Since
Gunton Wood, north of Lowestoft, has been managed by the Gunton Wood Project a
whole host of fungi have appeared on the wood chips used to carpet the paths
around the trails. This year we began with Volvariella
speciosa, a toadstool I have only found in the past on stubble. 
There were
only six fruiting bodies but they were all coming up alongside the chipped
path. After a heavy rain shower one day I was walking through the wood and was
literally tripping over great troops of Coprinus lagopu s . There were hundreds of them. Some
had gone over very quickly leaving an inky mass behind them. In the shadier
parts of the wood I came across Lacrymaria velutina , Weeping Widow,
and again there was a substantial troop.
In July I was passing a fallen tree, which was covered in the large brackets of Pleurotus cornucopiae . Children had destroyed many but there were still some good ones left. There was also a good growth again on a fallen log in nearby Corton wood.
By now we were beginning to go into our hot dry summer and the wood just ticked over.
In November Alan Beaumont and Reg Blacker accompanied me. We made some very good discoveries during the afternoon including a small troop of Stropharia aeruginosa Verdigris Agaric, some young Flammulina velutipes , Velvet Shank and some gone over Laccaria proximia.
Our
list for the whole of 2003 currently stands at just over 40 species. It is a
dry wood and relatively poor for fungi but frequent visits do bring additional
records.
Colin Jacobs, Lowestoft
