Capsized mushrooms?

[Roaminlass]

Hi All,

I am noticing so many specimens that have been capsized in the woods? Any views on what might be the cause of this - is it alot of people of foraging, and I'm wondering if this is human behaviour, wildlife (foxes, squirrels?) or just a part of the natural de-composition process of the mushroom itself at this time of year. It seems so sad to see beautiful fly agarics, boletes and many others upturned in this way, often in their prime!

As somebody who is learning (picking with gloves) I am personally keen to know what is the best way of dealing with a mushroom after you've picked it to take a good look....I want to give the mushroom the best possible chance to shed it's spores and reproduce.

Thank you, Rachel

[thebeard]

it is most probably animals, but you do get people just throwing them everywhere. i try and put them back in a similar position but obviously its hard, and they would obviously decompose quicker once they're picked, but they still drop spores so nice to give em a achance. put shortly though i'm really not sure what effect this has

[fairplay]

Welcome to WAB Rachel,

Did you have a hard frost last night ? It's quite mild where I am, so I doubt it.
Without knowing where you are, and not seeing the 'damage' it is difficult to know what to think, but when you consider most fungi are mostly water it is no great surprise that they won't take too long to keel over, but before they do so, they would have served their purpose in life, i.e. to shed spores.

There are some tiny Coprinus species (Inkcaps) that pop up around sunrise and will be all shrivelled up within 2 hours, having shed all their spores.

I guess you may have read a Peter Jordan book if you are using gloves, but unless you are allergic, there is absolutely no need whatsoever to wear gloves.
Whenever I am leading a foray and come across a patch of Deathcaps, I do not hesitate to dig one up carefully and show the audience all the identification characters and afterwards I simply wipe my hands on my trousers lightly.

Neil.

[jacksnipe1]

Hello roaminlass, posted a similar question to yours on another site and had no replys. About 3 weeks ago we had a good supply locally of edible field mushrooms. I noticed for about 3 days running the older specimens were completely turned up side down. I did wonder if it was birds and that they new the older ones were a good source of fly or maggots. regards jacksnipe.