Yesterday's Sphagnum moss is a hard act to follow in the top-10 Dove Stone wildlife countdown to Saturday's BioBlitz. Next up it's the turn of fungi.
A bit later in the year and I'd be writing about Pink Waxcap but it's not waxcap season yet. It was a tough choice as we have so many great fungi at Dove Stone but our top-10 BioBlitz fungi is Amethyst Deceiver ( Laccaria amethystina ). It's a common species; we recorded Laccaria amethystina at last year's BioBlitz and we'll be hoping to do so again on Saturday. It's a fantastic looking fungi because of it's amazing colour - a beautiful purple, although this does fade with age and weathering of course. If you're BioBlitzing with us at the weekend then look out for this fungi around Chew Brook. We've quite a few mature Beech in this area and Laccaria amethystina is often found with Beeches, although they can also be found amongst confierous trees. And if you're foraging for Amethyst Deceiver as an edible species it's always best not to confuse it with the poisonous Lilac Fibrecap which is similar in appearance. The golden rule is if you're not 100% sure with your id then don't eat it !
A bit of history about Amethyst Deceiver; it was first described in 1778 by the English botanist and apothecary William Hudson as Agaricus amethystinus and classified later as Laccaria by a chap with the rather good name of Mordecai Cubitt Cooke.
Other fungi to look out for on the day include Meadow Puffball, Larch Bolete, Candlesnuff and Dung Roundhead to name just a few. Dove Stone is proving to be a really significant Greater Manchester site for fungi and as we move into autumn ( I know we seem to have by-passed summer ! ) we'll be running a number of fungi forays - our autumn and winter guided walks and events programme will be coming out soon - so check out on our events listings page for full info on August onwards guided walks, wildlife activities and more.
Looking forwards to the top-3 countdown from tomorrow !