Nature reserve talk

[bulbosa]

Your wish as ever Mel oops Shirley.

I ran a Fungi day at a small local Nature reserve last weekend and knowing there would not be a guaranteed flush of fungi I made a visit to another local site and collected the following.



I tried to find colourful smelly or distinctive species to be able to help people with their identification skills.

I had the unusual shapes of the Helvella and the Horses Hoof Fungi, the different pore colours of the Boletes the milk of the Lactarius which I managed to get one or two to taste especially the Ugly Milkcap. This also showed the chemical reaction to KOH.
I had two or three pots to intensify the floury smell of the Miller, the Coal Tar Soap smell of Lepiota bucknardii and the potato smell of some Mycena.
I was lucky enough to find a sample of Suillus bovinus and the fungi that never grows without it Gomphideus roseus.

All in all a good day. It was of course the Ceps that most people wanted to see

Mal

[goosey]

What fun, do you do this sort of thing often? Did you do a tour too?
To have things actually shown like spore prints and be able to distinguish with smell would be so useful. To pick the brains of an expert and be shown things would make it easier to understand than just reading about it..

I saw in the local paper (the first time I had seen one advertised locally) a fungi walk and talk in the NP last October, I was all up for it which surprised me as I usually keep to myself and don't mix with people. But when I went to book my place found out it was just for children and couldn't go . I thought it would be useful as I might be shown a few new places and species I don't know about

[bulbosa]

I have a couple organized at a local arboretum, one at a NT property close by and a day helping tomorrow at a forestry commission foray.
Some are talks and others are walks. The problem with the walks is that it is often difficult to guarantee the right finds to explain to people the differences. Other times it is impossible to find anything.

I still have trouble calling myself an expert, enthusiast yes but I have been out with "experts" and they are in a different league. I hope I can usually identify enough to make it interesting but I do use the old chestnut excuses quite a lot. The fruit body is too old, too young, you need to know which tree it was under, I need to examine it under the microscope, find out its reaction to certain chemicals or that shouldn't be about at this time of year. If all else fails the final admission, "I haven't got a clue".

Hopefully I learn a little more each year and as long as it is more than I forgot from last year then it's ok.

[Cybershot]

It's a great project Mal; that's a fine collection. I remember the days of The Minley Mushkeeters, events like the microscopy workshop with Michael Jordan, allowing all us so called experts to learn more and then pass on a bit of our acquired knowledge to new and less experienced members. I know what you mean about the real experts as I am planning, all being well, to accompany JP to Alresford tomorrow to attend an HFRG (Hampshire Fugus Recording Group) foray. Over the years Dr Stuart Skeates and the likes of Alan Lucas and Sue Rogerson put us in the shade, but willingly and patiently show us the ropes and impart a wealth of information.

Keep up the good work and perhaps a continental foray to NP (Netherlands) could be on the cards for us and any other takers. The pint I owe you would then suddenly take on a funny Pilsener like flavoor .......(Oranje) boom, (Oranje) boom!

Cheers David

P.S. How much floor space have you got for sleeping bags next autumn Shirley?

[goosey]

Today I bumped into a couple of blokes taking photo's of fungi. One I recognised from almost exactly 2 years ago, we were talking fungi matters then but I was a little wary because he had his jacket open exposing a t-shirt covered in blood (I kid not and alsorts of things were going through my mind) and he remembered me! Anyway I decided he must be OK as he was into fungi and found out at the time he was taking photo's for an exhibition at De Zaandwaaier which is the Zuid Kennemerland NP info centre.

Well today we had a good chat and I showed him my piccies and wanted to know where I had found the birds nest fungi and he showed me his, he had some printed out and they were in an album - he had some fantastic examples of Dune fungi I have never seen, they were telling me where they were but I would never find them. I had a few problems as the whole conversation was in Dutch and though I can hold a half decent everyday conversation, the technicalities of the mycological world in Dutch was beyond me - Luckily I knew far more Latin names that I thought I did, as they were on about Dutch common names and I don't know that many but we muddled on.

I found out I will not, no matter how hard I look find Clathrus species here . Though there is something similar (damn I can't remember the name) in the dunes where I have never been and don't know how to get to which is very, very, very rare and hardly ever seen.

Sorry got side tracked again - anyway it turns out this man's mate is giving some walks and talks this month in the NP so I might just get to go ! He has given me a list of dates and times so I just need to decide which is best and sign up!

[paul m]

Did you find out where the blood came from?

Originally Posted by goosey

Today I bumped into a couple of blokes taking photo's of fungi. One I recognised from almost exactly 2 years ago, we were talking fungi matters then but I was a little wary because he had his jacket open exposing a t-shirt covered in blood (I kid not and alsorts of things were going through my mind) ...........!

[goosey]

Originally Posted by paul m

Did you find out where the blood came from?

No, I didn't like to ask, I tried to pretend I hadn't noticed.

[goosey]

Well I went on my first fungi walk today. I doubted there would be any places left on Thursday when I booked on-line but I was lucky to get a place there was only 29 out of the 30 places left – not a popular event ! Actually I was quite pleased as it meant I would be able ask more questions and have almost a private lesson. When I turned up though there were actually 12 of us including 2 kids around 8 years old. This was about the limit of a good excursion, if many more had been there it would have been hard work and if 30 had turned up it would have been ridiculous. The kids were so enthusiastic and wanted to take notes and photo’s of everything we saw which held us up our 2 hour walk turned into 3 hours. Some of the people had come from Amsterdam especially.

Everyone seemed to be beginners and I was a bit disappointed as I didn’t really learn anything new or find anything thing new to me, the guide mentioned an ear pick fungus which I was waiting to see as I have never seen one before but he couldn’t find it (it happens to the best of us! ). Actually without blowing my own trumpet (too much ) I think I could have showed the others much more interesting and colourful fungi.
The company was good though like the weather, and walk, we did route from an entrance to the NPZK which I hardly ever use and don’t know so well so that was a nice change and it was only 2.50 euro’s .
There are 3 more excursions coming up this month so I will do another I think.