Many of us will instantaneously associate the autumn months with colour, and most of the time this is referring to the ever changing leaf shades as the green pigments of chlorophyll production begin to wane. Alternatively, this time of year also brings a somewhat rarer myriad of tints and tones, in the form of a very unique genus of fungi - Hygrocybe, also known as waxcaps.
Waxcaps can be found in the UK throughout October and November, and luckily for me, this seems to have been a boom year. Many of them are rare, and to some extent you could say that they all are, due to their niche habitat preference of unimproved grasslands. ‘Unimproved’ is a conservation term meaning grassland which has not been treated with any chemical fertilisers. Churchyards and even garden lawns can be a great place to spot some of the more common varieties as they are relatively undisturbed, to which I will come back to later. Waxcaps are very distinctive mushrooms due to their brightly coloured, shiny, moist caps. They come in a diverse array of shapes, size and colours, ranging through reds, yellows, blues, greens, pinks and oranges to name but a few.
Waxcap surveying was something I had been enthusiastically anticipating for a while, especially as last year proved to be quite an underwhelming one for the quantity of waxcaps present in my local area.
This year was going to be different though.
They may be a little trickier to find than other types of fungi, but a great and convenient aspect of the waxcap is that they have a much longer fruiting period than most, so once you find the right spot, you can guarantee they’ll be there for a while. A night of heavy rain can enable them to spring up overnight, and after a dry summer up north, there has been plenty of rainfall around lately to assist in a bout of waxcap florescence.
Honey Waxcap (Hygrocybe reidii).
Snowy Waxcap (Hygrocybe virgineus).
Back in early October, my first workplace spot-check was that of a wildflower meadow, as this particular one has historically been prevalent in its variety of waxcaps, along with the nearby banks, also managed for the same purpose. I am certainly no waxcap expert, but I was fairly confident that even after a relatively discouraging 2019 on this patch, I would encounter at least some of the more common species.
Thankfully, this was exactly how the day began, with a discovery of copius amounts of snowy, honey and meadow fruiting bodies. The snowy waxcap is very common, but impressive to observe nonetheless. It has the typical widely spaced gills of many waxcap varieties, and stands out very conspicuously amongst the verdant swathes, thanks to its intense, chalk white glow. Next up was the rather captivating honey waxcap.
Hygrocybe mushrooms can at times be overbearingly difficult to identify, and can take real time to do so. It can be tempting to just go off the more obvious features, but this will often prove to be folly, creating even more convolution. In the case of the honey waxcap, it possesses a dead giveaway. First off, they can appear anywhere between a yellowish hue to and orangey red colour, which can cause confusion. They possess slightly decurrent gills - meaning they extend down the stipe (stem), which certainly helps with identification purposes. The really special characteristic of this waxcap however, is its smell. Yep, you guessed it - honey. If you scratch the stem, preferably near the base, you should be able to detect the distinct aroma of its namesake. If you’re struggling to get it, try scratching it then storing it in a sealed container for a minute before taking a second snuffle.
This area of grassland kindly provided me with a nice amount of meadow waxcaps. With the majority of waxcaps, it is recommended not to eat them. Generally, this is not due to culinary edibility ratings, but more so because of the infrequency of them and their habitats, meaning they are best left alone so that they can release their spores and spread. Meadow waxcaps however are usually growing in abundance and are known for being one of the tastiest types. So on this occasion, I determined it acceptable to swipe a few for the pot! Work perks and all that.
Meadow Waxcap (Hygrocybe pratensis).
We weren’t done yet. The meadows were quickly followed by both butter and scarlet waxcaps, in all their buffish yellow and shiny red glory. A nice little bonus I thought, but there were two varieties that I really sought after, although I really wasn’t sure that I’d have a realistic chance at uncovering them, as they hadn’t been recorded here in the autumn prior. One of which that I am referring too is the crimson waxcap. Similar in appearance to a scarlet, it is rarer, but larger and is quite simply - stunning. The stipe of a crimson is quite thick and fibrous, more yellow towards the base and redder towards the gills. Its cap can grow to a diameter of 15cm in the right conditions, so I knew if it was here, surely I couldn’t miss it. My eyes were constantly peeled.
I may have been pre-occupied in my search, but the spell was quite abruptly broken, when a very unorthodox and quite remarkable waxcap was spotted on the nearby bank, protruding proudly from the oak leaf litter. It wasn't exactly the greatest of specimens, and as with many waxcaps the colour diminishes with age and the cap tends to split, but this was a very fortunate find. The pink waxcap, or possibly better known as - the ballerina waxcap, with its upturned cap and slightly conical figure. A scarce individual these days, the ballerina was a wonderful discovery for me as it was the first time I had come across one, outside of a book. I was on a roll.
