A rare fungus in Hainault Forest
Peter Comber 4 Whitehall Close, Chigwell Row, Essex IG7 6EQ
One of the joys of foraying is that you are never sure what you are going to find. Most
of the time it's those common ones mat you find every year, but just occasionally, you
find something really different and exciting.
October 22nd last year was for me one of those occasions. Growing on a rotted Birch
Betula pendula branch with bark lying on the ground were three small red/brown
funnel caps. The largest was only 19mm across, brightly coloured and almost
translucent. They looked very fragile but were surprisingly robust - more like a
Marasmius species.
But the question was what was it? I was stumped. Only one funnel cap is lignocolous
in the British lists and this was certainly not it!
After corresponding with Alick Henrici, the dried specimens and spores were dispatched
and the verdict was eagerly awaited. Back came the reply that it was a Clitocybe -
Clitocybe americana; the most common lignocolous species in North America, (See
front cover) but rather rare in the UK. There have been a few records from Southern
England but this is a first for Essex. The material has been deposited in the herbarium
at Kew.
Two other interesting finds
Late in November, Sarah White, who works part-time for the Woodland Trust, e-
mailed me several photographs she had taken of fungi in Hainault Forest. Two of these
caught my attention, the Olive Oysterling Panellus serotinus and the Brown Cup
Rutstroemia firma. Neither are rare but the Olive Oysterling is first time I have seen
it in Hainault Forest. I managed to find the Olive Oysterling, still in good condition,
on a fallen Birch Betula pendula and photograph it (See Plate 10) but not the Brown
cups! A week later Sarah turned up with a bundle of Oak Quercus robur twigs sporting
many Brown Cups. (See Plate 12).
Survey of stag beetle "larval incidents" in private gardens
Maria Fremlin 25 Ireton Rd, Colchester C03 3AT. Tel: 01206 767746,
mariafremlin@gmail.com http://maria.fremlin.org
It is well known that in the UK stag beetles are mostly found in gardens, indeed, in the
1998 PTES survey 70% of their records came from private gardens and the aim of this
survey is to study the interactions between people and stag beetles (see Plate 6).
12
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 62, May 2010