AN URBAN AMANITA AND SOME INTERESTING FINDS ON THE INTERNET

Two years ago, I found a rather charming Fly Agaric. 

Last week, I went back to look again and searched the spot. Nothing. But, about thirty feet away - this

Something which has been catching my interest a lot recently is how many plants grow wild in our towns and cities.

Look at this dandelion on a roundabout, almost under a flyover, close to the city centre in Reading.

A dandelion seed must have blown here from somewhere.

The history of the Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) I found last week may be more complicated. Although it is growing in a residential street where, by the look of them, the houses date from the 1960s or 70s, many of the trees in the area appear to be older than the buildings.

In this photo, taken the next day, you can see some of the houses.

Who lived here first? Humans or fungi?

The beauty of a Fly Agaric seems short lived, especially in rainy weather. Here it is on the third day. Rather dilapidated!

The next day, I came home. (This toadstool is a five hour journey away in Berkshire and, as interesting as they are, I hadn’t gone there specially to see them - so I’m not going back to find out what happened after that!)

The next bit, though, is even more exciting.

There’s a programme on BBC Radio 4 called ‘Saving Species’. I don’t specially like it but happened to turn on while they were describing a fungi foray in the New Forest (Hampshire).

For people unfamiliar with the New Forset - it’s old; pretty old. William the Conquerer set it up in 1079 to hunt in. (You know him - 1066 invasion.) If you want to know more, here’s a link.

We have family conections with the New Forest so I listened. Many readers will know how bloggers get to know each other through the internet (garden bloggers especially, it seems) and this group of fungus identifiers had met through a site called Ispot - a recording and identifying scheme set up by the Open University.

(Another digression and explanation for people unfamiliar with the Open University:-

Studying from home through the Open University is an established and well respected way to gain degrees and other qualifications. Like more conventional Universities, it organises learning events unconnected with degrees as well.)

The programme itself wasn’t very inspiring but there was a link from its own site to Ispot.

I’ve joined.

This is what it’s like.

You upload photos of things you see in the wild - insects, amphibians, birds, plants and so on . . . If you know what they are, you label them. If you don’t others tip in and help with the identification. The idea is to create a national record, to inspire people to take an interest in ‘nature’, to be a learning tool and to provide resources for the Open University itself. I think! I’ve only belonged for a few days and I’ve already discovered there’s a tension over what level of knowledge and expertise you need when you arrive. The introductory video makes it clear that you don’t need to know anything, either about what you are photographing or about your subject matter. Willingness and interest is what counts. This is exciting. (I find it exciting!) But I think it must be a bit frustrating too for people who have been members for a long time to have people turning up who press the wrong buttons and don’t provide the right angles on the subject matter. However, there is a lot of encouragement there too and I really would recommend those who live in Britain and Ireland to get involved. (And I’d encourage those of you who live elsewhere in the world to see if there’s a parallel scheme where you live.)

I’ve been uploading onto Ispot pictures of the toadstools I found amongst the urban trees of Berkshire. In some ways its been disappointing. I have what claims to be a pretty comprehensive fungi identification book (Collins Complete Guide to British Mushrooms and Toadstools). That such books exist suggests you can identify a fungus from its picture but I wasn’t managing very well. In fact, I wan’t getting anywhere at all! So I arrived at Ispot with great expectations that I’d be able to upload a picture and get a quick and accurate response. It turns out that even people who know a million things more than me can’t necessarily say what’s what and this is both disappointing and encouraging.  It’s disappointing to find there is no easy route to answers through pictures. On the other hand, I have gone back to being happy about making up my own names for things rather than risk misleading. One Ispot member said some fungi can only be truly identified, one from another, when spores are put under a microscope. You’ll find my  pasta and slug fungi keep their names for the present!

Here’s an example of a toadstool I reckoned I had quite a lot of information about. I supplied three angles.

Here they are.

Yet a decisive identification turns out not to be possible. Could it be an Amanita Pantherina? Or is it an Amanita Muscaria (a Fly Agaric) that is past its best? The solution may simply be to call it an Amanita and leave it at that. Beautifully vague!

Less vague than me though. I’d call it a Toadstool with  Iced-gem spikes. (Do you know those little biscuits?)

All very difficult!

See this?

It may be a Laccaria Laccata in an early stage.

And this may be a Laccaria Laccata at a later stage.

To my, untrained, eye they look very different and, until I uploaded the photos I had no idea they could be the same kind of plant. (I’m still not clear if I should even be calling them plants!)

And here’s another exciting thing. Through joining Ispot I found this site of nature photographs - it belongs to a very helpful Ispot expert.

And look at these fungi photos there!

So, all in all, a happy and interesting fortnight!