The Aims of the Notts Fungi Group

The Nottinghamshire Fungi Group (NFG) was established in July 1996 by a small group of enthusiasts who had begun an interest in fungi while attending courses arranged by the WEA. The intention of the founder members was to form a group that would foster and promote the study of fungi in all their forms and provide an educational opportunity for its members and the wider community.

To this end the NFG aims to:

• Offer opportunities for anyone with an interest in fungi to meet with others and learn from each other.
• Promote an interest in fungi through talks and forays arranged with natural history and other voluntary and community groups.
• Provide a source of expertise that can be consulted by anyone with queries concerning fungi.
• To record the fungi in Nottinghamshire.
• To promote the conservation of fungi and of threatened habitats of rare fungi.
• To liaise with other relevant groups and active individuals in Nottinghamshire and other regions.

Secretary: Tony Kavanagh 0115 959 0135

Recorder: Howard Williams

To contact by email click on one of the names below

Polyporous squamosus - Bestwood Churchyard

The NFG welcomes anyone interested in learning more about fungi that can be found in Nottinghamshire. No previous knowledge is necessary to enjoy this activity. Just turn up at any of the forays listed below.

You may find the following information useful:

  Wear suitable shoes or boots as areas can sometimes be wet and muddy.

  Useful aids are notebook and pencil, pocket identification guide, knife, hand trowel, hand lens, a basket, and some small containers.

  Please do not bring dogs without prior permission from the leader of that particular foray.

  Edible fungi: many species are recommended as good to eat, but you should take great care when selecting fungi for the table. If you do not have confidence yourself, you should make sure that they have been correctly identified by someone more expert. Certain fungi, described as delicacies may cause upsets to some individuals - always try a small quantity if eating any species for the first time and only use fresh young specimens.

If the identity is in doubt do not eat it

Gloeophyllum odoratum on pine stump. Barrow Hills, Notts.

Trametes suaveolens on Willow. Attenborough, NR Notts.

With all the rain that fell in June and July everyone predicted a huge fungal harvest from August onwards. In fact for much of that time many woods seemed to produce less, at least of the larger, more colourful species. Perhaps this was an illusion, for the fact remains that the NFG had its best year yet for the number of records submitted and species recorded. This is partly because of larger numbers of new participants on the forays, and of that number several stuck with us and became members themselves; and partly because of our 10 forays 2 were joint efforts with non-members of the public (Sherwood Heath SSSI and Attenborough NR). In both cases that meant there were many more eyes to search for the fungi – the collectors were often beginners which illustrates the point that you don’t need to be an expert to boost the county records as long as there are a few experts on hand to help out. Slowly too the use of microscopes and keys is increasing by the more committed which will also increase the Group’s expertise.

The forays were enjoyed by all that turned out to them, even at Sherwood Forest NNR with bitingly cold rain and another wet session at 100 Acre Wood near Worksop. In fact, despite the rain, we found more species (69) at the latter venue than at any other this year. Keen non-members and new members were hugely important in the business of spying out mushrooms and toadstools, even the ‘little brown jobs’, and none more so than the small number of children who turned up with their parents. Nearer the ground and with sharper eyes, children are very perceptive and always enthusiastic.

Anyone who attended a foray and wishes to have a list of its identified fungi should contact our Secretary, Mary Hawkins. For this Report I shall just pick out a few interesting fungi from each foray.

Beeston Sidings Nottingham (May) On a pile of woodchips the curious Bird’s Nest Fungus Crucibulum laeve and some tall pink-gilled Volvariella gloeocephala attracted a deal of attention especially from the photographers.

Bestwood CP Nottingham (September) Stinkhorns, Phallus impudicus, Beefsteak Fungus Fistulina hepatica, and the yellow-bruising fans of the crust bracket Stereum subtomentosum on logs and old branches drew a lot of interest, while the rare oak cushion Dichomitus campestris was a bonus. The classroom session and book exhibition afterwards was reasonably attended for about half an hour, after which most forayers drifted off.

