A day in the woods with the Soil Biodiversity Group

I recently took a day off volunteer on fieldwork with the Natural History Museum Soil Biodiversity Group – my first fieldwork with the group since the BESS Earthworm Project, and a nice change from the pollinator and plant surveys I have been doing as part of my work at Reading University. The project I assisted on this time is the National Vegetation Classification (NVC) Project, this is a structured survey of soil and litter invertebrates across UK woodland types which began in 2002 and is now on its third round of sampling. The National Vegetation Classification categorises all UK ecosystems according to major vegetation type (woodland, grasslands etc.) which are then broken down into community types according to plant species composition. Woodlands are given the prefix W and fall into ‘wet woodland’ W1 to W7 and ‘dry woodland’ W8 to W18, this year is the turn of the dry woodlands and the study site I visited was Warburg Nature Reserve in Oxfordshire, an example of W12, a beech (Fagus sylvatica) woodland with plants characteristic of basic soils such as Dog’s Mercury (Mercurialis perennis).

Quadrat assembled – sampling can begin!

Instead of sampling from random quadrats as in my MSc fieldwork the NVC project uses a transect through the habitat with a 1m square quadrat being sampled at set intervals, alternating each side of the transect line. Other than that the method was similar, fellow volunteer and current MSc student Dan and I took turns scrapping and sieving litter from the quadrat which was then bagged up with a label to take back to the lab. Paul took the environmental readings while Kelly dug a soil pit and collected any invertebrates found into tubes of alcohol. A vegetation survey was also made of each quadrant, although being a beech woodland this was sparse and a lot less effort than my MSc project were the quadrats were often covered in vegetation!

Dan sieves leaf litter while Kelly sorts soil for invertebrates

After the cold wet days sampling in the middle of winter for the BESS Earthworm work the NVC fieldwork on a sunny day was quite a treat, finishing before lunch! Then it was back off to the Natural History Museum to process the leaf litter samples. The sieved leaf litter is placed into mesh bags which are hung inside a Winkler bag, basically a cloth funnel with a pot of alcohol tied to the bottom. These are hung up for three days and as the leaf litter dries the invertebrates move downwards into the pot where they are preserved ready for sorting and identification. Once, the Winkler bags were hung up in one of the towers either side of the main entrance of the Museum, but now they are in a much more convenient location which doesn’t involve carrying bags of leaf litter up narrow Victorian staircases!

Paul puts the sieved leaf litter samples into Winkler bags

After the three days are up the pots can be removed ready to be sorted and counted to order level by volunteers with selected invertebrate groups later identified to species level. The NVC dataset is just one example of long-term data collection by the NHM Soil Biodiversity Group, another being the monthly sampling at Whitley Wood in the New Forest, which I am volunteering on in August. I am very excited to be given the opportunity to analyse these datasets, among others, in my upcoming PhD.

Celebrating 50 Years of the Biological Records Centre

Last weekend I was at a symposium in Bath celebrating 50 years of the Biological Records Centre (BRC). The BRC collates and manages species observation data, including supporting biological recording schemes in publishing atlases, developing and hosting online resources. I have a long interest in biological recording, as a child spending most of my weekends and school holidays recording wildlife in a local woodland, but it was always on my own. It has not been until the last few years I have become interested in ‘formal’ biological recording by joining schemes and societies, much of this has been helped by the emergence of the internet in allowing me to make contact with like-minded people. Many of the talks at the symposium were of interest to me not only as a biological recorder but had some relevance to my future PhD research as the species distribution data held by the BRC have been used to understand responses to environmental change. I had my usual anxiety about attending but was at least confident I would know some delegates already, even if just through the internet, with the useful icebreaker “I follow you on Twitter” at the ready. There was an additional challenge in that I forgot to book my accommodation at the venue so ended up staying in a hostel in the city. I had never stayed in a dormitory before and was very concerned at how I would cope, but thought of it as an ‘experience’ and reminded myself of my promise to ‘be scared but do it anyway’. In the event it was not too bad, although the noise and bright light of the surrounding bars made sleep difficult, but at least it was cheap!

Saturday morning in Bath

The symposium talks were on Friday afternoon and Saturday, and covered the range of ways biological recording data  has been used to detect changes in species distribution, especially responses to climate change, and some of the problems involved in this. Biological data does not reflect constant effort, with bias in site and taxon selection etc. Data aggregation and selection, and computer modelling are some of the methods that can be used to detect the signals among the noise, all the talk of data and modelling got me very excited - I have definitely chosen the right PhD for me!

