Kilvey Hill 23-02-11

On Kilvey Hill with Jersey Park in the background.

I returned to Kilvey Hill on Wednesday specifically to look again at a mushroom I could not identify the day before and for fungi that might be growing on the areas that had been set on fire the previous year. Kilvey Hill is often set alight during the summer and last year very large areas were burnt away. On the way up I came across a fungi I could not identify. (Below)

There was also a mushroom growing out of the bottom of a Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) on the way..

I had been reading about fungi that live on burnt ground and felt that there might be a possability that something might be there and there was. Below is one of the Peziza family clearly growing out of the burnt earth..

The other fungi I had returned to find was also in the same area and as it turned out was in reasonable numbers. Below is one of the Tremella family.

Amongst the tree stumps were piles of cow dung. There's a farm up here and the cows often roam around. As a result dung fungi appear and below is Stropharia semiglobata/Dung Roundhead, a very common species.

Near by and also very common was another dung  fungi; Panaeolus papilionaceus (=P.sphinctrinus)/Petticoat Mottlegill. The common name refers to the veil remnants that hang from the edge of the cap. It's basic appearence is a grey brown and dull or satiny cap that's bell shaped.
Both Stropharia (Roundheads) and Panaeolus (Mottlegills) belong to a large family of fungi called Strophariaceae which also includes the Pholiota (Scalycaps)  Hypholoma and Psilocybe (Tufts and Brownie) fungi.

Panaeolus papilionaceus (=P.sphinctrinus)/Petticoat Mottlegill.

There are plenty of felled logs on the hill and with them various brackets and crusts. Even though I can't identify these it was worth photographing them anyway. I'll attempt to identify them at some point.

The day before I had found a mushroom that I had never seen before and had spent some time looking for it in books and online. I thought, taking a guess based on its physical appearence alone that it was a Tremella/Jelly Fungus.
What I learnt was that Tremella is a parsitic fungi that lives off other crust fungi, particualarly Stereum and Peniphora and below I found a Tremella amongst Stereum. 

Below is another Tremella.  Probably Tremella foliacea.

At the base of the logs was Hypholoma fasciculare/Sulphur Tuft which can be found all year round although I've never seen it this early myself.

On the same pile was this beautiful violet crust. (Possibly Terana caerulea/Cobalt Crust). It might be that this is just the early stages of Trichaptum abietnum/Purplepore Bracket which is very common here so I'll keep an eye on this fungi to see how it develops.

Also here was Dacrymyces stillatus/Common Jellyspot