1 Hour Kilvey Foray

I took a quick foray up Kilvey hill via the Pentre-chwyth Rd entrance taking the same route as ten days or so ago. My last few trips there have been slightly disappointing in regards to finding mushrooms.
It rained all day Friday with no let up then the weather cleared. I hoped that the relentless downpour then finer days would make the fungi come out. It did.
At the top of the hill I came across Suillus grevillei/Larch boletes in numbers I have never seen before.


It wasn't the only Suillus here though; not far away the Suillus leteus/Slippery Jacks I had seen before had also come out in force, their slimy caps glistening in the sunlight.

I take a path off the main one to find more boletes but also Russula ochroleuca in great numbers. This isn't unusual but they seemed to have fruited later than usual. Tardiness aside, they cover the forest floor as far as the eye can see, transforming the wood into something akin to a fairytale scene.

Butterflies and dragonflies dance about and hover flies zip around chasing off rivals before resuming their duty to hang as still in space between the trees.

At the base of these trees I find some new mushrooms; two Cortinarius to be precise though precisely which ones, well that's a different matter. I take a couple of them. Even though they are hard to identify I never get put off trying.
There's also a lone Russula close by too, it's bright white stipe and red cap looking like a beacon.

Deciding to take a half trodden path across the forest floor, which on Kilvey hill isn't always sensible; some of the terrain can be treacherous with deep pot holes full of water but this time I'm more cautious and it's okay and on the way find more Cortinarius that I saw previously and also Calocera cornea/Small Staghorn (below), on the base of a dead birch log as well as staples of most woods such as Sulphur Tuft, False Chanterelles and Plums and Custard.


I end up on a main path that leads up to a little pond and head in that direction to a specific part of the hill in the hope that I'll find a particular Tricholoma that I've seen before but on the way something catches my eye. It turns out to be a saw. My curiosity is rewarded however when near by is a mushroom I've never seen before. I don't know what it is.

It's growing in numbers so I take a few in different stages of development, I hope this will give me a better chance of identifying it.

When I get to where I want there are no Tricholomas about but there is a bracket fungi that interests me; Trichaptum abietinum/Purplepore Bracket. (= Hirschioporus abientinus).


I head back down the hill as a rain shower begins and find a few things on the way, most of which I cannot identify but one is definitely a Hebeloma; it's gills are a give away. Below is one of the unknown mushrooms.

Pentre-chwyth Road and Home.
After finishing that circuit I feel like having a quick check around Pentre-chwyth Road and find another Cortinarius and a couple of more unknown toadstools on the bank next to the main road. As I pick them my backside appears to be sticking out of a bush whilst cars whizz by, the looks I get from drivers and passengers is mildly amusing. The occasional wit parps his horn.


Crossing over to the other side there are plenty of Brown Rollrims about, some are enormous.

I head back home and find yet another Cortinarius, under pine trees, high up a bank so I scrabble up and collect a couple. One of them shows evidence of geotropism (below).

Suddenly the heavens open and heavy shower begins. Whilst waiting for the rain to ease under the trees I see an Amanita muscaria/Fly agaric. It's reassuring to know that this particular fungi is now growing here. It puts a smile on my face regardless of the rain.

Kilvey Hill 12-9-10
Leccinum scabrum/Birch Bolete
Russula emetica/The Sickener
Russula ochroleuca/Ochre Brittlegill
Russula betularum/Birch Brittlegill
Hypholoma fasciculare/Suplhur Tuft
Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca/False Chanterelle
Tricholomoposis rutilans/Plums & Custard
Amanita rubescens/The Blusher
Amanita muscaria/Fly Agaric
Suillus leteus/Slippery Jack
Suillus grevillei/Larch Bolete
Paxillus involutus/Brown Rollrim
Lactarius pubescens/Bearded Milkcap
Calocera cornea/Small Staghorn
Trichaptum abietinum/Purplepore Bracket. (= Hirschioporus abientinus)
Postia stiptica/Bitter Bracket
Leratiomyces ceres/Redlead Roundhead (= Stopharia aurantiaca)
+ 16 unidentified