Disclaimer From Helpful Colin
“I take no responsibility for anyone choosing to eat or use in any way Ceps, Toadstools or Mushrooms of any kind. Not being an authority on Ceps, Toadstools or Mushrooms I do not know if any Cep, Toadstool or Mushroom mentioned on this site is safe to eat or touch. I would advise anyone who touches a Cep, Toadstool or Mushroom to wash their hands afterwards to ensure they don’t go on to contaminate:
- food (human or animal),
- food preparation surfaces,
- any item that will be put in a person or animal’s mouth, e.g. a babies dummy, fork, sweet, chewing gum, cigarette, cigar, pipe, dog chew, dog toy or ball,
- any part of a person or animal’s body, e.g. eyes, nose, mucus membranes.”
My Mushroom Log
Mushroom Update 17th October 2014
Mushroom – Edible Or Not?
While walking my dog Leo on Field Lane Park, Alvaston, this morning I found this cep – toadstool – mushroom under a Silver Birch tree. Not having seen one like it before I photographed it with my mobile phone.
I just looked up ‘cep’ in the Oxford Dictionary and got this description:
“An edible European mushroom with a smooth brown cap, a stout white stalk, and pores rather than gills, growing in dry woodland and much sought after as a delicacy. Also called penny bun.”
I think white stalk is the only thing it didn’t have since the stalk was spotty. I could have missed a delicacy, or a poisoning.
Could it be a Bay Bolete? Perhaps I should see if it is still there tomorrow and re-examine it.
A ‘bolete’ or ‘boletus’ is described in the Oxford Dictionary as:
“A toadstool with pores rather than gills on the underside of the cap, typically having a thick stem.”
Comments welcome, especially if you think you can ID any of these mushrooms.
Mushroom Update 18th October 2014
I revisited my mushroom this morning. It was still intact. A crease had appeared across the top caused by the underside of the cap expanding. Perhaps you can see it in the picture below:
You should also note that more mushrooms have sprung up overnight. I counted 22 (not all in the picture above).
I rubbed my fingers on the underside of the cap and they became covered in many minute brown dots which I presume were spores.
Mushroom Update 19th October 2014 – They’ve Gone!
They’ve nearly all gone but they haven’t been kicked all over the place. I think they have been picked. This adds to my suspicion that they may be edible. I presume the smaller ones I saw yesterday had grown and those left that can be seen here were too small to take.
Mushroom Update 20th October 2014
Today more mushrooms have emerged. The ones above are the Bolete type, but there is another variety there today as well. See below:
This species has gills and as yet is not identified. As you can see below these have been kicked around. Maybe by a dog or someone who just wanted to turn a few over with their foot to look at the underside.
I could see many more mushrooms coming through the ground over a wider area near two Silver Birch trees. The ground has now been damp for a couple of weeks after rain and showers following a long dry spell.
Mushroom Update 24th October 2014
In a different part of the field from the other mushrooms I have found this mushroom:
This one looks like a Shaggy Ink Cap to me. Unfortunately it and others near it were trampled by dogs soon after I took the photo. Do you want to eat it?
Back at the original site this is how the Boletes that appeared on the 20th and were overlapping look now.
Apparently the spongy ones that don’t have gills have tubes instead.
Mushroom Update 24th October 2014
The two overlapping Boletes have finally been kicked about but you can see the spongy underside very clearly now.
NOTE: it has darkened considerably.
Mushroom Update 1st November 2014
This picture below is at a new location. I suspect they are Fly Agaric:
I found these attractive toadstools in the grounds of Calke Abbey in South Derbyshire. They were at the side of the path on the edge of the wood at the top of the hill near the Deer Park. I passed them on my way back to my car from Staunton Harold Reservoir.
Mushroom Update 3rd November 2017
Somewhere on my grassy dog walking route over what is referred to as Boulton Moore I saw these two emerging through the grass.
Mushroom Update 4th November 2014
Today I found some more mushrooms about a quarter of a mile away from my first find on 17th October. See them below beginning with a Shaggy Parasol growing off a piece of wood:
Mushroom Update 28th November 2014
This new group of toadstools are in a new location where I haven’t found toadstools before. They’re at Shelton Lock this time, at the side of the path/cycle track on the route of the old Derby canal. This picture was taken at dusk.
Mushroom Update 30th November 2014
For all this time I have been photographing the various mushrooms and toadstools in my locality without considering those growing in my own garden. Well here we have three growing on my lawn two very large ones and a smaller one underneath to left of the largest – only just visible:
I managed to move some twigs and leaves and take the picture below showing the gills:
This is the same type as the unidentified mushroom I photographed on the 4th November and the large one is about the same size.
References
- MushroomExpert.com – http://www.mushroomexpert.com/index.html
- Glossary of Mycological Terms – http://www.mushroomexpert.com/glossary.html
- The Mushroom Diary – http://www.mushroomdiary.co.uk
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