Pembrokeshire Recorder Issue 3/2011

Published quarterly by the Pembrokeshire Fungus Recording Network www.pembsfungi.org.uk

Contents

Introduction County records Willow Blister discoveries Black spots on Ivy leaves Species of Conservation Concern Forthcoming book

Fuligo septica, a slime mould photographed in Canaston Woods by Mike Karpaty

Introduction

A rather dry start to the quarter resulted in a dearth of records for a while, but as the weeks progressed fruiting bodies started to appear and we ended the period with a flurry of records. Particular thanks to Mike Karpaty for picking up some useful woodland records through June.

In this issue we report on new sites for the “Critically Endangered Worldwide” species - Willow Blister and some fascinating observations on black spots on Ivy leaves. We have an update on “Fungal Species of Conservation Concern” in Pembrokeshire including the news that RWE Npower has sponsored the production of an updated report.

Towards the end of May I attended a meeting with Plantlink Wales lower plants specialists in Aberystwyth. The purpose was to review the status of actions to support the conservation of S42 species [S42 = species (and habitats) of principal importance for the conservation of biodiversity in Wales].

Our contribution was to provide examples of the work we carry out to support conservation objectives in Pembrokeshire (fungus recording, training events, publications, public talks etc.) and to offer suggestions for future support, particularly in relation to targeted recording of S42 species. Our efforts were well received, and we look forward to learning more about how we can help in the future. One area where we can usefully extend our recording interests will be twards that of sand-dune fungi - particularly relevant as we have some good sand-dune systems in Pembrokeshire.

David Harries, PFRN coordinator ([email protected])

July 2011 Fungus records

Whilst hunting for black spots on dead Ivy leaves (reported elsewhere in this issue) Tony Lewis photographed some examples of the Parachute fungus (Marasmius epiphylloides) with tiny fruitbod- ies just a couple mm. in diameter. This species, which is restricted to dead Ivy leaves, often has very poorly developed gills as shown in Tony's photo.

Marasmius epiphylloides Verpa conica

Spring is the best time to find Morels, with the most interesting find coming in April when Trevor Theobald found the Conical Morel (Verpa conica) alongside a cycle track near Haverfordwest. This was only the third County record for this fairly infrequently recorded species. The dry weather may not have helped fruiting as only a few examples of the Common Morel (Morchella esculenta) turned up on coastal sites this year.

Spring-fruiting pinkgills (Entoloma species) were in short supply, again probably influenced by the lack of rain. A welcome exception came when Holly Harries found examples of the Shield Pinkgill (Entoloma clypeatum) under an apple tree in Moylegrove.

This fungus is invariably found under trees in the Rose family, usually Hawthorn, and was the County's third record for the species.

St. George’s

Earlier in the year we asked members to keep gambosa an eye out for St. George's Mushroom (2011 records) (Calocybe gambosa): a creamy white mush- room with distinctive white gills and a mealy smell. Although this is a fairly well recorded fungus nationally, there were only 5 Pembro- keshire records prior to this year.

Whether the hot weather in April induced a good fruiting season, or encouraged more members out of doors, is debatable, but the outcome was a bumper crop of 10 records from as far afield as Ramsey island in the north-west to Saundersfoot in the south-east.

2 Interestingly - Calocybe gambosa wasn't the only white mushroom to appear: an unexpected find was a smaller but similar species called Tricholomella constricta which is more usually recorded during the summer and early autumn. T. constricta was once considered to be in the same as C. gambosa, and may be found in older reference books as Calocybe constricta. For microscopy enthusiasts - T. constricta has rather interesting with distinctive warts on the surface.

Calocybe gambosa Tricholomella constricta Cap 5-15 cm, Stem cylindrical or broader at Cap 4-10 cm, Stem usually tapering at base. base. Spores ellipsoid, warty, 7-10 x 4-6 μm Spores ellipsoid, smooth, 5-6 x 3-4 μm Summer to autumn. April/May.

As always, Mike Karpaty manages to come up with interesting finds even when the ground is dry an no-one else is finding much!. This time he found a collection of boletes ( grevillei). A young specimen is shown here - fully grown specimens typically get to about 10 cm across. He reported that slugs were clearly enjoying the feast.

As the season developed, further examples were reported by An- tony Karpaty and Mike Crutchley suggesting this was one species having a good year. Mike Crutchley’s photo shows a close- up of the cap underside with dis- tinctively angular pores.

10 mm Fungus records from Somerton Farm were few and far between - but one colourful specimen found on soil in a boggy area of scrub turned out to be a close relative of the Scarlet Eyelash Fungus (). This was - superficially fairly similar, but with much shorter hairs (eyelashes!) around the edge and usually found on soil rather than wood. A reminder that there are at least 19 Scutellinia species in the UK.

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3 Willow Blister (Cryptomyces maximus) in Pembrokeshire.