There were also thought-provoking lectures on citizen science, and on how technological developments have impacted and may impact on biological recording, including the use of molecular techniques in species identification and monitoring. 

The cake was tasty too!

The highlight of the weekend was a Sunday fieldtrip to Salisbury Plain Defence Training Estate, a military site not open to the public. It is the largest area unimproved chalk downland in north west Europe, with 20,000 hectares of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) making it the largest designated site in the United Kingdom. Delegates with a wide range of interests in biological recording boarded two coaches for an escorted trip around the site, stopping at four areas to hunt for their favourite group(s), discuss hot topics or just admire the glorious habitat. I really enjoy trips with people who study different groups as it is a great way to discover new species. I did not go with the intention of collecting a group myself, since I knew I would not have time to process them at the moment, but contented myself observing the scenery and diversity. Observing the observers was also interesting, and fun to deduce which groups(s) they are looking for based on the techniques they use. Botanists often got down on their knees to examine plants, ornithologists and photographers were loaded with cameras and binoculars, and entomologists of various sorts had their assorted nets, pooters and tubes. Those turning over stones and grubbing about often turned out to be woodlice or centipede recorders; also in this category were several members of the Earthworm Society of Britain (ESB), because digging was not permitted due to the risk of unexploded ordinance – a sad restriction for an earthworm recorder. Despite this at least four species were recorded by rummaging in muddy puddles and turning over stones and other objects.

Keiron and Vicky from the ESB make do with turning over stones to find earthworms on Salisbury Plain

Vicky and I with the first earthworm of the day, probably Apporectodea longa, found under a rusty drum

Being a chalk download there were many woodlice and molluscs to be found under the stones, including the pill woodlouse Armadillidium vulgare, a species familiar to many for its defense of rolling up into a ball. Many of the specimens had babies, which develop from eggs in a special brood pouch on their underside.

Armadillidium vulgare with young on Salisbury Plain

Flowers and insects were everywhere, more than I have seen anywhere, and I get the feeling other chalk grasslands will never look so good again! Lepidoptera were everywhere, this thistle busy with Marbled Whites (Melanargia galathea), Burnet moths (Zygaena sp.) and assorted flies was typical. Other day-flying moths seen included the striking Forester (Adscita statices). I also saw some impressive flies including Cynomya mortuorum, my old favourite previously seen in Scotland, and the huge black parasitoid fly Tachina grossa.

Marbled Whites, Burnet moths and assorted flies nectaring on thistle

Forester on Greater Knapweed at Salisbury Plain

I met a number of new plants, including Dwarf Spurge (Euphorbia exigua), the rare Tuberous Thistle (Cirsium tuberosum) and probably my most exciting plant of the day, Knapweed Broomrape (Orobanche elatior), a plant parasitic on Greater Knapweed (Centaurea scabiosa).

Knapweed Broomrape (Orobanche elatior) on Salisbury Plain

My most exciting invertebrate of the day was neither a fly nor an earthworm however, it was the Fairy Shrimp (Chirocephalus diaphanus) which I have wanted to see since I first learnt about it when I was around 5 years old. These shrimp are found in temporary pools, their eggs lying dormant when the pools dry out ready to hatch on the next heavy rain. It is protected under Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 but the trip organisers, who have a licence, had collected some in a jar for us to view.

BRC 50th delegates huddle around temporary pools created by military vehicle manoeuvres to look for the elusive Fairy Shrimp

Fairy Shrimp (Chirocephalus diaphanus)

The photograph through the container using my phone really does not do them justice. They were quite big, a couple of inches long with a translucent pinkish colour, swimming using beautiful undulating motions.

So in all it was a brilliant weekend, meeting new species (and people!) and giving me lots to think about for my own research. A big thanks to the organisers, and long may the BRC continue.

A royally good earthworm meeting

A couple of weekends a go I attended a meeting organised by the Earthworm Society of Britain (ESB), this two day event consisted of a field trip to Richmond Park on the Saturday followed by a workshop on the Sunday to identify the specimens collected on the trip. Unfortunately I could only attend one day, and because Richmond Park was high on my ‘places to visit’ list and I have had no shortage of earthworm identification lately I decided to attend the Saturday event.

Richmond Park is one of the Royal Parks and the largest enclosed space in London, it is a National Nature Reserve, Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a European Special Area of Conservation (SAC), because of this the ESB had to obtain special permission and a permit to collect earthworms. It was one of those glorious English Summer days when you can get soaked and sun-burnt in the same day! A group of 10 earthworm fans assembled at Richmond Station, clad in waterproofs before taking a bus to the park – my first ever trip on a London Bus – so that’s another ‘things to do in London’ crossed of my list! I had barely stepped into the Park when I got stuck in grubbing about in a rotten tree, finding the first earthworm off the day – and it was adult, so into a tube it went ready for Sunday, when it turned out to be Eisenia fetida.

