Finding Fungi 27th October 2023

This morning on a day of pleasant sunshine and autumnal stillness I went with Peter to Berks Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust's (BBOWT) Warburg Reserve near Bix, in my home county of Oxordshire.This time I had settled for a more genteel and infinitely less stressful day searching for fungi rather than birds.

Warburg Reserve is hidden away, deep in a valley in The Chilterns and accessed by a narrow and increasingly tortuous, uneven road that becomes little more than a track, which just when you think you have taken the wrong route, opens out to reveal a small discrete car park and tiny visitor centre. 

Although there may be other cars in the car park it is rare to encounter anyone else on the reserve and it is as if the place is deserted but the muddy bridle path suggests it is not so, as footprints, trailbike tyre prints and outlines of horse shoes are indented in the mud on the puddled bridleway

At this time of year the trees are proclaiming the passage of autumn,their leaves now showing more yellow than green and below the stands of beech trees their fallen leaves have coloured the ground a rich mahogany.

In the depths of the valley there is little wind and a sense of time slips away. The birds in the woodland are quiet too, concentrating on searching for food. Only the occasional croak of a startled pheasant echo's from the valley side while Red Kites whistle as they pass unseen above the canopy of the trees.

The stillness is a balm to allay any ills your spirit may feel and here one can lose oneself for a few hours, concentrating on searching for the various fungi that grow on the reserve, currently around 900 species.

Here are a few of those we found on a rewarding meander below the beeches and through the woodland of Warburg Reserve.

Collared Earth Star

Dead Man's Fingers

Magpie Inkcap

Verdigris Agaric

Dog Stinkhorn

Spiny Puffball