Brandon Country Park Fungi & Slime Moulds – August 2023

27 August 2023

Some highlights from our walk around Brandon Country Park.

Fuligo septica.

Fuligo septica
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023

More Fuligo septica.

Fuligo septica
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023

A rose coloured Tubifera ferruginosa with a more mature greyish violet clump surrounding the pine needle.

Tubifera ferruginosa
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023

Could the slime mould below be the plasmodial stage of Physarum polycephalum ?

EDIT 06.01.24: This could possibly be the plasmodial form of Badhamia utricularis.

Physarum polycephalum or Badhamia utricularis plasmodium
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023

It’s always wonderful to find Calocera viscosa (yellow staghorn).

Calocera viscosa
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023
Calocera viscosa
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023

The parachute fungi below could be Marasmius rotula (collared parachute) or perhaps Gymnopus androsaceus (horsehair parachute).

The main difference between the two is that the gills of M. rotula attach to a collar around the stem whereas with G. androsaceus the gills attach directly to the stem [First Nature].

Parachute fungi
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023

After a Google image search, I think the fungus below is Rhizina undulata (doughnut fungus or pine firefungus) .

Rhizina undulata
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023

Wikipedia states that it “grows on burned soil or conifer debris”, and indeed we found it along a path adjacent to a conifer stand that had been subject to fire.

Burnt conifer stand
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023

We found this black growth along the same path — could it be burnt Rhizina undulata ?

Could this be burnt Rhizina undulata?
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023

On the perimeter of the heath adjacent to the conifer stands, fellow wanderers alerted us to some strange growths by the path that “looked like slices of tree trunk”.

The fungi below are Coltricia perennis (tiger’s eye) and are not common — found on the edges of conifer plantations and on acidic heathland [1].

Coltricia perennis
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023
Coltricia perennis
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023

No image search could help with identifying these mottled fungi that were growing off pinecones — but could they actually be Auriscalpium vulgare – earpick fungus.

Auriscalpium vulgare ?
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023

The curiously unsettling yet beautiful Pseudoinonotus dryadeus (oak bracket).

Pseudoinonotus dryadeus
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023
Pseudoinonotus dryadeus
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023

I don’t know what the following fungi are but I find the gill and the pore structures fascinating.

Unidentified
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023
Unidentified
Brandon Country Park – 27th August 2023

[1] Coltricia perennis at First Nature

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