Fungus Foray in Bedfords Park, 15 October 2005
Mary Smith 33 Gaynes Park Road, Upminster, Essex RM14 2HJ
It was a cool and misty morning as 12 people (including one guest) gathered to explore
some of the woodlands in Bedfords Park in the northern reaches of the London Borough
of Havering. We were a good mixture of people: some knew little but were very keen,
while Tony Boniface and Martin Gregory between them took home and identified all
the difficult ones the rest of us couldn't.
Two of our number asked that we explore first a copse next to the car park in part of the
Old Garden area, with deep rich soil and a number of specimen trees such as Atlantic
Cedar and Wellingtonia, but now overgrown with Sycamore. We were surprised to find
30 species in this small patch, including some that most of us had not seen before such
as the Saffrondrop Bonnet Mycena crocata, and the commonly misidentified Artist's
Bracket Ganoderma applanatum was shown by Tony when he cut out a piece to show
the single layer of long tubes under a narrow layer of tough flesh. There were several
Stinkhorn 'eggs', one of which was sliced open so all could see the beginnings of the
famous Stinking Horn Phallus impudicus.
Then we walked over to Spring Wood, a more natural woodland but mainly young ie
secondary woodland, and on a wetter clay soil. On our way there we crossed some
grassland where we admired Devil's-bit Scabious Succissa pratensis and Tormentil
Potentilla erecta still out in flower. In the wood most of the fungi were very ordinary,
but with large numbers of the pretty pink form of the Lilac Bonnet Mycena pura var
rosea. We noticed several growths of the common White Brain Exidia thuretiana, but
then found one which had hard nodules of calcium oxalate in it making it the less common
Crystal Brain Exidia nucleata. As we came to an old boundary hedge in a damper area
near the stream, we saw several specimens of the famously poisonous and scarce
Panthercap Amanita pantherina (plate 7), which was much more exciting. The even
scattering of small white flecks on the brownish grey cap were pointed out as
distinguishing it from the much more common Grey Spotted Amanita Amanita excelsa/
spissa which has creamy patches clustered together with big spaces between, looking
like a map. Growing with them were lots of Hare's Ear Otidea onotica, their beautiful
apricot coloured curly pieces well camouflaged among orange and yellow and brown
autumn leaves (plate 8).
We returned to the cars to collect lunch, and ate it in the warm sunshine in front of the
Visitor Centre. While enjoying the rest we also sorted out a few specimens from the morning
before embarking on the afternoon ones in Larch Wood. Larch Wood is ancient semi-
natural woodland with no Larches in it, but with a mixture of broad-leaved trees and one or
two Pines near the top of the slope. The fungi here were mostly unexciting, until a group
of Fly Agaric Amanita muscaria were found in prime condition under Birch, and then
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 49, January 2006
25