remember, top of the list is to have fun! Enjoy yourself and as a beginner, make the most of your first fungal year. It’s the best chance you will get to find a new fungi every time you step out onto your patch.

Mike Bright SLIME MOULDS – MYXOMYCETES By Mark Steer

Welcome to a brief introduction to a fascinating group of 'creatures'! It has been suggested that Slime Moulds were the inspiration for the Hollywood movie 'The Blob' (1958) starring Steve McQueen and re-made in 1988!

These are not Fungi but are often studied by Mycologists. They are classified as Protoza/Amoeboza and start off life as amoeba-like cells that move! This is the Plasmoidal stage where they creep across vegetation or dead wood at up to the rate of 2.5cm per hour devouring bacteria, fungal spores and whatever else takes their fancy! When food runs out or because of light or moisture-changes, these cells join together to form the next stage – a Sporangia. This stage is usually the easiest time for us to spot them and try to identify! Often at this stage they are less than 1cm with a lot of different shapes and colours. At the end of this stage, spores are released which go on to form the amoeba-like cells elsewhere.

There are well over 1000 species recognised worldwide but there are probably many more lurking out there waiting to be discovered!

I'll describe a few that I have come across which are fairly common and large enough to see without a hand lens.

(Dog's Vomit or Scrambled Egg)

This one is found on dead logs in shaded areas and is usually quite vivid yellow. It's English names are quite descriptive!

Photo - Mike Bright Photo - Graham Cox (False Puffball)

This is found on dead tree trunks and logs usually in shaded locations. It starts off looking like a blob of spit which develops into a mass looking a bit like rough polystyrene. Colour is white to cream. It then progresses to a smooth polystyrene- like white coloured mass. It can reach 10 x 8 cm or more and is usually oval in shape. This then changes to a silvery smooth form that after a day or two, starts splitting to expose a brown spore mass. The spores are dispersed by wind and rain.

Photo - Mark Steer

Photo - Graham Cox

(Wolf's Milk)

These appear on dead logs and form pinkish/orange spherical masses to 1.5cm diameter. They are usually clustered and sometimes in profusion. You need to watch how it develops to see what colour the spore mass becomes – has dull pink spores and has grey spores. I'm not sure which my photo is as I didn't pay enough attention at the time! I'm hoping it will reappear this year so I can check.

Photos - Mark Steer This is one of the small ones! Only up to 4mm tall and less than 1mm diameter.

Photo - Mike Bright Photo - Mike Bright

I hope this has given you a 'taste' for Slime Moulds and if you would like more information and photos of many more of these fascinating 'creatures', there are some interesting websites below.

Photo - Mike Bright - species Websites: http://hiddenforest.co.nz/slime/index.htm http://naturalhistory.uga.edu/~gmnh/mycoherb_site/myxogal.htm http://pick5.pick.uga.edu/mp/20p?see=I_UARK/0001 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myxomycetes http://www.creepinggarden.com/ Youtube Slime Mould Presentation Fungi & Folk - The Art of Brackets The are bracket fungi and in Britain we have six types, four are perennial and three of these can grow to a considerable size as each year they build on the previous year’s growth. All are associated with living and dead wood, especially Beech. These brackets may be of interest to you, particularly if you suffer from artistic tendencies! The underside consists of a thin whitish surface of pores which stain a dark brown when scratched with a pin, knife or fingernail. A Southern Bracket (Ganoderma australe) As the staining is almost instant and permanent, these at Merthyr Mawr. Photo Mike Bright brackets have long provided humans with an unusual substrate on which to illustrate their inner musings. The Southern Bracket ( ) and the Artists Bracket ( ) are likely to be the ones you stumble upon, growing on the lower trunks of standing trees or along the length of the fallen. A quick discreet scratch with your finger nail will inform you if you have found your quarry. Next, the hardest part of collecting these specimens, cutting the stiff woody body from its host without injuring yourself in the process. A cross section will remind you of a nice Tiramisu, layers of white tubes sandwiched between dark chocolaty flesh, almost good enough to eat, but not quite., they have no culinary value. Once you have your specimen , you can retire to your studio and let your artistic juices flow! Art, but not as you know it!

All very well for the ‘arty’ brigade but the scientists out there will want to tell these two apart, but how? They are very similar indeed so the short answer is ‘with experience!’ Your default identification should always be the much, much commoner Southern Bracket. Artist Bracket is usually much thinner and has whitish streaks in the brown flesh but you will usually have to resort to taking a sample home and dusting off the microscope. There is one possible way of confirming the identity of your specimen in the field and that is to check if it has any ‘nipple-like’ galls on the lower surface. These are the galls of the Yellow Flat-footed Platypezid fly ( This insect is far too upper class to accept the common Southern Bracket as its home and will only build its plush penthouse in the esteemed . So, if its Artist Bracket - Marie Heerkens entomological excavations are in evidence you can be confident that you have the at the price of losing a nice flat drawing surface. According to those in the know you should use the common Southern Bracket for your doodles, inferior sketches and shopping lists. The rarer and far superior Artist Bracket should be cherished and saved, used only as a canvas for your mighty mushroom masterpieces. Mike Bright When’s a Blusher not a Blusher?

