Stansted airport many flights out were cancelled and many arrivals were late or diverted
elsewhere. The road I live in runs east-west and is lined with tall Norway Maples. Most
of them lost all their leaves in 6 hours. The road was swept clean, but many people
found the front porch piled high as the leaves settled in the sheltered spots. The pundits
told us that this was another of the chaotic weather events associated with global warming.
The last Saturday in October brought 13 people on the annual Wax-cap hunt around
churchyards in the Chelmsford area, led very ably by Tony Boniface. We met at Fryerning,
where it was chilly on the exposed hill-top as the dark grey clouds raced by. Here we
found False Chanterelle Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca, a little puffball Vascellum pratense,
Liberty Caps Psilocybe semilanceata, a small young growth of a giant bracket Meripilus
giganteus, two Boletes Leccinum pulchrum and Suillus granulatus and Chroogomphus
rutilus under planted Scots Pines, and some other species. We proceeded to Margaretting,
where a few common fungi were found, but nothing of note. A brief visit to Galleywood
followed, sheltered from the wind by Scots Pines, Larch and Yews, where Phaeolus
schweinitzii was slowly destroying the Larch and Pines, and an Earth-star, Geastrum
striatum, was hiding under a hedge. Although the church and churchyard at Galleywood
are not particularly old, I understand that the area for the church was carved out of a
corner of the common, so it is ancient grassland. The sun was out by then, and the wind
moderated to give a glorious afternoon. Then on to Sandon and lunch, where some
patronised the local village pub and others ate their sandwiches in the sunshine. In Sandon
churchyard were a collection of fancy trees including Tulip-tree, Willow-leaved Pear
and Silver Maple among others, and here the green and yellow Parrot Wax-cap Hygrocybe
psittacina was found, which was the first, and only, Wax-cap of the day. Another attractive
grassland species seen here was Stropharia caerulea. The last visit was to Danbury,
where Red Oak and Black Mulberry were noted and we stopped to examine little patches
of Lesser Swine-cress and Grey Field-speedwell on the gravel around the church. The
fungus finds overall were few and far between, but some of us were delighted to see
anything at all, and most of us saw one or two species we had not met before. Thank
you, Tony.
The mild weather in late October continued well into November, and the mycologists'
hopes started to rise again. We had a lovely supper addition from some Field Blewits.
Some late fungi appeared, but not many. But with so few big ones to find, we found
more small ones instead, which included a number of new species for our area.
Then we had more rain, and flood warnings, in the middle of November. Our local rivers,
the Ingrebourne and the Mardyke, are again swelling over the water meadows. The Roding
has done the same. I wonder what the New Year will bring? Will we have another wet winter
like the one only two years ago? We must wait and see for that!
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 40, January 2003
13