Fungal Foray at Middleton Woods, Ilkley

Saturday 15^th October 2022

Leader: Andy Woodall

It was quite a large group (around two dozen) that turned up at Ilkley lido car park on the Saturday morning. The previous week Wharfedale Naturalists Society’s foray at Swinsty had to be cancelled as I was ill with Covid and was leading that foray too. Neil had thoughtfully suggested, that as there was quite a large overlap of members, we could invite WNS to the botanist’s outing. Consequently our numbers were somewhat swelled. Thankfully, fellow fungi fiend and member of BBG, Ian Forward, was leading the walk with me. We had a quick look round the area a couple of days before and although we saw different species of fungi on the day of the foray, all the indications were that there was plenty of fungal activity after the recent rains. The season had got off to a slow trickle of species in September but October was proving to be a bumper month.

We found two different species of puffball. The Common Puffball Lycoperdon perlatum and the Stump Puffball (that grows on wood) and was formerly Lycoperdon pyriforme but despite the strong similarity of the two is now in a different genus Apioperdon. Fungi taxonomy has gone through remarkable changes in recent years with the advent of more DNA scrutiny. I’m pleased that our commonest puffball has remained in Lycoperdon as this wonderfully translates as ‘wolf’s fart’!

Another club like fungus but only distantly related was the Pipe Club Typhula (Macrotyphula) fistulosa. This was a great find, partly because it is not too common but mainly because it is so easy to miss, looking like a broken, dead Bracken stem. Despite its simplicity, it’s strangely attractive.

Bracket fungi included Turkeytails Trametes versicolor and the Birch Polypore or Razorstrop Fungus. The latter has also recently got a new scientific name, Fomitopsis betulina. It has been used for many things besides sharpening razors such as a substitute for cork and for rubber washers. It has also been taken internally to expel gut parasites. Turkeytails tea is meant to have many beneficial properties too.

There were several very colourful toadstools. Pictured above is the Rosy Bonnet Mycena rosea which seems to have been very common this autumn. Its very close cousin the Lilac Bonnet Mycena pura is normally the commoner of the two but has taken a backseat this autumn. Some authorities consider them varieties of the same species. Perhaps it’s weather conditions that determine which ‘ variety’ fruits in any one season. The other truly colourful toadstool we found was in the same area of the colour spectrum, the Amethyst Deceiver Laccaria amethystina. Despite its lurid colour and scary name it is a good edible species. Indeed it is much sought by top chefs, not so much for its taste, but its great looks in a wild mushroom dish.

We came across many species but certain species kept cropping up again and again, such as Honey Fungus Armillaria mellea, Buttercap Rhodocollybia butyracea and Sulphur-tuft Hypholoma fasciculare.

Unlike plants, it is far less predictable which species are going to be common in any particular wood and on a particular date or year. Though they are all fairly common, an October visit next year may yield none of the last three species but masses of other species… the frustrations and joys of mycology!

Text by Andy Woodall

Photographs by Alan Schofield