It's Hallowe'en, so make homes for fungi

My RSPB day job took me yesterday out onto one of our newest reserves, the glorious lowland heathland at Hazeley Heath in Hampshire.

In summer is alive with Silver-studded Blue butterflies and, by night, the sound of Nightjars. Yesterday, it was a little quieter, although Common Darter dragonflies were still plentiful in the balmy conditions over the heathland pools and wet flushes.

You'll be impressed, however, that - even out there - my thoughts returned to wildlife gardening. The prompt was the array of toadstools that were present, which got me thinking about how many fungi there are in my new garden and in gardens generally.

The thought was very brief: I don't have any. Well, actually there are some old bracket fungi on a dead fruit tree, but no 'mushroomy' type things poking up through the 'woodland' floor or in the grassy areas.

In fact, given that 80 years ago I know my garden was an orchard, it has astonished me this year to find how little biodiversity has survived. I believe the previous owners were big users of herbicides and pesticides and I think it has wiped the slate pretty clean. All the more for me to put right!

So yesterday's fungi-fest, which included these..

and a fairy ring...

and, of course, some superb Fly Agarics...

Well, it got me thinking that so often we talk about making homes for birds and butterflies and bees and pond creatures but we often forget the fungi.

So, as I don't have any fungi yet, I'd love to hear from you if you do, and what you've done to help them flourish. Go on, share your thoughts!