The 29th July marked the start of my season, the fungi season that is, as I found a large group of Iodine Bolete (Hemileccinum impolitum) growing near the house. Whilst I have been recording lots of species over the recent weeks and months, the majority have been rusts, smuts & mildews. Last week we did find a lot of Branched Oyster (Pleurotus cornucopiae), Pale Brittlestem (Psathyrella candolleana) and Dead Moll's Fingers (Xylaria longipes), but these are wood specialists rather than growing with the roots of trees like many iconic mushrooms.
The large group of Iodine Bolete were the first 'big' find of the season and it is a stunner, easy to identify, relatively uncommon (and rare in these parts) and with a distinctive Iodine smell in the base of the stem.
It will be interesting to see how this season pans out, the dry weather have put plants (and fungi) under stress so there could be lots of fruiting bodies this year, but we need rain for that and round here it has still hardly rained even though most of the country has seen some decent rain.
It all adds to the mystery of fungi-hunting!
Dave