Earthworm Society of Britain (ESB) members huddle in the rain around the first earthworm of the day at Richmond Park

The organisers had planned a range of areas to visit in the Park, aiming to visit as many habitats as possible to maximise the number of species recorded, and to cover as many grid squares as possible to increase the number of earthworm records. The first stop was some quite acidic looking grassland, where Kieron gave a crash course in earthworm surveying for those who had not done it before and introduced the ESB method and recording forms. As might be expected from the soil type, this area yielded few earthworms but other areas of neutral, improved grassland were better. We also surveyed woodland areas which again appeared to have an acid character, with lots of Rhododendron ponticum and was earthworm-poor.

Earthworm Society of Britain members survey for earthworms in grassland in Richmond Park

The best areas in terms of numbers were two wet habitats, one a small stream where we dug pits along the bank and took material from the bed itself, and a fen area. The stream produced a very special earthworm indeed: Helodrilus oculatus – an earthworm with very few records, all previously from wet deciduous woodland. This was an earthworm I was particularly keen to find, although I feel I can only half cross it off the ‘earthworm bucket-list’ since I did not see it under the microscope. Wet habitats are unrecorded for earthworms, and can have specialist semi-aquatic species, something I discovered when I targeted seeps in my MSc project and found lots of Eiseniella tetraedra which also turned up in some number in the Richmond Park fen habitat.

The small stream in Richmond Park where Helodrilus oculatus was found 

Concentrating as we were on earthworms I did not have much time to admire Richmond’s other charms and will have to make a point of visiting again when I am living back in London. We did however see some of the deer, including a mother and fawn, and saw the spot where this (in?)famous video was filmed. A visit to see the rut in the Autumn is high on my ‘things to do in London’ list!

Earthworm Society of Britain members admiring a camera-shy deer in Richmond Park 

Towards the end of the day Keiron gave a demonstration of how to relax and straighten earthworms using a plastic storage box. Putting the earthworms straight into a 80% solution of alcohol (industrial methylated spirits or IMS in this case) is a quick way to sample but causes them to twist and curl which can make them more difficult to identify. By first using a 30% alcohol solution to anaesthetise them they can be arranged in the groves of a plastic storage box (or I use drinking straws cut in half lengthwise). This helps make a nice neat reference collection, but I find it takes too much time if a lot of sites are being sampled.

Keiron demonstrates how to relax and straighten earthworms for easier identification

There was time to end the trip with a pint in a local pub before heading back to the station. The workshop the next day revealed a total of 15 species from the 7 sites were collected, all adding to the ESB data set. It is interesting to note this is the same number of species from the entire BESS project, which only sampled pasture, illustrating how sampling from a wide range of habitats can make a big difference to the number of species found. Reading the report recently circulated to members, in addition to the Helodrilus oculatus I also missed out on meeting Dendrobaena octaedra and Apporectodea icterica under the microscope for the first time! Looks like I will have to try and diversify the habitats I do my own sampling in.

The next Earthworm Society of Britain meeting is planned for the Autumn – why not join in? Membership is only £5 a year and on completion of the workshop you are given a recording pack which includes a copy of the AIDGAP Key to Earthworms.

Earthworms – the final chapter!

 

With the soil analysis laboratory in York shortly closing for Christmas the race was on to complete enough samples in each field and county for the statistician on the project to work his magic. The result was an epic 400 mile round trip to finish off sampling fields in Leicestershire, Berkshire and Dorset. It was just David and I who set off Sunday evening for Leicester, meaning that I was navigator (oh the pressure!), but on Monday we met up with Jo who is the technician at the University of York undertaking the soil analysis, to finish the final field in Loddington.

Jo and David sorting soil (is David praying for the project to end?)

It was great to meet with Jo and find out about the soil analysis side of the project, at the moment she is working on the samples taken for the measurement of microbial activity since these need to be processed quickly for accurate results, later analysis will be done on particle size, pH, nutrient content and more. The method used by the lab is the fluorescein-diacetate (FDA) hydrolysis assay, enzyme activity from microbes in the soil sample cause the colourless FDA to break down into fluorescein which is a fluorescent yellow-green. The intensity of the colour is measured using spectroscopy and comparison with a standard determines the relative microbial activity of the sample.