An update on the status of this species in Pembrokeshire following new discoveries in 2011.

Willow blister is a rare ascomycete fungus found growing on dead or dying willow twigs. It appears as a black fruit-body growing through the bark, usually with a conspicuous yellow/orange border. Transmission is by wind-borne spores, possibly infecting only those trees which have already been damaged, for example by ponies. Observations from sites in Pembrokeshire suggest that damage caused by mechanical hedge-trimming or abrasion by flailing branches in windy locations may also be a factor.

Although the affected parts of the willow become disfigured and die, the fungus appears not to be a significant threat to the tree although some plant disease handbooks refer to Willow Blister as “.....a rare pathogen of Salix sp....” [ref. 1]. 20 mm

Conservation status

The species has been known for about 200 years, has never been common, and now appears exceptionally rare.

In recent years it has been reported from just two European locations: northern Sweden in 2009, and Pembrokeshire in 1987 (with its continuing presence confirmed from 2008 to 2011). The Pembroke- shire observation was made in May 1987 when members of the British Mycological Society discov- ered the fungus at Dowrog Common. The species was identified by the (then) BMS foray secretary, Dr. David Minter, a specialist in this group of fungi.

The Fungal Records Database for Britain and Ireland shows just five UK records in the 20th century prior to the Dowrog discovery: 1910 (England), 1925 and 1957 (Scotland), 1964 (Northern Ireland) and 1966 (England).

A provisional assessment by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature categorises the species as Critically Endangered Worldwide [ref. 2].

Willow Blister is classed as Vulnerable in the preliminary UK Red Data List assessment [ref. 3] and has been included in the Pembrokeshire Local Biodiversity Action Plan.

Current status in Pembrokeshire

In 2008, the Pembrokeshire Fungus Recording Network was contacted by David Minter who was keen to obtain fresh voucher material for DNA analysis by a Scandinavian researcher.

The Dowrog Common site was visited and Willow Blister found at the exact location described by David Minter. Samples were collected and forwarded for DNA work with additional voucher material deposited with the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

Details of the find, and its significance, were reviewed with the organisations involved in the management of Dowrog Common including the National Trust, which owns the property, and South and West Wales Wildlife Trust, which leases and manages the site.

4 Since 2008, members of the Pembrokeshire Fungus Recording Network have carried out annual late-winter/spring inspections at Dowrog Common to confirm the continuing good health of Willow Blister. During the course of these visits other potential sites in the locality were visited and in 2009 a second site was found on a hedge-bank at Trefeiddan Common. The 2010 inspection again found Willow Blister at Dowrog but found nothing at Trefeiddan.

At the suggestion of Jane Hodges, PCNPA Ecologist, the 2011 inspection targeted four sites near to St. David's: the two known sites together with willow stands around the Porthclais car-park and alongside the Nine-Wells public footpath. Willow Blister was found at all four sites.

Following the success of this discovery, further field work continued in late spring to look for more sites and to collect records of negative obser- vations to provide a more complete distribution map.

It is very exciting that this rare species is thriving in Pembrokeshire. It is especially encouraging that the relevant organisations are truly enthusiastic about its presence on their sites, and keen to ensure appropriate site management for its continuing survival.

Willow Blister is a deserving flagship species for the County which in turn helps to raise the profile of fungal conservation with a wider audience. In Sites inspected in 2011 for Willow Blister addition to monitoring the health of existing sites, Red dots - species found. more detailed recording, especially in north-West Grey dots - no evidence of the fungus. Pembrokeshire, is planned for next year.

References

1. Smith I. M., European handbook of plant diseases, Wiley-Blackwell, 1988

2. www.iucnredlist.org/sotdfiles/cryptomyces-maximus.pdf

3. Red List for Threatened British Fungi - Preliminary Assessment (Evans, 2006)

Dowrog Common

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5 A note on the distribution of Lophodermium hedericola in west Wales

As Ivy leaves die and turn brown, they become subject to attack by a number of fungi as part of the natural decay process. One of the species involved is the ascomycete (-shooter) Hypoderma hederae which is most easily observed when small, black, raised, elliptical "ascomata" (which contain the spores) appear. These are typically 0.5 to 1.3 mm long - so are best observed using a hand lens. H. hederae was described in the 19th century and is widespread throughout north west . It is not uncommon in the UK (though probably under-recorded) with 90 records on the Fungus Records Database (FRD) prior to 2011.

Some leaves may be affected by a related, but apparently much rarer, species, Lophodermium hedericola. Superficially this looks fairly similar but with somewhat smaller ascomata: just 0.4 to 0.7 mm long. Microscopically, the species is quite different - having long thin ascospores (50-60 x 1 μm.) compared with the shorter, wider, ascospores of H. hederae ( l6-21 x 5-7 μm).

