Saturday October 9th 2010 : This species was found during a work party at the reserve. It parasitises the fruit bodies of another fungus, the Clouded Funnel, Clitocybe nebularis and is unmistakeable. Those found today were infecting around a dozen or so funnels, part of a giant 'fairy ring' that measured twenty-one feet in circumferance and contained over fifty fruit bodies. The ring had probably taken many years to attain this girth. The photo clearly shows the volva of Volvariella emerging from the cap of the funnel.
This appears to be a rare species in Britain, the Checklist commenting that there are only a few English records, from Durham southwards. The BMS online database list one record from Essex, made as recently as 2008 by Martin Ainsworth at Sewardstone. Thus The Backwarden record is the second for the County.