It has been so dry in recent months. Not good for finding fungi. At little bit of life in May but very little since. An interesting Agrocybe rivulosa (Wrinkled Fieldcap) appeared on a pile of plant material at Allerton Golf Course. This fungus was first found in the UK in 2004 and is moving north.
A visit to Sankey Valley CP produced a few Calocybe gambosa (St. Georges Mushroom). Usually, they grow in large groups.
I recorded only six species at Freshfield Dune Heath but all very common. Nothing from the Sefton coast along Fisherman’s Path nor the following week at Lifeboat Road. Both pleasant walks.
A visit to Clock Face CP, St. Helens I the middle of June turned up an early Hygrocybe conica (Blackening Waxcap)
My latest find in July at Speke Hall turned into a mystery. Under a large rotten cut log, I collected two very tiny (5mm) specimens that I could identify as Entoloma (Pinkgill) but not the species. My research was sent to the leading expert on this Genus who is researching the whole complex of tiny Pinkgills. But until he completes this, he is not able to give it a name. I shall record it a Entoloma byssisendum (Complex) which if the best I can do for the time being. Not often recorded but not surprising in view of their size.
The main activity has been examining trees and plants for mildews and rusts. Like humans, they like warm weather.
There are downy and powdery mildews, the latter being more obvious. The main Genus is Erysiphe and most likely seen on leaves of Oak and Hogweed. You can often see grey trees when coming into land at Manchester Airport.
Some rusts have a very interesting life cycle because they need a secondary host. Gymnosporangium rust found on Hawthorn and my Pear tree requires a Juniper tree to complete the cycle. The spores pass from one tree to the other and back again. You can identify this type of rust by the hornlike spore tubes.
Melampsora rusts that infect Ransoms also need a secondary host, either Willow or Poplar. This at Sankey Valley. Lots of Willow.
Tranzschelia discolor on Anemone coronaria at Clarke Gardens, Liverpool, requires Pyrus as a host. Immediately opposite is a plantation of Prunus spinosa (Blackthorn) in Eric Hardy Reserve, which fits the bill.
The most common rusts are Puccinia and Phragmidium, usually orange, more prominent on the underside of leaves.
Phragmidiums are common on Rose and Blackberry families. Puccinia, I have already found on over ten different host plants, the most interesting at Clock Face CP, on Southern Marsh Orchid and False Fox-sedge (this plant being much rarer than the infecting rust).
I need some rain.