Venturing back towards the direction of the wildflower grassland, which had of course been cut a couple of months previous, I decided to make a bee line across its dead centre. Almost at the exact heart of the field, I was drawn to a slightly longer in length, swirl of grasses, and amongst them was a huge, bright red beacon of crimson. I had located what I came for, and to add to that; this was the first crimson waxcap recorded on site this year. In fact, there was a group of them, and one measured out at 14cm wide. Both had all the characteristics I was looking for, but the slightly smaller version was as perfect as an example as I’d ever find. Absolute textbook and I quickly became mesmerised by its paler, and distantly separated gills; not missing out on the opportunity to pick one for a photo and take it back to the office to grab a spore print. I had quite swiftly become infatuated with these little buttons of bewilderment.
Crimson Waxcap (Hygrocybe punicea).
The striking gill formation of a Crimson Waxcap.
Aside from the wonder of waxcaps, within these habitats lies another quality fungi find, and one which you will often come across accidentally whilst seeking out the desired waxcap. They may at times be a sideshow to the main event, but they are weird and wonderful in their very own right and definitely worth searching for. They are known by the common name of spindles, and they enjoy the exact same environment as waxcaps. In amongst my day of waxcap exploration, I managed to root out a couple of interesting varieties in the form golden spindle fungi or ‘tongues of flame’ and white spindles, also know as ‘fairy fingers’. As is often the case with fungi, the common names here are a nod to the world of European folklore. Both are strange looking, and will sometimes grow in dense little clusters amongst the grass, and they have a slightly longer fruiting season to waxcaps, being present from July onwards.
White Spindles (Clavaria fragilis).
Golden Spindle (Clavulinopsis fusiformis).
The area of Muggleswick in County Durham had been recommended to me, as a great site to look for waxcaps. It was the start of November and I decided it was too good an opportunity to miss. After the absolute haul of diversity that I had encountered at work though, I did wonder if this trip would bring me anything different.
How wrong I was to doubt! The ideal features of this area, are that it is very rural, fairly quiet and has many short cut grass verges to all of the roads prior to an area of heathland. Turns out, that this has created an absolute biosphere of waxcap exuberance. Never before had a I seen so many congregating in one place. Hundreds and hundreds of them, all so distinct and easy to distinguish thanks to the short, low nutrient grass. After spending a relatively short amount of time out in severe strong winds, I gathered an assortment together and took them home to identify, safely out of the elements. I have touched on this before, but I will only do this if I am confident that none of the species are of the particularly rare kind, and only if there is a group of them present. Research is important though, and I always record my findings. I was amazed to find a grand total of ten different waxcaps present along the road verges - quite incredible. These included a few different ones to before, such as the heath waxcap, glutinous waxcap and the blackening waxcap - which starts off as a yellow, orange or red colour and blackens with age. It is also known as ‘the witches hat’ because of its prominent, conical cap. My pick of the bunch however, was the cedarwood waxcap. A very small mushroom, that looks similar to the snowy waxcap, but the main difference being its incredible aroma of sandalwood incense - quite something!
Mark the area in the diary for 2021, you won’t find much better if this year is anything to go by.
The conical Blackening Waxcap or Witches Hat (Hygrocybe conica).
Parrot Waxcap (Hygrocybe psittacina).
A recent visit to see my mum and sister proved the point that you certainly don’t have to venture very far to find a pristine example of a waxcap or two. A quick observation of the garden revealed a very well camouflaged troop of around a dozen parrot waxcaps. This variety will initially start off as a slimy, vivid green and will yellow slightly with age. They are really quite exquisite and a reminder of why it is well worth it to keep those artificial fertilisers away from your lawn. Having said all that, the parrot can also occasionally display colours of orange, brick-red or purple; emphasising the fact that nothing is ever easy or simple with nature, and this is rarely more accurate than where these whimsical waxcaps are concerned.
I suppose that’s what keeps me coming back for more.
As with much of the natural world these days, waxcaps are on the decline, and this is again mainly due to habitat loss. Waxcaps may be unfamiliar to some, but their beauty and unusualness is yet another reminder and wake up call that we must do better in taking care of and protecting every faction of the environment.
As is generally the case in nature, you don’t actually need to know anything about waxcaps to be able enjoy them. Just take some time out to revel in the beauty, wonder and damn right outrageousness of them and you will quickly begin to appreciate the annual autumn spectacle that is Hygrocybes.
Happy hunting.