Not unlike the earthworms Jo has found the microbial activity to vary greatly both between and within fields, from extremely high in the field in Yorkshire with the longhorn cattle to nearly ‘dead’ in one of the fields in Berkshire. Jo informed me that clayey soils are particularly difficult to process which I could sympathise with as they are also difficult to sort!

We made good progress despite being just the three of us, squeezing in an extra 11th sample which unfortunately had to be sorted in car headlights (again) and I made the tactical error of not taking my waterproofs off so ended up being volunteered to wander around a field in the dark to put the soil back in the hole.

Such dedication!

Loddington finished, Jo returned to York with the soil samples and David and I travelled south to Berkshire, returning to the lovely Dundas Arms, sadly too late for dinner but they did make us some amazing sandwiches. In the morning we were joined by Paul and Kelly and volunteers Cecilia and Alex, as a team of six we made brilliant progress and a super 21 samples were completed.

Kelly and David take the environmental variables while Cecilia prepares to sort

The Soil Biodiversity Group gets stuck into sorting another sample

With still a few left to do in Berkshire next week the rest of the team went their separate ways while David and I travelled to Dorset. Thankfully this time we arrived in time for a pub dinner, nothing like two days of sandwiches for dinner to make me appreciate a hot meal! The next morning we met with the farmer of the final farm to find out about the management history of the fields and decide which would be suitable for the project. After picking up Paul from the train station we began sampling the penultimate field of the project.

The penultimate field, the barn at the back would prove useful later in the week!

On Thursday we were joined by fellow project veterans Sholto and Irfaan to finish off the field in the quarry (no blasting this week sadly) and the other two fields. By Friday the weather was against us, but we maximised the work achieved by sorting in the barn during the heaviest rain and by dusk the required samples had been done!

A very wet and muddy Sholto, Irfaan and Paul sorting in the rain in Dorset

All that remained was to finish the two fields in Berkshire so on Monday David, Paul and I met up again for the final day of sampling, two weeks and a day overdue! The fields were extremely wet, particularly (and not surprisingly) the one by the river, with one soil moisture reading at 100%. In the absence of a tap the stream proved useful for filling the mustard bottles, since they were to be used straight away the issue of bacterial contamination was avoided.

In the absence of a hotel or research centre to fill the mustard bottles, a stream will do

 

And now…

The final pit

And so finally the time had come, after 10 weeks of field work, the final pit was dug!

At last – the final pit!

And Paul had the ‘honour’ of pouring the final bottle of mustard solution

Of course the project is not over, there are still thousands of earthworms to count and identify, soil samples to analyse, numbers to crunch, meetings to attend and papers to write, but my part is done. It has been a fantastic experience for me to be part of such an ambitious project. Being involved has given me a greater understanding of what is involved in research,  including the logistical and political aspects as well as the science. I have been reminded how much I enjoy field work, even in the rain and mud but most of all I reaffirmed my aspiration to be a researcher. I miss being in a muddy field but most of all I miss the interaction with like-minded people (wow, never thought I would say that!) – from discussion on scientific topics to intense debate on the merits of different biscuits. The New Year should bring more financial stability after my student life and so I hope to be able to visit the Museum once a week and continue volunteering with the Soil Biodiversity Group.

And so I offer a big thank you to everyone I worked with on the project, you have been an inspiration.

More earthworm sampling, or the mystery of the farty mustard

Another county, another field… Last Monday and Tuesday I was again away with the Natural History Museum Soil Biodiversity Group, this time heading up to Leicestershire, for more earthworm sampling. Not as scenic as Somerset, we were sampling in a research farm near Loddington, in addition to myself, Sholto was again volunteering, I also met for the first time Salma and we were joined by Irfaan on Tuesday.

Another earthworm is sampled by Irfaan, with Salma and Sholto

Salma is trained in the correct way to retract the tape measure

In the previous week there was a problem with the mustard solution, which had developed a pungent smell of hydrogen sulphide (egg-fart gas). This was a concern because the smell was so strong it could be killing the worms in their burrows before they could emerge. Could the change be because of a faulty batch of mustard powder, or change to the ingredients? This week different batch numbers of mustard powder were purchased to test this.

David checks the bouquet of the mustard solution

Sniffing the mustard solution before pouring was now a necessary step, after the first mixing the smell was promising but by the morning some bottles had deteriorated. A new hypothesis was proposed that some sort of bacterial contamination was causing the smell and then it was realised the problem started after the mustard solution was made up using water from the soil laboratory back at the the Museum. The water in the labs comes from the museum’s own borehole and often has a slightly sulphurous smell, could some sulphur-reducing bacteria dwelling in the supply have caused the problem? It was decided to use fresh water bottles on the next trip.