5 mm

Top left: Lophodermium hedericola (left) and Hypoderma hederae (right) on the same leaf.

Top right: Hypoderma hederae showing clusters of 8 squat spores in each ascus

Lower right: Lophodermium hedericola with thinner asci which each contain 8 long, narrow spores. Inset shows sin- gle spore.

L. hedericola is a fairly recent discovery, having been described from Pakistan in 1971. Cannon and Minter [ref. 1] reported that the species seemed to have a restricted UK distribution, with most records from coastal areas of the south and west. The FRD shows just 13 records for L. hedericola prior to 2011 with one of these collected at Goodwick during the 1987 British Mycological Society foray. The comparative rarity of this species has resulted in its inclusion in the UK provisional Red Data List for fungi (2006).

In view of the Pembrokeshire connection, Dr. David Minter suggested the fungus network should look for examples of both species to gain a better understanding of their distribution in west-Wales. We followed this up with an invitation to local members to look out for, and report back on, dead Ivy leaves with black spots.

6 The results from Pembrokeshire provided 16 records for the more widely recorded species Hypoder- ma hederae, and a respectable number of 6 records for the “rarity” Lophodermium hedericola.

H. hederae L. hedericola

However, the story doesn't end in Pembrokeshire! Arthur Chater, the BSBI recorder for Ceredigion, took up the challenge with characteristic enthusiasm and single-handedly blitzed Ceredigion's Ivy population (even occasionally straying a little beyond Ceredigion's borders). He was able to report the presence of one or more of the species at 106 sites, with 91 records for Hypoderma hederae, and a remarkable 46 records for Lophodermium hedericola.

H. hederae L. hedericola

One point that Arthur noted was that all of the Ivy observed in Ceredigion Ceredigion sites was the subspecies Hedera helix ssp. hibernica (Atlantic Ivy). This (plus VC44/47) subspecies is known to be the dominant Ivy subspecies in western coastal Both species present 30 areas, so could this provide a clue to the apparently greater predominance H. hederae only 15 of Lophodermium hedericola in west-Wales compared with other parts L. hedericola only 61 of the UK?

Thanks are due to everyone who spent time hunting for specimens, and especially to Arthur Chater for his herculean efforts in Ceredigion. All records collected during this exercise will be forwarded to the UK national fungus databases in due course.

Ref. 1: Minter, D.W.; Cannon, P.F. (2001, publ. 2002). Lophodermium hedericola. IMI Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria. Set 148 No. 1475.

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7 Species of Conservation Concern (SOCC)

A major focus of our activities is to gain a better understanding of the distribution and conservation needs for threatened species which occur in our County. In doing so we hope to make a positive contri- bution towards the conservation of these fungi by identifying sites where they are found and offering guidance to landowners and managers on site management.

A major step forward came in 2010 when RWE Npower sponsored the production of a report on the SOCC in Pembrokeshire. This year, with further assistance from RWE Npower, the report has been updated. In addition to text amendments, the changes include the addition of two Red Data List species (Lophodermium hedericola and Camarophyllopsis hymenocephala) together with additional sites for three species (Entoloma bloxamii, Clavaria zollingeri and Hygrocybe calyptriformis). Accession numbers are now listed for voucher specimens lodged at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

In order to facilitate access to the most recent information, a new section has been added to the PFRN website with datasheets for each species.

Forthcoming book - “Fascinated by Fungi”

Later this year, fungus enthusiasts have a treat in store with the publication of “Fascinated in Fungi” by local author Pat O'Reilly. Pat, and his wife Sue, lived in Pembrokeshire for a number of years before moving to Llandyssul in Ceredigion.

The book promises to “...... explore the majesty and mystery, facts and fantasy of the quirkiest kingdom on earth ...” and provides a very personal, and eminently readable, excursion through the world of fungi. Grassland fungus enthusiasts will be pleased to see their interests well represented with a chapter specifically covering this group.

In addition to comprehensive chapters describing many of the fungi we encounter, the book includes an excellent, well illustrated, explanation of many of the often confusing terms used in field guides. The biology of fungi is nicely described in layman's terms, again with very clear colour illustrations. To my delight, there is even room in the book for a section on microscopes.

Certainly a fungus book with something for everyone.

In addition to writing and publishing natural history books, Pat and Sue run a very popular website: First Nature (www.first-nature.com) - well worth a visit for a wealth of information on natural history including a link to their online guide to nature reserves in Wales. Other fungus publications include the First Nature Multimedia Guide to Fungi - an interactive CD-ROM with containing photos, identification guides and videos.

Acknowledgements: Distribution maps generated using the DIVA-GIS program. Digitised Watsonian Vice-County boundary data © All rights reserved. National Biodiversity Network Trust and Crown copyright 2003. Photographs & Text © PFRN unless otherwise stated.

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