Fungi Season.

A view out over Dunmanus Bay's, Four Mile Estuary at Church of Ireland and the Durrus Pier, near Bantry County Cork, Eire.


Growing up in a large woodland in the middle of The Netherlands, meant that in Autumn we would go forage for Chanterelle mushrooms. These were growing at the other side of the hill, about 4km from us. The shine of these little yellow ochre little caps among the yellowing fallen leaves and roots.

The tree of us, Elly, my mum, Louise my sis, and this blogger, would fill our bags and bring them to Nora, at the other end of our walk. The contents of our bags would appear on our plates and it is a taste I still long for, more than 40 years later. These little mushrooms are becoming rare in this forest, and elsewhere in the Netherlands too.
Sometimes I sit thinking very long when reading Wild Foraging tips in Wildlife and Nature magazines/websites. What will happen to our edible Fungi, plants and Flowers like Wood Sorrel, and other edible flowers/plants? Or will these evolve like Nettle and Brambles and develop into what most people call Weeds?

no chance of me finding Chanterelle mushrooms on my local patch though. I wish!
The other day, I did have a closer look at what looked like to be dead leaves, stuck on the bank among the Ivy. And soon I discovered that there was some Fungi among the flattened Grass and Ivy. Looking up, I spotted the Leaves of one of the Ash trees, standing tall above me.
The tree made me recall something on Fungi ID on the telly: search for certain Fungi by
looking up first. In my case it was the other way around, I found the Fungi, and the ID of the tree species might help me and other people in identifying it.


Ans so underneath this European Ash, Fraxinus excelsior



I found these:






Have not found the ID yet. So yes, tips would be welcome. Just leave a comment, please. A little further on, on a freshly mowed grass covered rocky wall, there were a lot more. It all looked pristine; unlike the previous Fungi, these were uneaten. Intact and in almost perfect order.
It might look odd to you that there is no tree near these mushrooms. At the other side of the garden are a couple of Scots Pine trees. With lots of mushrooms about where I guess the roots are. It is my guess that another (few?) Scots Pines were growing on top of this wall perhaps? Or other trees? And that these mushrooms are growing on the dead wood of the roots. I often see large trees growing on top of banks like this. We ourselves had a couple of very large Ash growing atop a similar stone wall/bank when we lived in Riverside cottage.



Across the garden, around the Scots Pine Tress:



And some other pictures of that day:

Montbretia, Crocusmia x crocusmiiflora


Wild Ivy, Hedera helix




A Little glimpse across:


Bee on Wild Ivy, Hedera helix

Lichen on the sea wall.


Great Tit, Parus major