There are aliens at Broadwater! Not aliens in the Extra-terrestrial sense, but ecological aliens: species that don't naturally exist in an area. The aliens in question aren't plants or animals, but fungi. They are growing on woodchip from the trees that were removed and chipped for our heathland restoration project.
Woodchip is a great place to find interesting and non-native fungi for a number of reasons. Firstly, because woodchip is often imported or is made up of non-native softwood, you find fungi that are from the regions where those trees originate. Secondly, woodchip is the perfect habitat for 'saprotrophic fungi'. These are fungi that get their food from breaking down deadwood. As woodchip is just a big pile of deadwood this appeals to them. Moreover, because it has been chipped into lots of small pieces, there is a greater surface area for fungi to penetrate the wood. Also it provides a greater area where the fungi can 'fruit'. What many people don't realise is that the mushrooms that we see growing on wood are only the fruiting body of the organism. These appear after the main body of the fungus, (the mycelium) which lives within the wood, has reproduced and wishes to disperse. In the same way a plant gets pollonated and produces seeds, so a fungus reproduces within the wood - breaking it down and feeding on it - and creates mushrooms that produce spores (fungal versions of a plants' seeds').
The mushrooms found on the woodchip include the mulch fieldcap (Agrocybe putaminum), Laughing Gym (Gymnopilus junonius) and Agrocybe rivularis.
Here are some photos!
Nice article. I must start a proper look for fungi soon...