Hever Castle - The Slate Bolete, Leccinum duriusculum

Just across the flat bridge in front of the main entrance to the castle itself there was a bank with a range of oaks and two Populus species. Under them were a couple of Leccinum fruiting bodies, so my first thought was the Slate or Poplar Bolete, Leccinum duriusculum, and I think I was able to more or less confirm that, once I got it home.

 One factor that threw me a bit was the nut-brown of the pilei, less usual for this species I think, as greys or lighter browns are often mentioned but this brown is still seen in a number of credible images. It is also worth noting that we are now in October, the end of the season for this particular Bolete, and perhaps this has some sort of impact.

The surface of the stipe was white, but fairly nearly completely covered with blackish squamules. 

The tubes and pores were buff coloured, at least by now. These contrasted with the initial white of the flesh, both of the cap and the stipe. Once cut, the flesh of the main upper part of the stipe slowly (6 minutes onwards) turned the expected violaceous-black, so that should rule out the look-alike Leccinum scabrum.

There was a hint of blue in the dark grey of the broken base of the stipe, and then about 12 hours after cutting a small clear blue patch appeared temporarily (see last photo, above), but no more than that. Rather more concerning maybe was no obvious sign of the intermediate pink that Andy Overall and others report before the dark grey takes over in the upper parts, but there was perhaps the tiniest hint of pink and of course it did look "violaceous", not just grey, so perhaps that is more of a variation in timing - hopefully. Factors that reassured me were the very obvious "solid" nature of the stipes noted as I picked the specimen and also I think the caps, the creamy colour of the pores and tubes contracting with the pure white of the flesh of both the cap and stipe. together with the grey colour of the damaged pores as opposed to the "tea" presumably browner, colour expected for Leccinum scabrum. 

Dene Park to the SW of Hunters' Lodge

 

I checked the car-park Pine Log for the developing fruiting body, and found a previously unseen white bracket which apps said were a Postia, So it ought to be Postia stiptica or Postia tephraleuca.

Just before I reached the frontage of Hunters Lodge, two fruiting bodies of what I thought might have been Caloboletus radicans, close to a semi-mature oak on the edge of the wood - it certainly tasted bitter, no red layer below the pileus as in C. and not as red-tinged as in C. calopus found with Beech and conifers (occasionally Oak), so the commonest option seems to be the most likely as so often happens. 

However, there does seem to be an issue with the red reticulum on the stem. Although there are plenty of images like this claiming to be the Rooting Bolete online, it does need checking against the other group of boletes in case there is an error here.

In the wood section to the NW of Hunters Lodge there were 3 or more Parasols, Macrolepiota procera, under the Yews if under any particular trees at all, but surrounded by Oak, Hornbeam and near Common Laurel. 

On a couple of logs there were multiple creamy partly zonate brackets with somewhat lumpy and a bumpy hairy upper surfaces and very long mazelike pores on the underside, so at first I thought possibly Trametes gibbosa, the Lumpy Bracket itself. I didn't think it was the Blushing Bracket, because it was not on Willow, was not zonate enough, and didn't blush (admittedly it was old though). Also not the Oak Mazegill, because not on Oak, not with the characteristic deep belly of the Daedalea and the pores just didn't look right. But still to be proven I believe! The underside was actually gill-like enough to suggest Birch Mazegill, Lenzites (now Trametes again?) betulinus! And that I am now nearly sure is what it is! The fallen trunk was most likely Sycamore or Horse Chestnut, but apparently that is still just possible. 

Interesting rounded particles of "debris". I certainly need to come back to this one!

The characteristic underside, under room and phone lights together, so a little bit yellow

By the side of the gravelled drive two Shaggy Inkcaps, Coprinus comatus, were rushing through their brief existences  

By the gateway a couple of Common Puffballs, Lycoperdon

Outside the wood in the grassland to the north of the car park, there were about 5 nice Blushers, Amanita rubescens.

And also two nice chunky salmon-coloured Russulas! Sadly not identified.

Arrival at Shortflatt

On several of the older Ash trees there appeared to be some examples of very old Hairy Bracket fruiting bodies, one high on one tree, one down at the bottom of another. Very difficult to ID of course at that stage of decay.

At the bottom of a beefy substantial Beech Tree alongside the main driveway into the venue there were fruiting fronds of the Giant Polypore, Meripulus giganteus, which were already blackening.

In the fields a significantly sized . Also a lovely Brown Hare, showing off it's paces.

Tomich driveway on arrival.

