Boletes of the forest floor

Wednesday 15th October

Working in the woods today fashioning some stakes from cut birch regen and a hand axe, I was fortunate to find a scarletina bolete. Not one I see too often, and from above can resemble a deceiving or lurid bolete, but the striking red pores on the underside and red dotting on the stipe proved otherwise today. As is often the case, this one was found underneath a host of beech trees. One of around 80 bolete species in the UK, one way of observing a key identifying feature of the scarletina is to cut the bright yellow flesh which will then turn bright blue in seconds due to rapid oxidisation. The magic of mushrooms.

Porcelain parachutes

Friday 10th October

Porcelain fungi are one of my favourites to see in the autumn. With its translucent and shiny caps, broadly spaced gills and slender stems they really do resemble little porcelain parachutes descending from the trees. Only to be found specifically on beech, they are a frequent presence at this time of year on decaying trunks and often dead branches higher up in the crown. They are a very important food source for invertebrates and with their slimy, shimmering caps they can always be relied upon for a decent photograph or two.

Folkloric fungi

Thursday 9th October

A saunter along the River Wharfe at Hebden in the Yorkshire Dales today peaked my interest by the way of some fine fungal specimens. On the trunk of an old, monolithed horse chestnut, were some very imposing bracket fungi on display - the dryad's saddle. A mushroom with pores instead of gills gives it the scientific name of Cerioporus squamosus and this is a common sight throughout the year. A quick rub of the underside pores reveals a pungent cucumber like aroma and that along with the radial, scaly patterns on the upper side resembling the feathers of female pheasant, ensures that you can't really go wrong with identification here. In European folklore they are used as a perch by the tree nymphs or dryads of the forest. If picked while still small, they are particularly tasty too and are packed full of antioxidants. This was one of the finest examples that I have come across this year.

A feast of fungi

Wednesday 17th September

It's that time of the year again when summer is officially winding down and there is now a distinct condition change in the air with a damp and humid atmosphere beginning to taking shape. This brings a feast of fungi along with it and what better way to kick off the transition to autumn than with a red cracking bolete or two emerging in the garden today.

There are around 80 species of bolete in the UK - many of them edible, some that will change colour from cream to blue when cut and some that grow a gaudy crimson red or even to the size of a dinner plate. The red cracking bolete (Xerocomellus chrysenteron) gets its common name from the colour change in the cap as it breaks or is nibbled on by molluscs, revealing a thin layer of bright pink to red flesh. They are known for their mycorrhizal connections with beech trees so I am betting that the individuals forming in my garden are the result of a more than successful relationship with my hedgerow. It's a magical time of year and I've recently stumbled upon penny buns, pleated inkcaps, late crops of chicken of the woods, oysters on old maple trees and some perfectly formed fly agaric specimens. 

I'm now waiting in full anticipation for my first waxcap sighting of 2025!

Don't fear the reaper

Monday 25th August

Each year I let the garden lawn go wild, only mowing it once a year and when I say mow, I mean scythe to be precise. The grasses grow tall from spring to the end of summer before I give it a thorough cut and rake, removing all the nutrients from leeching back into the soil to give wildflowers a real chance.

At first I’ll be honest, it was tough going. A thick, never ending sward full of rank grasses like perennial rye and cock’s foot. Four years on it is a different story. The grasses have thinned out dramatically with yellow rattle, common knapweed, yarrow, wild carrot and bird’s-foot trefoil being opportunistic and spreading all over the lawn and the general biodiversity has massively increased. It is now such a quick, easy and fun job to scythe the lawn I am left to wonder why more people aren’t considering the same and ditching the mower.

Low maintenance, incredible for flora diversity, safe for wildlife, no machinery, no fuel and just generally brilliant for the environment. What’s not to love?

Plums and custard

Friday 8th August

For the first time in years I have stumbled upon a small crop of a beautiful looking mushroom decorating the woodland floor today. It is the start of the fruiting season up north for ‘plums and custard’ fungi!

Tricholomopsis rutilans gets its common name from the distinctive purple and egg yolk yellow colours that it unashamedly boasts. I found them sprouting from decaying conifer timber in a mixed woodland block at work. Definitely one I will be keeping an eye out for over the next couple of months. They are certainly eye-catching and make a lovely photo.

Shame they taste nothing like their namesake and are in fact so bitter that they are deemed inedible by many.

The gall on this one

Wednesday 30th July

I can’t quite get over the amount of oak galls I have come across recently, whether it be the silk button variety, marble, cherry or in today’s case - the artichoke gall aka hop gall due to its unusual, but recognisable appearance. Plant galls are abnormal growths produced by the plant in response to the presence of another organism such as fungi or invertebrates. Where the artichoke gall is concerned, a parthenogenetic gall wasp lays a single egg with their ovipositor in a leaf bud, which causes this reaction growth in the tree which in turn houses the wasps larva, which will hatch out in the autumn. Clever stuff, and no harm to the host whatsoever.

2026 is shaping up to be a great year for solitary wasps!

Coastal blues

Thursday 24th July

I have been working on the Durham Heritage Coast today and whilst I had hoped to catch a glimpse of a dolphin or two patrolling the shallow waters, it wasn’t to be. My eyes were drawn away from the sea and to a different azure hue, this time in the form of the common blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus).

A striking sight, the common blue can be identified from its similar cousin - the holly blue by the orange spots visible on the underside of the wing, which are absent in the holly blue species. The flora of the coastal meadows were looking particularly vibrant in the July sun, boasting a bounty of flowering knapweed, restharrow, carline thistle, field scabious and more. Glorious!

Beamish new beginnings

Tuesday 1st July

While wandering Beamish open-air museum in County Durham today I spotted a ‘flight’ of barn swallows, all of which fledged just yesterday. Five of them sitting in a row were causing quite a stir, catching many a people’s eye as they sat patiently in the sun waiting for the right moment to catch flight and feed.

The swallow (Hirundo rustica) is a summer visitor to the UK, arriving from Northern Africa before it returns later in the year. Unhindered, they will migrate to the exact same spot to breed every year.

Wild pickings

Wednesday 25th June

A walk through Chopwell Woods today brought a lovely seasonal surprise for the taste buds. Not only is it always such a treat to stumble upon wild cherry fruit at this time of the year, but to be given the chance to grab a few before the birds arrive is quite a rare feat! Luckily there were several trees in abundance, with ripening cherries coming through at different stages. Plenty to share with our passerine companions.

Wild cherry (Prunus avium) is one of our two native cherry species and can be differentiated from its relative - the bird cherry (Prunus padus) quite simply by the season in which it bears fruit. Wild cherry tend to produce around June and its cherries on long stalks, are a deep red whereas bird cherry fruits in the autumn, with a black, bitter cherry that hangs in clusters. Leave the bird cherry to the wildlife, but where the wild cherry is concerned, pick away to your heart’s content.