Well it looks like its going to be a good years for mushrooms! My garden is full of the things at the moment, just wish I knew which ones were edible.
I have positively identified a big clump of yellow stainers (hoped they were horse mushrooms ) some puff balls, a large quantity of what i think are shaggy parasols,
and about five or six other species which I cant identify, including this one,
which is probably a jack-o-lantern.

What I really need is an expert to come on walkabout with me! I have been on a mushroom foray with the guys but there's too many people for me to learn properly, I need a one to one I think. Anyone willing? I am surrounded by grazing fields and have a oak and beech woodland out the back - should be a fair few to find I should think?

Hey bardster,
how are you doing? Good to see proper respect and commonsense caution being applied to fungus hunting. I can confirm that you had/have a very nice collection of Shaggy Parasols. Good eating, but can scour you out a bit on the way through - not necessarily a bad thing, mind. Normal Parasol is usually kinder.

What part of the country are you? The second fungus looks at first glance like Chanterelle, a bit uncommon in the south. I'm not totally convinced though, colour is too strong, shape too regular and a bit at the top lookslike broken true gills which Chanterelle do not possess. Did you smell it? I think Chanterelle smell like brioche, books say apricots. Any more pics to give an idea of scale? I'd welcome discussion and photos of other stuff.

Badger  

No unfortunatly that was the only good pic. it was maybe in inch and half or so. Others have suggested jackolantern which whould be even more rare round here in the middle of Kent.
I did a walk through my neighboring woods and took quite a few pics the other week. Need to process them really

The fungus season is in full swing and my local woods is heaving with every conceivable kind. Today's rain is timely, I was a-fearing that we were going to run into drought and lose the fungi before October set in but now I think we  might make it. I have seven forays booked, so you can see why I might be anxious.

Since the Beefsteak, I have dined on Parasol, Giant Puffball, Leccinum aurantiacum and L. carpini boletes, and have just found some Hedgehog Fungus today. The puffballs were not as large as in past years but there were 9 of them. I baked some in their jackets. Look out for pics, words and recipes in the Autumn issue, currently in prep.

excellent!
my shaggy parasols have come up again - might be brave enough to eat them this time....
The front lawn is full of yellow stainers again they look so edible!
must get out in the woods behind the house again and see whats what.

How does one go about booking you for a foray? I came on one of your forays last year but the group was too large for me, I work/learn better on a more one to one basis.

Shaggy Parasols for breakfast this morning.

My wife picked them and had mistaken them for Parasols. When we are together on a walk I sometimes take just the cap of Parasols, as it is the only edible bit. When someone less experienced does this it can have unintended consequences. Fortunately there was enough stem on one or two to tell. She had also picked some smaller ones that were still Shaggy Parasols but were down in a size range where some very poisonous look-alikes occur.

The tell-tale subtleties my wife had missed were; darker, shaggier caps; NO snakeskin pattern on the skin; stem turns brown with handling and the gills bruise pinky-orange; when cut it does the same, very orange where the stem joins the cap.

In her defense, they were growing in exactly the same spot as Parasols were a week ago plus they are SAFE and GOOD TO EAT. Still, a very salutory lesson.

In response to bardster. I do have some private fungus forays booked this October. I am happy to take very small groups out for a foray on a more one-to-one basis. My diary for October is pretty full - there is currently one Satuday and a few weekdays free. I don't want to use the forum for business, it's intended for free and friendly exchange of ideas, but I can be contacted through my (the editor's) e-mail address on the main page of the mag. website.

Yeah, sorry badger, it wasn't intended as a touting for business type thing. I fully agree that the forum should be kept free of such things... I'll send you an email.  

--Last edited by bardster on 2008-09-27 05:22:13 --

Apologies to bardster - nor was my message intended as a reproach!