Stinkhorn

One of the advantages of my current situation is that I have had some more time to get on with dealing with my video back log. And here is a film of another of the fungi from my local woods, Stinkhorn, Phallus impudicus.

The Stinkhorn is quite unmistakable with its thick white stalk and black honeycombed cap, covered with a sticky foul smelling jelly. You will often smell the rotting flesh odour first. The jelly contains the spores and it uses flies to disperse the spores. The stalk rises from a jelly filled papery egg shaped sack. Quite common in deciduous woods in late summer and early autumn, quite inedible.

While on the subject of video, I understand that a couple of my videos on You Tube have gone Viral. When I heard that I thought it meant that the files were corrupted, but apparently it means that people are emailing them around. Work must be boring. Actually it just came to mind that if the bankers had spent more time on You Tube...

My new video camera is delighting me the more I get to use it. One of the problems with many is that the auto focus struggles to cope with obtaining a sharp focus on a flying bird. The manual focus normally being operated by pressing buttons is just not fast enough and often requires the videographer to move attention from the subject to the camera. However my pre owned Sony has a ring on the lens that makes it much better for wildlife photography. Another aspect that has pleased me is that the batteries that power the camera also fit the IR light. As these often are brand and model specific, it can cost an arm and a leg to buy the batteries. As well as adding weight to the equipment I have to lug around.

The other function that I am pleased to discover is that the camera can use a wired remote controller. This is something I have seen on top end professional cameras, and well out of my reach, but the controllers are obtainable. Again for wildlife filming this makes the camera ideal. While I did do some research before hand, even I could not have guessed that this really would be so suited to my needs.

Yellow Staghorn

I was pleased with the response to the first of these films. I do intend to get out and film more this autumn, and I do have some other footage that I may be able to use too. I am no expert and I will only post a film if and when I am positive that the information is completely accurate. Therefore, if I have any doubt about what I have identified then I will not include it in this series.

There are a number of fungi that are similar in appearance and this series should not ever be used as a reliable way of identifying any fungi that people are thinking of consuming. There are some excellent books out there so it is far better to obtain one of those. Also there are courses as happens here in Chopwell Wood, where a real expert is on hand to help folks learn. So look out for a course or a walk where you can learn about collecting mushrooms.

I would also hope that people are responsible about not over collecting, as the visible fruiting body is the way that fungi spread their spores, leaving some behind to spread their spores is the only way that they will remain to return. Also only collect what you can use. I know of a few people that will try and take everything they find, and end up throwing out most of what they collected as they just can not cook and eat all of the fungi they harvested.

Most of all, please be safe,

and if you are in doubt about the identification then

don't eat it.

Violet Russula

One of the things that I wanted to do when I first moved here two years ago, was to do some films to show what wonderful things we have in our wood. And one of the first things I started filming was the fungi. Well it may have taken me a while to get round to it but here's the first of what should be many.

Forest Fungi

Here's a little clip of some filming that I shot when I first moved to the village, before the camera I was using decided to become indisposed. Not brilliant I know but I was just learning and this was my first attempt at filming.

The Mushroom Hunter

On Sunday was the annual fungal Foray organised by the Friends of Chopwell Wood. The chap who acts as our guide is extremely knowledgeable as well as being entertaining.

Personally I learnt a lot, for example that all fungi are edible, but some only once!

While that is a humorist quote, it does emphasise just how careful we all need to be when harvesting wild foods. There are some that I can recognise and know are safe to eat. Further, I have come back from many a walk with a few for a meal in my pocket. But I will only eat what I am sure of and only harvest a little. Unfortunately there are some people who will totally strip a site. In the summer I found a place that was full of chanterelles, but the following day they were gone. That has the effect of not allowing any new spores to be released and while there is lightly to be another flourish there will be less and less if that type of unsustainable harvesting were to continue.

This year there are far fewer fungi around, the wet summer and the warm dry autumn has made this year a poor year for fungi but as we have around one hundred and sixty species of them in Chopwell Wood we are not in any danger of loosing them just yet.


The Top picture is of Gordon, the mushroom hunter.

Russula nigricans Blackening Russula, it is edible but not worth eating.



Russula fellea Geranium-scented russula, edible when cooked but best avoided (Unless you like eating rubber that is)



Piptoporus betulinus Birch Polypore, Not poisonous or Edible and is better used to strop a knife than for anything culinary

Mycena vitilis

Cavatia excipuliformis Edible when young and firm

Catching Up

Today and part of yesterday I have been playing catch up. I have been so busy out of the house, that even my cat, was asking who I was when I came in. So it was down to all the boring housework bits. However, because of where I am living as I hung my washing out on the line, I saw two of the Red Kites glide over in the distance. It even made me feel less peeved at having to do the housework.

In between doing essential bits around the house I have been trying to catch up on some emails and letters, so if anyone is expecting a message from the mouse it will be coming, soon…

Its not all been hard work though and I did get some time for a stroll That’s when I saw this Phaeoulus schweinitzeii although I took this image off it a few weeks ago. I was surprised it was still there, as frequently the kids destroy any of the fruiting bodies of fungi they see.

Because I was playing catch up, I was able to find the time to read some of my friends Blog's, and one made an interesting point. Because of where she lives, it sounds like a paradise the way she writes about it; she has to use wood as her fuel. However, it concerns her that it adds to her carbon footprint.

The simple answer is no it doesn’t, as it is part of a closed carbon cycle loop. The tree grows, capturing carbon, which is only released when it is burnt.

However, it is a little more complex than that as that carbon that is released will be around for about fifty years before it is reabsorbed. Thus while it still is that closed carbon cycle it is the timescale that prevents the answer being simple. This is also why carbon offsetting is so unrealistically simplistic.

This is where people pay for trees to be planted as a salve for their conscience when they jet off on holiday. Even if everyone did that from now on it would not be for fifty to seventy five years that those trees would start to have any impact upon carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

The real problem with burning any fuel is understanding its source. If that fuel was produced using the suns energy from the last couple of centuries, then it is part of a closed loop carbon cycle. With using the suns energy stored in fossil fuels is that it old energy and ancient carbon, that became locked away to provide the breathable atmosphere we have to day.

By releasing that old carbon we are changing the atmosphere back to a state when life barely existed. Not forgetting that plants were first, we are in danger of wiping out all animal life on the planet.

Two Unexpected Encounters

One of the delights of any form of wildlife watching is the unexpected encounter. Last night was a perfect example; this mouse had gone to one of the pubs in the village to see someone. Unfortunately he was not there, so I moved to another hostelry and had a couple of pints of the Irish stuff. Then because of work that the new owners are doing there, I offered the loan of some tools that could assist making the job easier. The offer accepted I went home to get them, while marching home I saw and heard an owl in a tree. I didn’t have time to stop but once I had given the tools to the people in the pub I headed off and took a look for this barn owl.

It was still there, and it was busy looking for food. I then spent the next two and a half hours following its movements around the village as it hunted the many greens in the village. It appeared to be hunting with its mate, but all my efforts to locate the other owl were unfruitful. It was one of those situations where I wished I had a camera with me. While I normally do, I had left it at home deliberately as I didn’t want to take it to the pub. I will not be making that mistake again.

Then today, I went off in search of the Roe Deer that have been seen in the woods. With several sightings by others, and my own sightings, I knew the territory they inhabit. Finding signs of them was very easy, not just footprints, but droppings and quite fresh ones too. As well as the less obvious signs like the tree that bares the marks of the buck deer rubbing the tree with its secretions.

While I did not see any of the deer, I did get the glimpse of something but I cannot be sure it was a deer and it could have been a fox, the signs of them were clear. However following their trail lead me off the beaten track into places where very few people venture. This caused me to encounter some Pleurotus ostreatus better known as Oyster Mushrooms. They are ready for picking and had I needed them for my meal tonight I would have picked a few. But I have my meal tonight already planned. Therefore I leave them and I know where they are the next time I want a few.