Sherwood Heath SSSI (September) Some interesting things turned up here on a fine morning: the rare little cream gilled bracket Crepidotus carpaticus on dead twigs; Artist’s Bracket Ganoderma applanatum on birch (usually on beech); the beige-brown Funnel Cap Clitocybe phaeophthalma variously described as smelling of henhouses, wet feathers or mouldy earth; lastly on the car park fence and seen only by the last leavers the beautiful black-brown bracket with yellow-gold rim, Gloeophyllum sepiarium.

Haywood Oaks (October) The cinammon-coloured Peppery Bolete Chalciporus piperatus was a nice find under the pines, and the aniseed-smelling Clitocybe odora. The tiny orange cups on soil of Scutellinia crucipila were good to find. It is a cousin of the better known Eyelash Fungus but without the prominent lashes.

Attenborough NR Nottingham (October) The recent newcomer to Britain Agrocybe rivulosa occurred here on woodchips, making this the 4th Notts site for this large ringed fungus; Ganoderma applanatum (this time on willow) created a bit of a stir for the conspicuous insect galls on its under surface. A few of us had heard of these but not seen them and hadn’t realized how large and peg-like these galls are; the prize here must go the white aniseed bracket Trametes suaveolens on willow, which is a rarity everywhere. This bracket was discovered by new member and photographer Richard Rogers at the start of the year and it was good to see it still flourishing. Let’s hope it spreads to other willow in the vicinity.

100 Acre Wood Worksop (October) Wet, wet, wet, but still productive! A keen group found various Russulas, and the black top-shaped Black Bulgar Bulgaria inquinans on fallen oak. One of the young boys present found a first site record with the small brown Simocybe centunculus on rotten wood. A Honey Fungus Armillaria ostoyae with its brown-dotted ring made an attractive cluster on beech, and Tephrocybe confusa was a welcome addition to 3 other Tephrocybes recorded here in the past. Tephrocybe is a rather small, dull-looking genus with a strong mealy taste and smell, but not common.

Kirton Wood NR (November) On a sunny morning a number of unusual fungi were collected by a large and enthusiastic group. Of these Wrinkled Peach Rhodotus palmatus on fallen elm was very interesting as, with the demise of so much elm, it has become much rarer. Another sort of Honey Fungus Armillaria bulbosa was found at the base of a dead tree; in litter Wood Blewits Lepista nuda and the large Funnel Cap Clitocybe geotropa caused much interest; Galerina marginata, an orange-brown toadstool was growing on woody debris. It is one of the very poisonous fungi and a good reason to avoid eating any brownish-orange fungi in woods.

Spalford Warren NR (November) The small liver-brown Omphalina subhepatica with decurrent gills was collected from moss, as was the always intriguing orange Cordyceps militaris, a club growing from the remains of a buried caterpillar. It is one of a small number of similar parasitic fungi.

Sherwood Forest NNR (November) in the rain was nevertheless rewarding with good crops of the gilled bracket Panellus stipticus on a variety of fallen hardwood. On fallen oak wood the tiny brown cups of Rutstroemia firma were a centre of attraction, and two of the tiny, hairy, white Mycenas with basal discs were spotted and later identified on dead oak leaves. Spotting them proves our members must have sharp eyes!

Ploughman Wood NR (December) was our last foray of the season and gave us some new records for the Group. Scutellinia cejpeii on a mossy fallen ash trunk is another rarer relation of the common Eyelash Fungus Scutellinia scutellata. An uncommon orange disk on birch was Orbilia luteorubella, similar to a number of others to be found on old wood; while the date-brown toadstool with yellow gills turning pink, Pluteus romellii, was a good find too, though not a new record.

I have now managed to put on the database all of the NFG’s records since 1996 when we began as a society, thanks to those members who had kept hard copies of their records and to our old recorder Paul Nicholl who had sent me his official records for the years to 2003 when I took over. Consequently the tables that follow give us a more representative picture of the frequency and distribution of the county’s fungi than those of previous years. From 1996-2007 we have entered 10329 records of 938 species. When shall we reach 1000 species I wonder. Though we record Myxomycetes when we can identify them, I have excluded them from the tables as they are not true fungi, and also to make comparison simpler between years.

Howard Williams, Recorder

The NFG is affiliated to the British Mycological Society (BMS) and the Association of British Fungus Groups (ABFG).