Skye has been very wet lately. And it's the autumn. So there should be masses of lovely fungi everywhere, right? So today, in between some pretty hefty showers, I decided I better go have a look. My fungal tally for the year is an entirely lacklustre 131 species, with just 70 of those being seen on Skye. The major sticking point for me is that I'm generally pretty crap at identifying fungi. I headed for the woods at Glenbernisdale, figuring I could take shelter beneath the trees if the rain became too heavy. Happily the rain stayed away until I was back indoors once more.
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| Glistening Inkcap Coprinellus micaceus, one that I do know |
It struck me that there was a lot of Candlesnuff Fungus in evidence. Almost every stump, rotten fencepost and fallen log had Candlesnuff erupting all over it. It was easily the commonest fungus I saw today.
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| A profusion of Candlesnuff Fungus Xylaria hypoxylon |
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| The very common Purple Jellydisc Ascocoryne sarcoides |
Glenbernisdale Wood is great for lichens, one day I shall come here all tooled up and tackle a few more of them. But for now I simply made do with pointing my camera at some of the big easy ones.
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| Ricasolia (Lobaria) virens |
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| Ricasolia (Lobaria) amplissima |
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| Lobaria pulmonaria exhibiting apothecia (as it very often does on Skye) |
Some of the
Ricasolia virens apothecia had these dark marks on them. In the field I wondered if it was due to a parasitic fungus, but I think it's probably just damage or disease.
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| No idea, though it looks kinda familiar... |
Eventually I hit an area of Beech trees, which prompted me to search the leaf litter for two species that I know occur at this time of year.
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Mycena capillaris the Beechleaf Bonnet, the first I've seen in years!
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Xylaria hypoxylon only grows on buried Beech cupules, so if you want to find it you need to look beneath the leaf litter that has formed below a fruiting Beech tree. Which is exactly what I did. Sometimes it takes a bit of perseverance, but check enough cupules and you should find the associated fungus. I'd successfully found the two species I was after, but then I found this beast growing out of fallen cupules
I spent quite a bit of time trying to suss what these fungi were, to no avail. The caps are 3.5mm diameter, the stipe is 10mm long, there are gills hidden away behind webbing. The stipe has quite coarse, longitudinal webbing on it, thicker nearer the cap. I split a stipe lengthwise and it split cleanly and easily revealing a hollow channel running from the base to about halfway up the stipe. No discoloration, no odour that I could detect. I'm a bit flummoxed! Possibly a small, immature Galerina or Tubaria species, but then again possibly not. Quite common beneath a large Beech. I've asked for help online.
A short distance away I found this bizarre looking club poking out of the leaf litter
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| I'm fairly happy that this is Clavulina rugosa, the Wrinkled Club |
So a few bits to ponder over. I do find 'macro' fungi difficult to get to grips with, I think I would find it beneficial to tag along on a few forays each autumn. The problem is there aren't any up here. My fungal tally for the year has now risen by a smidge. Not the bountiful harvest I hoped for, it's too late in the year for that, but an enjoyable couple of hours nonetheless. One last image of some Candlesnuff for you, it really is having an amazing showing this autumn!
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