some blackish-yellow Ugly Milkcaps Lactarius turpis were seen, but nobody wanted to
taste either of them! An unfamiliar fungus with mixed purplish cap colours and yellowish
gills turned out to be Russula exalbicans (no English name) and a rusty-coloured fungus
was Rufous Milkcap Lactarius rufus, possibly linked with the old Pines nearby.
We dispersed at about 2:15, having found enough to keep the experts busy for a while,
and feeling rather warm and tired. One person went home with several fungi for tea,
mainly Shaggy Parasol Macrolepiota rhacodes mushrooms, and I trust he enjoyed them.
Full lists are available to anyone who wants them.
Foulness Fungal Foray, 30 October 2005
Barbara Chapman and Roger Newton
Foulness is a rather mysterious island, owned by the government since the First World War
for military purposes and closed to the general public. However there are 200 inhabitants
(including four farms) who are all tenants of the Ministry of Defence. Specially arranged
visits are allowed for birdwatchers for example, all chaperoned by island residents. Our
list of names was sent in several weeks prior to the visit, and a total of 13 members signed
in at the security stop-gate on a fine and sunny late October morning. The temperature was
an astonishing 17°C, fortunately not windy, and with rainfall during the previous week to
bring up the fungi, we were keen to be let loose. Rod Cole had brought along a book
published by Essex County Council in 1970, titled "Foulness" by J. R. Smith, in which
appeared a photograph of a previous Field Club trip, dated 1907. Later we posed for a
commemorative photograph near the Heritage Museum (see below, taken by Jacquey Bunn).
26 Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 49, January 2006