The Amanitas can be a tricky group to get to know. is a very common species that you are likely to bump into. Its common name of ‘The Blusher’ gives a hint of a good ID characteristic, it blushes a red colour when cut or damaged.

But what if you have what you think is a Blusher but it doesn't blush? A possibility is it may be one of the similar looking relatives. (The Grey Spotted Amanita) doesn't blush but var. it does smell of radish! The similar looking are the If your specimen doesn't blush and perfect example of why you have to be 100% doesn't smell of radish then maybe you sure of an ID before eating any wild have var. or mushroom. Get it wrong and it could be the maybe its back to your guide book! last mistake you make! Right Place, Right Time I recently took a trip to one of my favourite woodland sites, full of anticipation, hoping to found something interesting. After straying from the paths and wandering around through undergrowth I failed to spot a single fungi.

Feeling rather sorry for myself I headed back to the car and, to top it all off, I tripped over a log and fell to the ground!! Whilst lying on the floor thinking ‘I should have mowed the lawn instead’ I noticed a small pebble where my knee had scraped away the soil surface. On closer inspection I realised that this was a fungi worth falling for. Once home I checked the spores with the microscope and with a bit of help from some facebook pals, realised that this may be a False Truffle ( ). I sent a sample off to Pat O’Reilly who kindly offered to take a look and subsequenlty confirmed the ID And the specimen turned out to be a first for the Glamorgan recording area (VC41). So it just goes (False Truffle) to show, keep your spirits up because you never know what's around the corner.

Mike Bright Members Gallery

Goldie the dog relaxing with Morels ( ) in Pembrey Forest as pictured in the Guardian (Friday 18th April. Picture Philip Jones)

cup fungi growing in the entrance of a presumably redundant badger set. Picture Laura Moss Foray at Merthyr Mawr

th Sunday May 18 2014 was the day of the first main Foray for the newly re-formed Group. The weather for a few days before had been quite wet so the potential for Fungi finds was there! The over night weather and early morning was not looking good for the Forayers – very wet and windy. However by the time we assembled at 9.30 the rain had stopped. A small but select band set out from the car-park, through the woods to the north of the site where it was hoped that we might spot Morels which had been seen alongside the path a couple of weeks previously. Alas none were spotted.

One of the first species spotted was Dead Moll's Fingers on a Sycamore twig - Rich gave us a story about a very spooky Sycamore wood in the South of France that he has visited where the floor was carpeted by these! Proceeding onwards Rich spotted Red Campion with Smuts on it's anthers – This was spotted all over the site. A specimen of a Polypore was collected for further investigation in the 'lab' – most of us thought it to be Tuberous Polypore ,however Rich said he thought it was Dryad's Saddle . In the 'lab' the majority ID was confirmed! We then moved off up the steep sandy path towards the dunes where a 'hoof' shaped fungus was spotted on a Sea Buckthorn. Further examples were seen on bushes further on. This was iden- tified as which appears to be specific to Sea Buckthorn certainly in the UK.

Moving through the dunes Rich was disappointed not to find any of the larger Cup Fungi that he had hoped for. However a number of other species were Bay Polypore) spotted and identified or taken back to the 'lab'.

On returning to the car park some of the group went on to do other things but a few of us went to the 'lab'! This was a meeting room at the Heritage Centre, Southerndown where Rich set up his microscope and laptop to try and identify some of the specimens not identified in the field. In all 30 species were positively identified from the Foray – a good haul for this time of the year. The full list follows: The group get stuck into a burn site Dead Moll's Fingers, Hazel Woodwart, Yellow Brain, Rosy Crust, Oak Curtain Crust, Red Campion Smut, Birch Polypore, Mochatel Rust, Waxy Crust, Hart's Tongue Fern Rust, Tuberous Polypore, Hairy Curtain Crust, Bay Polypore, King Alfred's Cakes, Sycamore Tar-spot, , Glistening Inkcap, Black Bulgar, Blushing Bracket, Bicoloured Deceiver, Petticoat Mottlegill, Alder Tongue.

ID's 'in the lab' - Eyelash Fungus, Goldleaf Shield, Grey Puffball, Common Fieldcap, Southern Bracket, Deer Shield.

A rather early fruiting (Black Bulgar)

These records nave been forward- ed to NRW who manage the site and SEWBREC. Many thanks to Rich for all his hard work on the day!

Following this very interesting For- ay everyone is looking forward to the next scheduled Foray: Satur- th day 6 September at Taf Fechan Nature Reserve, near Merthyr Tyd- fil. Further details will be sent to you in due course.

Rudi Models the GLFG ‘Hoodie’ Mark Steer