Pamber Forest, Hampshire - 02/03/08

We'd been rather excited about this trip ever since it had been announced. New terrain is always pretty exciting, especially when the terrain is so variable throughout the forest. Not only was the excitement reserved for what we might find today, it was reserved for the thought scanning the area for patches to revisit in the Autumn months when the fungi season is in full swing. I had prepared my camera equipment the previous evening, mainly so I could get a little bit more sleep in the morning rather than fumbling around gummy eyed trying to find bits of tripod or batteries for flashes.

I woke up at about 9, had a quick shower, chucked on some clothes, and checked my bag over to make sure I'd not forgotten anything. I then realised it was about 9.25am and remembered that I was to meet my lift and my pal David in the car park at roughly 9.15am. Upon me realising this, I was just popping the last bits of my Metz kit in my bag and my phone rang. It was David asking where I was. I ran to the car park and met up with him and his Rhodesian Ridgeback Chaka, and we made off towards Pamber Forest.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by J.P, a regular enthusiastic contributor and member of 'Shrooms, the Fungi of Hampshire and Surrey borders. We were also greeted by Garry, the latest member of FHSB, and it was nice to be able to put a face to the name. Of course as soon as we arrived, J.P had already had a small wander around near the car park, finding something on a stick.

We made off into the depths of Pamber Forest. As we wandered through the forest with eyes firmly on the fallen logs, I was hoping that we would get to see one of two things. I'd wanted to see Scarlet Elfcups for so long, and it was the right time of year and we would hopefully find the right terrain. The other species I would have been ecstatic to find was the Green Elfcup, but I didn't have high hopes. The first thing we found, I was shown by J.P. It was on the underside of a large log and I was informed that it was Schizopora paradoxa, which has a very interesting pore texture. I found some Liverwort on the end of a log too, which was fascinating me by just looking at the spindles. Then came the first 'mushroom' of the day, which certainly wasn't anything as special as I'd have hoped. Small yellow mushroom in Spring, growing from a stump, nice structure, nice size...to turn it over and notice the green/grey gills and realise that I was dealing with not something interesting, but Hypholoma fasciculare. We continued to trundle through the boggy land, me without Wellies or boots having to use logs as stepping stones, often losing my balance. I saw a nice group of Turkeytail - Trametes versicolor, and I decided that this would be my first photographed fungi for the day, so I proceeded to heave all of my equipment out of the bag to spend ten minutes photographing the brackets, which in hindsight was a waste of time because the photographs were terrible.



We continued on, with my eyes open at all times looking for the Green Elfcups on the various green stained wood that had been affected by Chlorociboria aeruginascens but to my annoyance, I couldn't seem to find any. David strolled over to me with a grin on his face and presented in front of me, the LCD screen on his camera. He had found an Adder - vipera berus sunning itself on a piece of exposed wood. It was indeed a beautiful snake and the photograph certainly captured the beauty. We walked along the path, every so often swaying from the track to inspect a fallen tree or some mossy ground until we came to a gate and what sounded like stream. It was quite a damp area, and we headed onto a patch of ground near the stream. I was just climbing over a log when Garry bent down to inspect something. I watched him push aside some nettles and grass to reveal a Scarlet body, at which time, my face positively lit up. When I realised Garry had found the first Scarlet Elfcup I'd ever seen, I was chuffed. As I was about to have a closer look, I heard J.P from somewhere in the tree shouting my name. As I made my way over to him, I noticed more Elfcups scattered about and when I eventually reached him after clambering around over willow branches, I realised the floor was carpeted with these beautiful Scarlet cups. I spent a good 15 minutes finding a group to photograph and then went on to photograph them.



When I'd got over the sheer amount and beauty of these precious little cup fungi, we moved back towards the entrance of the boggy section. Immediately as we'd reached the path again J.P found both Blushing Bracket - Daedaeleopsis confragosa and Cramp Balls - Daldinia concentrica. Off we headed towards the more dense part of the wood to find a tangled mass of fallen and dead Willow housing some rather beautiful Phellinus ferreus which I photographed. I decided that it might be fun to climb up one of the fallen trunks, got on it, slipped on the moss, had second thoughts and then came back down again. As we made our way back towards the general direction of the car park, we hit different terrain. Moss, Gorse and Heather was all present, along with the trees you would expect to see alongside said plants. Silver Birch, Birch, Sweet chestnut and Willow. Definitely a place to revisit in the Autumn as this section would be perfect for certain Boletes and Amanitas. J.P found another Adder, and i really wanted to get a cracking picture of it, but I crept over there and the snake began to make it's escape through the wiry heather. Whilst heading back to the car, we recorded no significant finds. The odd dead bit of Xylaria hypoxylon and the occasional remains of Trametes versicolor were the most exciting thing about the journey back to where our adventure had started.

All in all, I had an excellent day and I saw one of the two things I had hoped to see, and I saw enough of it to last me a few years. The Scarlet Elfcup - Sarcoscypha austriaca is now a species I can tick off of the list. A beautiful little organism, and I'd be pleased to find it again. A real pleasure being out with the lads again on a Sunday morning.