I was really pleased to have the opportunity to join the Warwickshire Fungus Group when they visited Alne Wood on an overcast Sunday in the middle of September. This collective continues a long tradition, started in the late 60’s, of regularly surveying land in Warwickshire to record the different fungi that are found around the county. This particular “fungi foray” was organised by one of the Heart of England Forest’s biodiversity officers, Sam and saw around a dozen of us assemble in the car park keen to see what we could spot. Even as we collected together in the car park, bramble rust (brown spots on a blackberry bush leaves) was being studied under a portable electronic microscope, viewed through a smart-phone. Something I did not even realise was a fungus.

We started our exploration by heading to the southern side of the burial ground and walking through the younger woodland on the other side of the hedgerow, eyes peeled. As a first timer I was intrigued to see what we would find but was struggling to see anything of interest. However, as the time went on and the more-experienced people were able to point out different species lurking in the grass, on tree stumps and even on an acorn capule, I started to get my eye-in and was able to contribute the occasional sighting.
 
What was really helpful were the more experienced members of the group providing support with identification and explaining the features of different species and their relationship to related fungus types. Everything was recorded and some species had samples carefully collected and stored for further identification under microscopes (please note you should not collect fungus found in woodland – just take photos).

40 species were identified by the group that varied greatly both in terms of appearance and also the places the fruiting bodies, what we typically refer to as mushrooms, were sprouting. The pictures below show just a selection of the variety of species that were found.

As anyone knows whose walked through Alne Wood during the Heart of England Forest's bluebell walk in the spring it’s a beautiful ancient oak dominated wood. What’s fascinating with these walks is to see how much other life these habitats support and how important it is that what we do at the burial ground can help to support the Charity in their maintenance.