Near where I live in Handforth, North Cheshire, there is a small park surrounded by an estate of private houses built in the early 196Os. The park, known locally as "the Parsonage", was the site of a fairly large house of that name (not actually a parsonage) built in the last century and demolished some 45 years ago. It had fairly extensive grounds. The area of the present park is around one-sixth of a hectare. It is now a grassed-over area, mown regularly during the year. The O.S. grid reference number is SJ 861830.

There are several large Beeches still standing, some horse-chestnuts, several fine Hollies, Cherry trees, a solitary Birch and a solitary Hornbeam.

The park is fenced (with houses on the outsides of the fences). The perimeter has some rough grass which is not mown, nettle-beds and a certain amount of (illegally!) deposited garden rubbish, along with a few garden-escapes

I visit this park most days of the year with my dog, and I have been keeping notes of the insect life and fungi for some twenty years - perhaps more thoroughly over the last five or six years.

The table below shows the fungi which I have observed and identified from 1991 - 95. An asterisk indicates that a species was seen in any particular year. The numbers in parentheses relate to the notes which follow the table.

Obviously, too much must not be read into these observations. The apparent absence of a species in a particular year may mean that I simply missed it. Thus, I feel sure that Coprinus plicatilis was there in 1994, but I simply didn’t see it - or if I did, I neglected to write it down. (On the other hand, I feel equally certain that C. lagopus did appear for the first time in 1995, or surely I should have spotted it earlier? Similarly, I’m sure that, for some reason, Russula cyanoxantha had three good years, 1992-4, but carpophores failed to appear in 1995. And there’s probably no doubt that the introduction of wood shavings in 1994 led to new arrivals seen the following year - see note (4)).

At the same time, there have been fungi which I have failed to identify because of lack of skill and (sometimes) the necessary technical gear.

But I hope that this brief account, however subjective, might encourage others to explore ordinary locations which they visit frequently - perhaps, like me, exercising their dogs! - and to submit accounts of the fungi they find. Properly collated (by groups such as ours?) they might add a little to our knowledge of fungal distribution and ecology.


   

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

Agaricus campestris

  

*

*

*

*

*

Amanita rubescens

      

*

*

  

Armillaria mellea (1)

          

*

Auricularia auricula-judae (2)

      

*

    

Coprinus atramentarius

    

*

*

*

  

C. comatus

  

*

*

*

*

*

C. lagopus

          

*

C. plicatilis

  

*

*

*

  

*

Diatrype disciformis

  

*

      

*

Inocybe geotropa var. lilacina

      

*

    

Flammulina velutipes (3)

    

*

*

  

*

Hypholoma fasciculare (4)

          

*

Lactarius circellatus (5)

        

*

*

L. turpis

    

*

*

*

  

Lepista nuda (6)

      

*

*

*

L. sordida (6)

          

*

Lepiota cristata

          

*

Lyophyllum decastes

    

*

  

*

  

Marasmius oreades (7)

  

*

*

*

*

*

Meripilus giganteus (8)

  

*

*

*

*

*

Nectria cinnabarina

      

*

*

*

Panaeolina foenisecii (4)

          

*

Paxillus involutus (9)

        

*

  

Pleurotus ostreatus (3)

          

*

Polyporus squamosus (3)

        

*

*

Psathyrella candolleana (4)

          

*

P. hydrophila

  

*

    

*

  

Russula betularum

      

*

    

R. cyanoxantha

    

*

*

*

  

Stropharia aurantiaca (10)

          

*

Trametes gibbosa (8)

    

*

*

*

*

Tremella mesenterica

  

*

    

*

  

Xerocomus chrysenteron

    

*

    

*

Xylaria hypoxylon (3)

    

*

*

    


Notes

(1) There were clumps of Honey Fungus growing on buried wood in earlier years, but I saw none in 1991-4. However, there was a spectacular eruption of sporocarps in October 1995, on and around a tall beech which was seen to be ailing during the summer. It will be interesting to see if the infestation spreads to other trees in the area.

(2) Seen on broken-off branches fallen from a Beech

(3) In January 1991 a Horse-chestnut tree was blown down in high winds, leaving a stump. In the following years, the stump was infested with Flammulina and Xylaria. Later, the Dryad’s Saddle and Oyster Mushroom appear to have become dominant, and the Xylaria may have disappeared.

(4) In 1994 rectangular areas were cut out of the turf around the swings and the climbing frame. These areas were then filled with wood shavings. The following year Sulphur-tuft, the Panaeolina and Psathyrella candolleana appeared in some quantity in the grass immediately surrounding the wood shavings - presumably associated with stray buried shavings in the grass.

(5) Two sporocarps appeared each year, near the Hornbeam.

(6) Initially, Wood Blewit was seen in grass beside the Yews. Then, in 1994 and 1995, large numbers of the sporocarps appeared in nettle-beds alongside a surrounding fence, where there is much twiggy debris including dumped garden rubbish. Here too, in 1995, Lepista sordida was identified - but this might have been missed the previous year.

(7) There are many fine "fairy rings" produced by this fungus.

(8) Large clusters of Meripilus giganteus at the foot of a tall Beech. Then, in 1995, this species also appeared on the up-ended base of another high Beech which had been felled in a gale in 1990. It appears to be ousting the Trametes gibbosa which appeared on the stump the year after the tree came down, and which doesn’t seem to have produced new growth in 1995.

(9) Seen only in this one year - when the species also appeared on soil in neighbouring gardens.

(10) Two carpophores appeared in September, 1995, but not in the wood shavings recently introduced - see note (4) - which are usually given as the substrate when this species appears in parks and gardens. They were in fact growing in the twiggy debris mentioned in note (6), some forty metres from the areas filled with shavings.


ADDENDUM

Since I wrote the above there has been an arrival and two departures.

Again around the edges of one of the rectangular areas filled with wood chippings, a species has arrived (January, 1996) which I have not seen here before - many sporophores of Tubaria hiemalis (my microscopic technique was just sufficient for me to be able to spot the capitillate cheilocystidia). It seems that while there have been no fungi found on the actual chippings, where an overflow of these has become embedded in soil of the surrounding grass this has provided niches for several species not previously present.

The departures: two beeches - the one hosting Meripilus and the one attacked spectacularly by Armillaria in October 1995 - have been felled.

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