After the Fires: Rain

Fire
The last few days it's been raining hard and a welcome relief it is too after all the fires Kilvey Hill has had. On the hill the damage has been extensive, totally altering the landscape in places. One or two of my favorite places for finding fungi have totally changed out of all recognition. One area that was abundant in Amanita muscaria/Fly Agaric, photo below, was reduced to nothing more than ash.

Extensive damage by fire on Kilvey

Even though the Hill was severely burnt in places it was still teeming with activity with lots of insects about. I know very little about insects but this dragonfly was beautiful. If anyone knows what it is I'd be grateful to know. Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

I didn't expect to find any mushrooms and I didn't apart from the usual brackets but I did come across this, which is a slime mould; Fuglio septica var. flava. This slime mould is in what's called the 'plasmodium' stage, a bright yellow spongy mass...Remarkably at this stage in it's development, it's capable of moving!

A couple of butterflies who stayed open long enough to be photographed. Again, if anyone can tell me the species I would be happy to know.

10th May After Rain.

After all the fires the weather changed from constant sun. All day yesterday the heavens opened and Swansea was covered in a thunderstorm so I thought I would look around for some mushrooms provoked into fruiting by the rain and I was not disappointed.

At the Civil justice Court Coprinus was back with a vengeance. I'm not convinced it's not Parasola plicatilis (=Coprinus plicatilis)/Pleated Inkcap because the specimens are far too large with a cap diameter of four to five centimetres wide and stalks in excess of seven centimetres. Parasola plicatilis is smaller in every way. I think it must be Coprinus impatiens.

At a place where Foxhole meets Whiterock, there's a strip of grassland that's mostly untouched by human contact, save the odd dog walker and the council lawnmowers and Russula amongst many fungi are abundant. I found one specimen and currently I'm waiting for the cap to release its spores. Hopefully I'll have a better idea of which Russula it is.

Russula

The last few weeks have seen many fires on Kilvey Hill. A recent estimate has twenty hectares being burnt down. It's depressing to witness and occasionally frightening as the fires came very close to where I live.

I've never seen so much damage but in a perverse irony the fires can encourage phoenicoid fungi, fungi that prefer a burnt substrate. It's been raining today and so I hope to find some kind of fungi as a result of the rain because there are a few species that appear relatively fast after raining on burnt ground. They are ephemeral but other species can colonise the same area but they can take several years.

Even after the fire, plants like bracken (shown below) are sprouting, annoying though not surprising so is Japanese Knotweed, the floral curse of Swansea.

In an area called Foxhole there's a patch that is really good for fungi and whilst I did not expect to find any mushrooms I did. It was a Russula, commonly called Brittlegills.

It was dessicated due to the warm weather but I was astonished and quietly delighted to find something. After todays rain, hopefully more will appear. Due to its state I cannot determine which Russula it is. But after witnessing the destruction on the hill this find is a comfort of sort.

Walking home I came across an old Piptoporus betularum/Birch Polypore. I have a daft fondness for this mushroom..