Fabulous fungi and other firsts

For all the ubiquity of fungi, fungus fancying is at best a minority interest; only the fruiting bodies make themselves available for most of us to enjoy (sometimes gastronomically).  We can all recognise a toadstool, especially the white spotted red beauty that is Fly Agaric, but most of us are completely unaware of the vast array of fungus species around us. Without fungi the world would not function; they form an essential part of the system of recycling that nature has worked out over the aeons, and are also very often essential companions for many plants to be able to grow at all.

This is a field in which rigorous scientific expertise is required: fungi experts are mycologists, and (here at last is the obvious pun), no doubt fun guys to hang out with. On 18^th March the Norfolk Fungus Study Group led by research permit holder Steve Pinnington visited the Commons to survey them in a mycological sort of way, and logged 101 species, amongst them Alder Bracket, Scarlet Elfcup and Dusky Puffball. Pick of the crop however was Antrodia serialis  – a species never before recorded in Norfolk, and rarely anywhere else in the UK. It is a whitish crust-like bracket fungus and was found on some discarded old boardwalk timber. Its main population centres are the Himalayas and Africa: what with that and the Himalayan Balsam growing on the mountain ranges of Southrepps (see below), it can no longer be right to say “Terribly flat, Norfolk”!

To the rest of us non-mycologists, a fungus really does have to make its presence known to attract our attention. The Fungus Study Group found the excellently named Scarlet Elf Cup (Sarcoscypha austriaca) but your correspondent is happy to report that he too had found it the previous month. It was still there for the NWT Chief Executive Pamela Abbott to enjoy when she came to mark the transfer of The Commons to NWT. Here’s my photographic effort.

It turns out that fungi have often been given wonderful common names, examples from those recorded on the Fungus Study Group visit being: Oak Blackhead; Nettle Pox; Hairy Curtain Crust; Blushing Bracket; Scurfy Twiglet (I’m no fan of twiglets myself); and Frosty Bonnet. One they didn’t find, probably because they came in Spring and I found this one in Autumn, is Jelly Ear. This was growing on a twig next to the Jubilee Boardwalk, and was once again so obvious that even I could see it. 

This being the time when Spring turns slowly into Summer (or as I write this, with an Arctic wind blowing, back into Winter), no major working parties are operating on The Common. However, do not despair – the Himalayan Balsam season is fast approaching, so do look out for calls to arms to come and help restrain this pernicious invader from choking everything else around it. As growing Himalayan Balsam likes to consort with equally vigorous nettles, it is wise to dress accordingly. No doubt you too could look like this!

Meanwhile, away from fungi and plants, there have been several very exciting bird sightings on and close to The Commons. Near Pit Common were recently found a Great Grey Shrike and a Ring Ouzel, and very shortly after a Pied Flycatcher was found in the alder carr half way across the Common: to the best of my knowledge, this is a first recorded sighting of this species on our Common. No doubt all were passing through to their eventual breeding spots; they certainly didn’t hang around long enough for many people to enjoy. In reverse, a Redwing was spotted in a garden just opposite the Common. This was either a bird that had simply missed the boat in migrating back up north with its friends, or perhaps it was too weak to make the trip. Anyway, here it is: