Wednesday, 8 October 2025

Oldbury Hill

Sulphur Knight. Tricholoma sulphureum. Certainly smelt horrible and was very yellow!





False Death Cap, Amanita citrina, no images this time.


The Blusher, Amanita rubescens perhaps





Oak Milkcap, Lactarius chrysorrheus - I think!



Beech Milkcap, Lactarius blennius. Slimy when wet and quite unprepossessing. Cap pale olive to greenish grey, occasionally tinged pink, soon depressed in centre, typically blotchy. Light grey or cap-coloured stem. Copious milk that dries grey. Usually with Beech, sometimes Oak, usually on acid soil. 



The Common Rustgill again attached to a small twig, Gymnopilus penetrans.




Amethyst Deceiver, Laccaria amesthystina, in good colour and in good numbers.



Possibly The Sickener, Russula emetica, at least a Russula



Shaggy Scalycap, Pholiota squarrosa. Colourful!




The Floury Brittlegill, Russula farinepes perhaps, but seems unlikely as relatively rare and on high pH soil. Possibly the Ochre Brittlegill, Russula ochraleuca, but farinepes has been found on this site in the past.




Deer Shield, Pluteus cervinus. The colour of this species is very variable, but seems recognizable with experience.




Buttercap, Rhodocollybia butyracea. 





Brown Rollrim, Paxillus involutus, the most likely candidate.



Blushing Bracket, Daedaleopsis confragosa, in a fairly typical view Blushed well on the underside.



Sulphur Tuft, Hypholoma fasciculare. No images. Several patches present


Stocking Webcap, Cortinarius torvus. One of the easier Cortinarius to be identified! Greyish brown cap with lighter radial fibres. Gills start off a little violet until they get covered with the rusty brown spores.  Stipe slightly violet above the whitish stocking 






Monday, 6 October 2025

Southborough Common

Not a huge amount to be seen, but they were tremendous numbers of sulphur tuft particularly.



Another wood-attacking species: This is the Common Rustgill, Gymnopilus penetrans, A Rustgill without scales on its cap. 





Also chewing away on wood is this Black Bulgar, Bulgaria inquinans. The Americans call these "black jelly drops". An unusual Ascomycete, not one of the Jelly-like Basidiomycetes I usually see. The rough brown outer surfaces of the cups clearly separate this species from those jellies, although these become blacker and smoother with age.




Also on Beech, a moribund standing trunk, is a collection of Ganoderma brackets.



Ever present is the Birch Polypore, Fomitopsis betulina.


and these are the Stump or Pear-shaped Puffballs, Apioperdon perlatum.


These are the most renowned wood-rotters, Honey Fungus, in this case the Ringless Honey Fungus, Armillaria ostoyae.


Common earthballs, Scleroderma citrinum


and a huge boss on the side of a tree trunk



Sunday, 5 October 2025

Later in Dene Park

 

Parasol, Macrolepiota procera by a Beech 


The White-laced Toughshank, Megacollybia platyphylla again, nice to see it and with its distinctive appearance.


and this is probably the Yellowing Bonnet, Mycena epipterygia


Saturday, 4 October 2025

Milkcaps, Amanitas and Bovine Boletes at Pembury Walks

 The Saffron or Delicious Milkcap, Lactarius deliciosus, was found along the sandy path, told by its "dents", orange stipe, highly zonate cap and greenish touches

It is convex, margin inrolled at first and then vase-shaped and sharp-edged.

The next two images are of one fruiting body, first before and than after picking

   


This Milkcap is identified by ObservationID as the Birch Milkcap, Lactarius tabidus. Found in numbers under Birches, abundant and widespread. 

Caps have matt and wrinkled surfaces. Stem a little darker at base. Gills crowded and weakly decurrent. Colour flesh (pale cinnamon) and slightly darker when bruised?

Milk maybe a little sparse, soon acrid after a pause.


This is a new Amanita for me, and I think that it is Amanita excelsa, var spissa, the Grey-spotted Amanita, without serrations on the margin possibly. Seems darker around the base of the stipe below the ring than above.


and this might be the white form of the False Deathcap, Amanita citrina var alba - maybe.


Brown Rollrim


These might be the Meadow Bonnet, Mycena leucoalba


and Mycena epipterygia


and some more Bovine Boletes, Suillus bovinus
 





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



On the way through Tonbridge, there looked to be a Horse Mushroom, Agaricus arvensis, on the verge