Am I too late?

[Stomperone]

I went out last weekend into a wood to get some photographs of fungus/toadstools/mushrooms and all I found were remains of where they once were.. They all seemed to have gone over apart from the odd one or two very sad looking specimens.. Am I too late to get any shots this year?.. If anyone knows of somewhere in the Plymouth area there is still some live stuff please could you contact me so I could get some photographs of it ..

[GerryNick2]

I have been having the same problem this season , the fungi are very sparse in my area which I put down to the dry conditions. Managed to find one or two in sheltered spots and damp wooded areas worthy of a picture.

Hoping things improve over the next few weeks so keep searching.

Gerry

[The Black Rabbit]

Originally Posted by GerryNick2

I have been having the same problem this season , the fungi are very sparse in my area which I put down to the dry conditions. Managed to find one or two in sheltered spots and damp wooded areas worthy of a picture.

Hoping things improve over the next few weeks so keep searching.

Gerry

I'm hardly an expert -I've just begun a (hopefully) long love affair with fungi this year.
From all the experts I have spoken to regarding this though - yes - this year has been somewhat strange.
Some fungi came up very early, due to the bad summer we had and died down early. Some died down after blooming early, and are now fruiting again, later thanthey should.
Many edible species have been thinner on the ground than normal due to this years strange weather - wet summer, dry autumn.
That said, the New Forest (at least the parts that we looked at) is bursting with fungi, or at least was, 3 weeks ago. (WELL off the beaten track).
Not only that, but Black park in Berkshire was very successful a week ago. Lots of different species including many Boletes and Ceps.
I get the opinion (but like I say, I'm pretty new to all this) that the fungi are around (although it is certainly very late in the season for many), but you will just have to be prepared to search harder. Its nothing like like last year, as far as I can tell, when I was tripping over fungi!

Cheers
Doug

[NickCantle]

Once the knowledge starts expanding on the fungi situation, your mind becomes accustomed to what grows where and when. Say for example the Ceps are over (and lots of people consider that as the end of the fungi season) some people stop looking altogether when there's a whole different range of new and interesting species. Wood Blewit - Lepista nuda for instance is a beautiful, delicious mushroom with fragrant flesh. It's always a welcome sight to me and there are many winter species that are good to keep an eye out for. Look at fungi hunting like the fashion world. Each season has different fungi in many fantastic shapes, colours, textures and tones! I get annoyed when I go out and all I seem to find is Agrocybe Rivulosa or Xerula radicata but then I remember that amongst these (which usually appear late summer where I am) there are so many more that are waiting to be pounced upon by a mushroom hunter! I'm already getting a reputation at Uni for bringing home basket upon basket of culinary delights and my house mates even trust me enough to eat them...which I'm glad about. But back on track. If you're after mushroom to photograph, study or just admire, then you'll be fine through winter and even if you're thinking of a more culinary direction, there'll be Blewits, Wood Blewits, Winter Chanterelles and Velvet shank hiding out there somewhere.

Nick

[billybob99]

I live in north devon and in our local woods there are still lots of various fungi around

[cherrybee]

I went on a fungi foray the other day at Newton Poppleford in Devon.It was my first one.We started out on,of all places,the sports field.Where we found lots of waxcaps.Admittadely I only got 3 different ones but there were large clumps of them.We then moved of down a lane nearby where we found several different species.Then acroos a feild and into a village churchayard where we found more waxcaps and Apricot Club - Clavulinopsis luteoalba also a small patch of white fingers not sure what they werre called.Unfortunately my photo of the white ones were very blurred they were so small.
So today I thought I would try my local churchayard and couldnt find a thing

[morel man]

Hi there,
Me and my other half have just got back after a fungi foray in Clumber Park and well , what can I say, what a dissapointment, all we found were a couple of sulphur tufts on a dead tree stump, mind you we had been to four different places today with less results, each time we got to our destination there wasn`t even that smell in the air, not like last week when we went looking for chestnuts, there was a destinct smell of damp in the air, we found loads of fungi , not all edible, but good all the same, lets hope we get a little damp weather in the week.

[leek]

I have found that the damper woods are much more productive this year. I went on an organised forage in the new forest yesterday and the organisers warned us that were was not going to much out there - but we still found a huge number of species within an hour - there may not have been lots of each - but there was definitely still a variety to find.

LEEK

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by morel man

Hi there,
Me and my other half have just got back after a fungi foray in Clumber Park and well , what can I say, what a dissapointment, all we found were a couple of sulphur tufts on a dead tree stump, mind you we had been to four different places today with less results, each time we got to our destination there wasn`t even that smell in the air, not like last week when we went looking for chestnuts, there was a destinct smell of damp in the air, we found loads of fungi , not all edible, but good all the same, lets hope we get a little damp weather in the week.

I think you may have looked in the wrong places at Clumber I'll be back there in two weeks time ... If you want to see some fungi let me know

John

[morel man]

Hi John,
Thats very kind of you, I would like that very much, please let me know what day you were thinking of, as my wife and I are going to the victorian market at Renishaw Hall very soon.
Are you going on your own, or will it a group meeting. Sean.