CCG Fungus Foray at Settle 2012 with Archie McAdam

Jane Blinkhorn and Archie McAdam were scheduled to run CCG's 2012 Foray on 31 October.

BUT.. we had had a wet cold summer and autumn - and rainy weather was forecast on the 31st October.  Would we be able to find enough fungi?

Jane and I made independent walks on the Saturday to look at some of the plantations at and near Wildshare to look for fungi - and had found very very few..

On the Monday we went together and looked at two sets of fields that Jane said were good for waxcaps. One had virtually none. But  in the other set of fields, even though the slippery wet grass looked grey through my misty, rain-splattered spectacles, we found some waxcaps and it looked much more promising. And Jane said she had found some good plants at Scaleber Foss - a tiny area of beech woodland with dangerous steep slopes at one side..

I booked St John's Church Hall so we could go back early after the foray on the Wednesday and look at specimens.

Setting off

Well, the morning itself stayed fine. And just over 20 stalwart Settle people and visitors turned up.

A romantic setting - but beware of the bi drop 
at the waterfall and the steep sided banks.

Archie examines a specimen found by our youngest 

What is this?

And this?

The PBA contingent

Plenty for all to see

Spectacular Rustgill - ... Gymnopilus junonius

Taking photographs

Our second site was grassland near Mitchell Lane. We had permission from the farmer to wander off the path..

Here is some Klebsormidium crenulatum (flamentous alga)
on the branches of the hawthorn tree above.

On the more positive side - It is exciting on a foray when someone finds
Cordyceps militaris (Well done Liz) growing in the grassland.
This will be growing out of the dead body of a
caterpillar or pupa that it has colonised.

Closer up of the Cordyceps militaris

Now back to the hall

Back at the hall we spread our trophies on the table

And Archie gave an excellent introduction to fungi

Hygrophorus hypothejus from the woodland

"Here is one brought in earlier" from near Watery Lane
 -  a huge tuft of Velvet Shank - Flammulina velutipes.
This can withstand the frost well and is edible

Can you see the difference between Clitybe geotropa (Trouping Funnel) and Clitocybe nebularis (Cloud Funnel cap)?

  

These pictures are all Trametes gibbosa - Lumpy bracket - (gibbous means hunchbacked or lumpy or like a gibbous moon)

With local Products display behind

 Archie is a Methodist Local Preacher - so I was proud that the Settle Methodist Church Hall could house us for the splendid informative session he ran.

On the board behind him is my "LOAF and Local Products display"

There is space on the green paper to write down local products.

Archie told us about the book he has written to help people work out which genus of fungus they have found..  He gets it printed by a firm in Burnley. So I think this justifies it going on that list: - you can get it from Summerfields: (£5-00 plus postage)

http://www.summerfieldbooks.com/showdetails.asp?id=3028

Thank you to Jane for planning it, to Archie for his expert knowledge and for taking home more difficult specimens to examine under the microscope.
And to everyone for coming.