Fungus foray to Stoneymore Wood, Mill Green on October 9th 2007
Graham Smith 48 The Meads, Ingatestone, Essex CM4 OAE
It was ironical that during one of the driest autumns on record the Field Club foray to
Mill Green should fall on what was arguably the wettest day of the year in Essex. The
County had missed out on most of the torrential rain that had caused widespread havoc
in parts of northern and central England during the summer but had experienced an
unusually - by recent standards - cool and cloudy season including a hard to believe
week-long period of unbroken existential gloom in August. I'm still recovering!
Frequent showers in midsummer had seen the fungi season get off to an early start, with
good numbers of Boleti and Russula during late July and August. Among the finds in the
Mill Green area at that time was the second county record of Boletus luridus, following
hard on the heels of the first, at Hatfield Forest, in 2006. Thus the omens were good for
a rewarding season but were dashed by a prolonged dry spell in September which forced
most of the main fungi families back into hiding, from where many refused to reappear
when the rain returned in early October. We had intended to look at nearby Birch Spring
and Barrow Wood during the foray but on a visit a few days previously there were
virtually no fungi on view and so the venue was changed to the slightly damper
Stoneymore.
Damp it certainly was on the day in question. Normally, if you shop around on the
various TV channels and radio stations you can come up with a forecast that contradicts
all the others, predicting sunny skies when all around them are steeped in doom and
gloom. Not on this occasion. They were unanimous in their prophecy of a day-long
downpour. Several would-be forayers phoned to say they would not be coming, given
the weather conditions, and to be honest I thought it best to discourage those who were
in two minds. Thus at the agreed meeting time of 2pm Tony Boniface and myself found
ourselves alone in the car park at Mill Green. We could have gone home, of course, but
the honour of the Field Club was at stake and so we went for a plod in the rain - the
drenching rain - by the end of which the term "drowned rats" was indisputably applica-
ble to us. However, I for one enjoyed the foray and we did find a few fungi - around
twenty-five species in total - including two that were new for the area, namely, Coprinus
acuminatus - which was growing inside the hollow trunk of an Alder - and Inocybe
fuscidula, a small, dark species of damp woodland which was found among Alder and
willow in the same area as the above. I also found a couple of maggot-free Horse Mush-
rooms for my tea in nearby grassland, so the day was not a complete let down.
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Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 55, January 2008