Added 25/4/11.
Just to show that it always pays to look up as well as down when looking for fungi, your webmaster found this huge growth of Chicken of The Woods (Laetoporous sulphureus) growing on a standing dead stump of a massive old Oak tree in a field near Westbury, Wilts on 21/4/11. After a warm spring this species can often surprise by it's early appearance!
Added 16/4/11.
After a search for over 16 years your webmaster has finally found his first Morel (Morchella esculenta) growing in the wild! Although the find was made at West Dean on the Hants/Wilts border on 14/4/11 I am still very pleased to have found it! Very tasty it was as well.
Added 11/4/11.
Derek Monk has sent me this excellent image of a recent find of Morchella elata very close to his house on 25/3/11! Apparently enough for about four households!?
Added 5/4/11.
This wonderful Spring selection of fungi was made within 50 metres of each other at the webmaster's place of work! They include the St Georges Mushroom (Calocybe gambosum) and the False Morel (Gyromitra esculenta) which is NOT edible I hasten to add!
Calocybe gambosum
Gyromitra esculenta
Paxina leucomelas
Added 4/4/11.
The 2010 Ken Roberts Plaque (KRP) award ceremony was held at the DFG AGM in Longham on the 27th January 2011 and involved the presentation of this wonderfully carved sculpture entitled "Edge Of The Woods" by Ken himself.
The award was made after the judging panel Mark Pike, Derek Monk and Alan Williams considered all the applications of outstanding fungal finds of the season.
12 entries were considered. Among them: Mitrula paludosa (Bog Beacon) was found early in the year (around April) by Roy Clarke. Also Boletus radicans, a good looking Bolete but due to the bitterness can spoil a good mushroom meal. Boletus calopus, another Bolete but even more bitter than the Radicans. Cortenarius violaceus, a very attractive violet mushroom, quite “uncommon, endangered on Red Data List” (Roger Phillips) this find was the favourite for some time until the DFG Foray in Linford when we stumbled on a large patch of this “very rare” and beautiful violet Webcap cortinarius. This mushroom looks good enough to eat but as it is on the Red Data list and also contains a toxin that makes it not fit for human consumption.
The rare find of the 2010 DFG season and the winner of the KRP 2010 trophy is the extremely rare Cordyceps longisegmentis, which is believed to be a first for Dorset and a parasite on what must be an even rarer mushroom: Elaphomyces muricatus, also referred to as a false Truffle. Here we get the clue to the most expensive mushroom on earth. The Cordyceps sinensis or Caterpillar mushroom, a distant relative of the one found by members of the DFG last year.
Cordyceps longisegmentis
The top price reference for the Cordyceps sinensis is US$ 18.000/kg, however the Dorset Cordyceps is not quoted on any mushroom Richter scale but it managed to get the price that money cannot buy: The Ken Roberts Plaque Trophy. Not only did we find one specimen but as luck has it, a second specimen was spotted and photographed at a later Foray by Peter Aberson (see photo). After some debate of the DFG Jury, the price was awarded to Eddy Kensbock and Peter Aberson in equal shares. Eddy, the Linford spotter keeps the Trophy till the 30th June 2011 and Peter can display the Trophy for the rest of the year.
The race is now on for the 2011 season rare mushroom find of the DFG and the next winner will be announced at the traditional DFG Xmas lunch.
Added 29/3/11
Your webmaster has found his first St Georges Mushrooms of 2011 a whole month early at his place of work! Suggest you all keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks.
Added 27/3/11
Alan Williams, one of our senior members has sent me a wonderful photograph of a morel (Morchella esculenta) that his daughter found growing near Badbury Rings, Dorset. As some of you might know morels seem to be very elusive in this county so it was a great find! We have even forayed in that area quite a few times before but always drew a blank, so very well done to Alan's daughter!
Added 29/4/06.
On 27th April 2006 your webmaster & Forays Secretary was both honoured & humbled to attend a wonderful evening with our Chairman and accept this fantastic award which I feel is really dedicated to the DFG as a whole. It was also very good to meet TV personality and Wildlife Photographer, Chris Packham and Queenie Comfort, Chairman of East Dorset District Council, seen below to either side of Yours truly! A very special thanks also goes to the late Ken Roberts who nominated me and set out the wonderful words seen below left.
