Philip Jones, Fungus Recorder for Carmarthenshire

On a fine autumnal day members of the National Trust, Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales and Llanelli Naturalists met up to take part in a fungal foray in part of the National Trust’s Dinefwr Park in Llandeilo. The meeting was open to all members of the public and an excellent turn out meant that plenty of people joined in the search for the rich range of fungi found within the park.

The autumn 2009 fungus season was remarkable for the small number of mycorrhizal (fungus-root) species that fruited this year and this was evident at Dinefwr. A variety of wood rotting fungi were found in the woods but no large colourful ‘toadstools’ (the ‘fruiting body) were found’.

The lawn in front of the house had a number of the ‘grassland waxcap’ type of fungi and other common grassland species. Eight species were recorded here including the Parrot and Snowy Waxcaps and the Collared and Orange Mosscaps.

Grassland beyond the ‘lawn’, revealed other species such as the Moss Oysterling, an uncommon species, which may be overlooked as it is ‘fan shaped’ and remains close to the soil in grassland.

The splendid woodlands in Dinefwr Park have many fine mature oak and sweet chestnut as well as beech. Here fallen trees and branches, big and small, are left to decay. Many saprotrophic [fungi obtain their nutrients from dead organic matter] as well as parasitic [obtains its nutrients from another living organism] fungal species take advantage of these substrates.

At the start of the fungus-finding walk, two large clumps of fungi were seen on old tree stumps at the edge of the lawn. Both were past their best but identified as Honey Fungus and Sulphur Tuft, which is one of the most common and widespread fungi in Britain.

A curious find was Oyster Mushroom, as it was found the on a wooden sign at the front of the house - but Fungi will grow anywhere there is a source of food and continuous moisture.

Beefsteak Fungus, Hen of the Woods, Southern Bracket, Turkeytail, Deer Shield and Lumpy Bracket were all found in the wood proper – with names like these how could you not be interested in finding out more about these fascinating species!

Candlesnuff fungus was also found. This very common species is an important wood-rotting fungus found on tree stumps or fallen branches of many tree species. Fungi, together with bacteria, are responsible for most of the recycling which returns dead material to the soil in a form in which it can be reused. Without fungi, these recycling activities would be seriously reduced. We would effectively be lost under piles many metres thick, of dead plant and animal remains!

A few rust fungi were found within the parkland, mainly on ferns. Many of the rust fungi are plant parasites and have two or more hosts and up to five spore stages. Their spores are airborne and can travel great distances. They mostly cause leaf infections. The group received its common name from the fact that some species have a reddish spore stage, which resembles the corrosion process known as rust.

Rust species Milesina dieteliana was present on Polyody, M. kriegeriana on both Male-fern and Broad Buckler-fern. All three rusts are extremely common in Carmarthenshire but generally under-recorded throughout Wales. The rust Milesina blechni was present on Hard-fern which is interesting because it is not as common as other fern rusts.

The bramble fringing the woodland margin was infected with the rust Phragmidium violaceum. This rust which is one of our most commonly occurring rusts in Wales which produces a characteristic violet colouration on the upper surface of the leaf of bramble where the infection takes place.

In just one afternoon all these fungi were recorded in a range of habitats. Why not find out more about how you can get involved by looking at the developing fungal recording network’s pages at www.carmarthenshirebiodiversity.co.uk