Magpie Coprinus picaceus at Stour Woods, Wrabness
Ian Rose Yaffles, School lane, Mistley, Manningtree, Essex. C0111HN
Tel: 01206392870
Having read Mary Smith's Wildlife Diary in the E.F.Club Nb 44 May Edition, I would
offer a few can-rents of her second paragraph about Coprinus picaceus. Over the
years the Magpie, Coprinus picaceus, has been recorded regularly in Stour
Woods, Wrabness, usually just the odd one or two.
Marys notes reminded me of the occurrence in April 1998 of a profusion of this fungus.
Two Earner friends in Mistley contacted me to identify a flush of Toadstools in their
gardens. Both had renewed their Shrub Borders and to cut down on the weeding had
covered the ground with porous black polythene sheeting of some kind. To improve
the appearance of the bed, they had dressed the area with 2-3 inches of wood chippings.
I found Magpie Inkcaps by the hundred, huge specimens, some 9 inches or more high,
Of ten in clumps. THE WOOD CHIPPINGS HAD COME FROM STOUR WOOD.
It would indicate that the spores were around in large numbers and could survive until
a suitable habitat was found. The fruiting was almost continuous for several months.
Rare fungus revealed in Hatfield Forest
Tony Boniface 40 Pentland Avenue, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 4AZ
Shirley and Charles Watson have found and identified a rare fungus in wet, scrubby
grassland dominated by Brachypodium sylvaticum and flanked by two blackthorn bushes
in Hatfield Forest Marsh Nature Reserve (TL 540203) within Hatfield Forest itself. The
soil is calcareous, which suits the fungus species in question, ie Entoloma incanum.
The cap was flat with a slight indentation in the middle and a drooping rim. The cap colour
was greenish with radial fibres and scales. The yellowish gills were broadly attached to the
stipe. The cap was 4.5cm across on a stipe which was 5cm long and flattened with a groove,
being even more green than the cap, with a fluffy, white base. The stipe bruised bluish-
green on handling. The smell was very characteristically of mice.
Shirley and Charles contacted me and I hurried to see the fungus in situ having first
ascertained that it was a rare species although nationally more often found in calcareous
areas. I contacted our fungus recorder Geoffrey Kibby, and also Martin Gregory and
Graham Smith, and leamt that they had no records of its occurrence in Essex any more
than I had; therefore I am pleased to report a new fungus species for Essex commonly
known as the Mouse-pee Pink-gill.
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 45, September 2004
11