Fascinating fungi – some of the most important and overlooked species in nature

Nik Shelton of the Wildlife Trust in Cambridgeshire says that without the often overlooked fungi there would be no bread, beer, wine or penicillin.

Autumn is the best time of year to discover fungi – some of the most fascinating, important and overlooked species in nature.

There’s plenty of places to spot unusual mushrooms around Cambridge on nature reserves where they feed on dead and dying matter, breaking it down into simpler chemicals and using the energy released to fuel their lives.

Without fungi there would be no bread, beer, wine or penicillin. But also there may be no grasses, orchids or even trees. Underground fungal networks form associations with the roots or seeds of many plants which are vital for their germination and survival.

But the hot dry summer has affected the emergence of many mushrooms – the fruiting bodies of fungi.

“If you think of a mushroom as like the apple on an apple tree – the rest of the tree is the main part of the species which is underground,” explains fungi enthusiast Iain Webb, community conservation officer at the Wildlife Trust BCN.

“It's been such a dry season there are fewer grassland fungi than normal. Not all species fruit in the autumn but most do as the conditions are perfect and there’s usually a lot of water about. If it starts getting wet soon then they could emerge later in November and we could get a lot of them all at once – so keep your eyes open after it’s rained.

“But there are still plenty to see now. We were out at Fulbourn Fen nature reserve monitoring just the other day and found four species of inkcap, and 15 species of fruiting fungi in total.”

Fungi play a vital role in ecosystems keeping the nutrient cycle going. As plants and trees grow and die, fungi – along with insects and worms – break it all down and return it to the soil where they help everything grow again. If there were no fungi then there wouldn’t be much life on the planet.

Some of the most recognisable and spectacular common species to spot include exuberant crowds of yellow sulphur tuft, parasols as large as dinner plates, chicken of the woods bursting from trees, the often large and spectacular dryads saddle, and the instantly recognisable toadstool of children’s picture books, the fly agaric.

They will often appear on dead wood, and may have a preferred tree species. You will find jelly ear fungus on dead elder branches while the intriguing wrinkled peach will grow on dead elm which is common at our Overhall Grove nature reserve. You will also see the black balls of King Alfred’s cakes on dead ash, which we have a lot of in our woods.

“The best place to spot them is anywhere where there’s dead wood, so our reserves at Beechwoods, Gamlingay and Hardwick are great,” Iain continues.

“There will always be dead wood around because that is a key part of the way we manage our woodlands. You can do it at home as well, if you’ve cut something back or you have a few logs, then leave them in a pile and within a year or two you will start to see fungi making its home there.”

While it may be tempting, foraging for mushrooms isn’t allowed on our reserves – we ask visitors to leave and enjoy them. You can get quite ill eating the wrong thing, and after all mushrooms are cheap and readily available in any supermarket so why take the risk?

Instead feast your eyes on them and capture them on your camera. Look closely and you might find something really special, like Cambridge’s rarest fungi species the sandy stiltball – one of only four species protected by law in the UK.

“I found it in 2016 at Byron’s Pool next to Trumpington Meadows,” says Iain proudly. “I recognised it straight away, it’s quite iconic. It was very exciting.

“I remember telling our chief executive and he stood up from his chair he was so surprised. I haven’t seen it since, but that doesn’t mean it has gone, it’s just a difficult one to find.”

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