Old rotting fruiting bodies, a small cluster of the dark Honey Fungus, Armillaria ostoyae, then a group of The Miller, Clitopilus prunulus then many many Chanterelles, Cantharellus cibarius. Down the drive also dozens of Brown Roll Rims, Paxillus involutus, a couple of Birch Brown Boletes, Leccinum scabrum, and some massive Ugly Milk caps, Lactarius or Lactifluus controversus. Some other lbms.

Oldbury Wood in The Dry

 

The Smoky Bracket, Bjerkandera adusta or fumosa on a stump/post by the car park drive

Old brackets of the Oak Curtain Bracket, Hymenochaete rubiginosa, on the end of an old decaying oak log

Dunorlan Park with some Boletes

 

An afternoon wander around Dunorlan in the hope of finding the Podoscypha multizonata fruiting bodies, one of which I saw in 2025, but nothing visible yet this year. 

However it was great to find what appeared to be my very first Ganoderma resinaceum, on the old struggling Oak by the Halls Hole Road car park.  

 

 Possibly Harmandiola tremulae, one of the many gall midges in Cecidomyidae, on one of the "corner" Aspens by the first junction beyond the dog bin. 

Two of these species form an ID pair, on the upperside and not projecting much below the lamina, H. tremulae the bigger, more globular with thicker walls, shiny red when mature and H. globuli, smaller, thicker necked sometime with a collar, and duller when mature. The larva of H. tremulae is a somewhat redder orange.

Note: sphericality, w.r.t. H. globuli

There seem to be more reports of this species by the smaller and less spectacular Harmandiola globuli. Perhaps those are just less often spotted. 

I get the impression that H. tremulae is more commonly found towards the base of the leaf, nearer the junction with the petiole. Perhaps this is less true of H. globuli.

About 3 - 4 mm across, a shiny red when mature, then blackening. 

The crimped Gill, Plicatura crispa

A lovely spread of brackets by the side of MR 597, possibly on fallen Hazel, Corylus. The blue-grey tinges on the underside of the brackets are obvious from a distance. This species has exploded across the UK since the turn of the century, and no-one seems to know why.

Fruit bodies are generally 1-3 cm in length with bracket-like semi-circular shell shapes. Upper surface is normally concentrically zoned getting paler as it approaches the edge. Underside is made up of pale forked folds, giving a gill-like appearance. It produces white spores.

Plicatura crispa is an effective participant in the initial phase of decay, colonizing predominantly dead branches of deciduous trees (Fagus and Betula) and is associated with a white rot. A few years into the succession of wood decomposition, strong competitors such as Trametes versicolor and the split-gill fungus Schizophyllum commune often displace Plicatura crispa.

It is the ridged margins, rather like the edge of a pie, that accounts for the species’ common name of the Crimped Gill, as well as the second part of its binomial: crispa is the Latin word for curly or crimped (there’s another fungus, the Wood Cauliflower, with the scientific name Sparassis crispa).

Byssocorticium sp, possibly atrovirens

 

The powder-blue of this crust was actually remarkable!

The last log turned over to check for fungi this afternoon showed these patches of this powder-blue(?) delicate and slightly fluffy crust, partly on the decaying leaves pressed to the log's underside rather than the wood itself. The log was certainly well rotted but not yet disintegrating, and most likely to be oak. The blue was greyer in places. The crust resembled one of the three species of Byssocorticium in Hugill and Lucas, possibly atrovirens, but not separable without microscopy of the spores, etc. The colour was really quite impressive and a delightful sight as the light faded, a wonderful end to our afternoon in the local woodland, whatever the species.

The Porcelain Fungus, Oudemansiella mucida

 

Beautiful, due to the purity of its all white colouration; apart from its production of mucus in wet weather! Very young mushrooms are actually off white to pale grey. However, the ochre in the centre of the older caps is also a characteristic feature. 

Strongly linked to older rotting fallen Beech, where it can sometimes be found in large numbers. Toxic to other fungi, and therefore, with Strobilurus tenacellus, the source of synthesised "Strobilurins" the group of agricultural fungicides. 

In this image the host does look rather like oak, on which Oudemansiella is known to be very occasionally found. 

One Beech, home to multitudes

 Here is the tree, such a wonderful sight

A new fungus to me is the Olive Oysterling, Sarcomyxa serotina. Not so commonly found some say, but enthusiasts seem to be able to find it OK. 

Much of the tree was covered in fruiting bodies of Stereum rugosum

There was also Stereum hirsutm 

There was some old Hypoxylon fragiforme, Beech Woodwart fruiting bodies possibly suggesting the tree had been down for a few years. Here they are, mixed with Oysterlings and more Stereum.

At the base was some Smoky Bracket, Bjerkandera adusta, 

and some decrepit Lycoperdon perlatum, Common Puffballs, 

Also some Turkeytail, Trametes versicolor.

And lastly some slime mould fruiting aggregations: