The Fungi of My Land - how many are there?
I am blessed to live on a wonderful piece of land.
Seventeen acres of beautiful Welsh countryside.
That land is green and bountiful and full of nature.
That nature is massive and varied. From the mighty oaks to the tiniest bugs.
I love to listen to the bird song. I am fascinated by the little bugs and creatures that scuttle through the grass. And the plants just intrigue me.
One part of nature that I have so far let pass me by are the fungi.
They have always been there lurking on the dead wood and in the damp and dark places. But I have never paid them any attention.
Then when I was out walking last week I spotted a beautiful bright red mushroom underneath a big old beech tree.
I looked closely and realised how absolutely beautiful it was. And just beyond it was another mushroom - a different type - this time an orangey floppy hat type mushroom.
Then as I continued my walk I started looking more intently and found more - different shapes, different colours.
In one hour walk I found eight different fungi. I was amazed how many I found.
That got me thinking.
I wonder how many different species of fungi are there on my 17 acres?
Are there 50, 500, 5000....
I really want to know more about this wondrous fungi. I've bought the Collins Gem Mushrooms book as an easy start point and that will be in my pocket now when I'm out walking. Hopefully I can identify some of these now.
I will start counting...
If you found this post useful or interesting please do upvote, resteem and follow. Thank you.
You might also be interested in some of my other posts :
Pennsif's Progress - The Days are Numbered // Day 913 : Water, water everywhere
Pennsif's Progress - The Days are Numbered // Day 919 : Goodbye young cockerel, hello new friends
Pennsif's Progress - The Days are Numbered // Day 920 : Up on the roof, down in the earth
SteemTowns - connecting the virtual with the reality - would it be possible?
[all images provided by @pennsif]
What awesome specimens. I too have neglected the fungi on my property. Mostly outta fear of misidentification. I'm a huge fan of foraging and mushrooms scare me. My Grandpa put that fear into me as a small child. But I recently ordered a couple books to help me make safe identifications and hopefully eat some yummy fungi. I have been harvesting morels for a few years now (when I can beat the wild turkeys to them). Here's to more happy fungi hunting!
I like mushrooms, but I do not collect much)))
I wish we knew which ones are edible. I won't take any chances, but we have a ton of them too. Thought about getting some spores of edibles and experimenting with them. They are beautiful! 🐓🐓
I love this catalogue of your nearby fungi! I hope you surprise yourself and find many many more!
I love the floppy hat one! What a perfect description! Haha! I'm hoping for a wet autumn so maybe our mushrooms will pop up.
Knowledge of the fungi on your land can help to maximise its benefits. Its such an important piece of knowledge
So beautiful, and so many types! I recognize some of them, though only from seeing. I don't know any of their names or properties. We haven't been formerly introduced yet. Are you going to do the honor, @pennsif? Would love to find out some details of a certain species. Like you did for your oak trees? Looking forward!
I was just thinking that I wanted to get a mushroom identification book! Would be really cool to see what kinds grow around Wild Rose Acres! It's on my wish list!
Wow, you have a ton of fungi on your property. Only recently have I begun to look into foraging for fungi. In the past, I've only ever grown oyster mushrooms myself and experimented unsuccessfully with button and shiitake. Perhaps it's time to take another look...
Wish we had those here but I enjoy the few we can buy in Australia.