March Fungi Finds

Springtime is not the time to see an abundance of mushrooms but there is always something out there. The weather for March was one of the driest on record. I didn't find a lot of fungi but instead had a couple of nice surprises.

I returned to Kilvey Hill a couple of weeks ago to see how some of the fungi I had found previously had developed, but most had been dried out by the sunny weather. On one tree I found a lilac coloured crust which could possibly be a fungi.It could also be lichen of some kind.

After a couple of weeks of looking and finding nothing on Kilvey I went down to the 'Pluck' after a night of wet weather. On the way there I came across Trametes versicolor/Turkeytail in good condition growing on a wood bollard.

At Lake Pluck, I checked on the Auricularia auricula-judae/Jelly Ear I had found previously growing on a large tree trunk. The previously evenings wet weather had revived the mushrooms and they had re-inflated to give a fantastic display. Below are the photos..

On the way home, along the foot path that runs parallel to the A4217 road, I was surprised to see another fungi that lives on wood. Daldinia fissa. I've walked this way for years and never seen this before in Swansea and only once before that.

The most common in the family is Daldinia concentrica/Cramp Balls. Daldinia concentrica is a fungi that is almost exclusively found living on ash.

Daldinia fissa (=D. vernicosa) is associated with gorse, particularly burnt gorse and whilst the gorse was not scorched I could not think what else it could be.

The fruitbody was extremely fragile and easy to break. These were hollow inside, except for insects.

In Swansea, the Civil Justice Centre has a scrubby area at the front with some bushes and trees and stumps. 

I 've found quite a number of fungi in this small patch and a few this year already.

Below is a crust, one of the  Peniphora family. The one bleow is Peniphora incarnata/Rosy Crust, due to its pinkish colour. This fungi is found all year round and on all types of tree, usually on the underside.