The Brain Gyromitra or False Morel, Gyromitra esculenta, was found in the Chorley area for the first time on 28^th April 2001. Seven fruiting bodies were found on a sandy soil slope, under pines on private land adjoining Duxbury Woods. Other VC59 (‘South Lancashire’) sites for this species include the pinewoods on the sandunes at Ainsdale and in Longworth Clough near Bolton. According to one fungus journal which I receive, Gyromitra esculenta has fruited prolifically in some southern counties of England this year, an area where it is regarded as a bit of a rarity. Abnormally wet conditions in the preceding autumn and winter are believed to have triggered this mass fruiting and may have been the reason for its occurrence locally. The irregular-shaped cap of Gyromitra esculenta has brain-like convolutions, hence one of its common names. False Morel is poisonous but it may be confused with the edible Common Morel, Morchella esculenta, another spring fungus. The Common Morel has not been recorded locally but a related species, Morchella conica, was recorded several years ago.

In June, several oak trees had Sulphur Polypore/Chicken-of-the-woods, Laetiporus sulphureus, growing on them. The same month, Common Ink-caps, Coprinus comatus, were found by a member in his garden.

The North West Fungus Group held a foray at the northern end of Duxbury Woods on 12^th August, a very wet Sunday! Previous forays held by the Group at Duxbury have been in the vicinity of the nature trail but this section was also found to be productive with around 70 species recorded. Four Marasmius species was an unusually high number of this family for a foray – M. androsaceus, Horse Hair Fungus on pine needles, M. ramealis and M. rotula, Little Wheel Fungus, both on Bramble stems and M. vaillanti on dead grass stems, the latter being a new record for the Society’s area. Other notable finds were Agrocybe erebia and Conocybe mesospora.

The Group held another foray in our area at Roddlesworth on 9^th September. The Green Earth Tongue, Microglossum viride, was recorded in the area where it has been know to grow since 1980. Other species recorded included the uncommon Bolete, Xerocomus lanatus. This species relies on a chemical test, using ammonia, for positive identification and aroused quite a lot of discussion on the NWFG emails!

September was a good month for fungi, one of the best seasons for several years. One member described the hundreds of Fly Agarics, Amanita muscaria, at Chorley Golf Club as the finest display he had ever seen. This species was also found in good numbers along the Goit at White Coppice, together with Brown Birch Boletes, Leccinum scabrum agg., and other common fungi. Honey Fungus was abundant on and around dead/ dying trees. This aggressive parasite appeared again in a garden in Chorley after an absence of a few years and a Wren was observed nibbling the Honey Fungus fruiting bodies. Mice and other mammals, as well as slugs and snails, eat fungi but it is unusual for a bird to do this. Other species recorded in this garden included the Coconut-scented Milk-cap, Lactarius glyciosmus and Peziza badia, a cup fungus with a dark brown interior and paler brown exterior. However, not all sites were good, one member noted that Duxbury Woods in particular had fewer fungi than normal in September.

In spite of it being the mildest October on record, with no frosty nights in our area, by the end of the month, fungi on the ground were mainly over. Nevertheless, the foray held for the Friends of Cuerden Valley Park on 20^th October, produced a reasonable number of species, forty one, but few of these were large Agarics. One of the later fruiting species, Wood Blewit, Lepista nuda, was seen in Lever Park at Rivington on 24^th October.

A second flush of Entoloma sericeum was observed on a members lawn on 2^nd December, this species having been present on the lawn in September. At the end of December, Jew’s Ear, Hirneola auricula-judae, was growing on a Beech tree at Birkacre. Beech is an unusual host, most Jew’s Ear’s being found on Elder. On the same day Velvet Shank/Winter Fungus, Flamulina velutipes, was seen on a pollarded Poplar in the grounds of Woodlands College, a tree which has hosted this species in previous years.

Thanks to the following members who submitted records this year:

Simon Booth, Joyce Riley, Colin Smith and Neil Southworth. A special thank you to Peter Smith, recorder for the North West Fungus Group, for providing lists from the Group’s forays at Duxbury, Roddlesworth and Cuerden Valley Park.