On Sunday 6 October our planned fungi walk took place in Oakley Wood, and by all accounts was a great success.

We were fortunate to have as the leaders Dave Champion and Francisco Verenciano, the principal identifiers from the Warwickshire Fungi Group. Other members of that group joined us, and together with members of the public and the FOW committee totalled around 20 persons – a good turnout.

Dave and Francisco treated us to a variety of species, common, not so common and even rare. These are some photos I took that show a very small sample of what we saw.

The disparagingly named Ugly Milkcap:

The rather more attractive Shaggy Scalycap:

A False Death Cap, just as well left alone as the real one:

The archetypal toadstool, Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria):

and finally, the rare Parasitic Bolete, growing on a Common Earthball. This one had our experts excited, as they found not one but two examples:

Dave and Francisco had visited the wood a few days before to get an idea what they could show us, and it exceeded their expectations. Francisco emailed me afterwards, saying:
“It was a very productive day. Best site we have been this year by far. It has massive potential …. if you imagine the site with minimal brambles and bracken, the fungi would be everywhere”

That’s very good news. He has also estimated that there are likely 1000s of fungi species in the wood. So just a few more to be discovered then!