Intothewildwould

Friday, 28 November 2014

Fungi foray on Wimbledon Common

Lots of interesting fungi on Wimbledon Common today, including the fantastic, yellow coloured Scleroderma citrinum, the Common Earthball and some fungi that particularly like Birch trees.

Above, the Scleroderma citrinum, Common Earthball, often described as looking like a 'warty potato'. We also saw, below, Piptoporus betulinus, commonly known as the Birch polypore, apparently used for sharpening knives, also, the darker fungi below is what my friend Lesley identified as a Russula atropurpurea, Purple Brittlegill, the paler pink one we think is the Birch Brittlegill, Russula betularum, which we did find in a small Silver Birch forest at the Eastern end of the common.

Above, Russula atropurpurea, Purple Brittlegil, below, Birch Brittlegill, Russula betularum,

Below, the Deceiver, Laccaria laccata, first-nature.com says:

"Deceivers are mycorrhizal fungi. The cap colour changes quite significantly with age and depends also on the weather, and this characteristic is the origin of the common name".

By far the most important lesson I learned today is to look at the front of trains before getting on them! However, it was interesting to get the tram from Croydon to Wimbledon and go through exotic places, such as Dundonald Road and Waddon Marsh.
Thanks to Lesley for a lovely day, at least we got the right train back to Streatham...

P. S I was glad to discover my memory of a stuffed dog on Wimbledon station's platform 5 was not a bizarre hallucination:

"Wimbledon Station was also the haunt of a 'Railway Collection Dog'. Airedale Terrier "Laddie" was born in September 1948 and started work on Wimbledon Station in 1949, collecting donations on behalf of the Southern Railwaymen's Homes at Woking, via a box strapped to his back. He retired in 1956 having collected over £5,000 and spent the rest of his days with the residents at the Home. On his death in 1960 he was stuffed and returned to Wimbledon Station. He continued to collect for the Homes, in a glass case situated on Platform 5, until 1990 when he retired once more and became part of the National Railway Collection"