Tuesday evening we travelled back to London and on Wednesday I spent the afternoon helping in the soil laboratory preparing the kit for Thursday and Friday and changing the alcohol in the earthworm samples. Earthworms have a high water content and this dilutes the alcohol, if the liquid is not replaced with fresh spirit the earthworms can start  to decompose which makes identification difficult (and stinky). Then Wednesday evening we left for Dorset - the final county being sampled in.

That’s a lot of earthworms!

Living in just the next county I have had many family holidays in Dorset and it was a pleasure to be back in beautiful Purbeck. Our site was near a quarry were limestone (Purbeck ‘marble’) is extracted and on Friday we got to view a blasting, which was very exciting.

Quarry manager Simon discusses the site with David

Quarry blasting (guess who made the excited squeal!)

The shallow soil did not yield many big anecic worms but large numbers of smaller species, since earthworms have a preference for areas of high pH. As might be expected there were also large numbers of snail shells which I tried my best not to be distracted by, although I think I may sneak a few specimens when we return next week!

Off for a well-earned meal after a hard day’s earthworm sampling

More earthworm bothering

For eight days in November I returned for more earthworm survey work with the Natural History Museum Soil Biodiversity Group, this time in Somerset and Berkshire. A small team of volunteers this time, just myself and long-time SBG volunteer Irfaan, travelled first to the Somerset site to continue work started the previous week. We had been informed the Somerset site was the most beautiful yet but when we arrived on Monday the fog was so thick we had to take David’s word for it! Thankfully, by Tuesday the sun had returned to reveal a superb landscape, the countryside you imagine from hundreds of years ago, with little patchwork fields fringed with ancient hedgerows.

What a difference a day makes in Somerset

Four fields are sampled per farm, covering a spectrum of management intensity, such as how often the field is grazed, how much fertiliser (animal or artificial) is added and whether it has been ploughed or used for crops in the past. The field we worked first was the lowest intensity field at the Somerset site, not surprisingly as it was some distance from the nearest track, was steep and had springs running through it. This field had never been ploughed, giving an odd feeling of being possibly the first people to disturb the soil. It also had the biggest Yellow Meadow Ant (Lasius flavus) mounds I have ever seen!

Horse battered Yellow Meadow Ant (Lasius flavus) mound, at least two foot tall

Digging and coring in Somerset, quite possibly the first time the soil has been broken by man!

For a change from sheep and cows the fields at the Somerset site were grazed by Shire Horses which noised around us and the kit expecting food and generally being a distraction, having to be chased away at intervals. As handsome as the Shires were, I was more excited and distracted by the lovely Noon Flies (Mesembrina meridiana).

Shire Horses in Somerset

Dipterological distraction: Noon Fly (Mesembrina meridiana) in Somerset (thanks to Georgie for this photograph from the previous week's visit)

Within each field a bare minimum of 18, preferably 20, samples are made. Half of these are located at random using a combination of a randomly chosen direction and distance. The direction is decided using a super scientific method of David spinning around.

If he had fallen over I could have bagged £300 pounds!

It is double blind so that some else who is not watching calls out when to stop, although this sometimes has to be done a couple of times if the random direction is in an unsuitable place, such as too close to the edge of the field or trees which may have different micro-environment to the rest of the field. The distance from the previous pit to the next is then determined by a random number table. The rest of the samples are coverage pits which are spread out over the field.

Once the location is marked with a flag it’s time to start over again taking measurements, digging a pit, taking samples and hunting for worms!

Irfaan and I intently sorting soil for worms

There’s one!

On this trip we came across one of my favourite species of earthworm, the Blue-grey worm (Octolasion cyaneum), this is the UK’s largest species of pale earthworm and is often a pretty bluish colour, with a yellow tail, but we did not get many of the big anecic earthworms that emerge after the mustard solution is added.

Blue-grey worm (Octolasion cyaneum)

On Thursday we left Somerset for Berkshire, unfortunately still with a field left to finish. The site in Berkshire was the Organic Research Centre Elm Farm.



Excitingly the very first pit had a bumper crop of the UK’s largest earthworm - Lumbricus terrestris emerge when the mustard solution was added, some were bigger than by baby snakes at home! Could this be because of higher organic inputs in this field than Somerset? The statistics will tell us in time (hopefully!).

Lumbricus terrestris expelled by mustard solution

Oh and yes the mustard solution is often made up in our hotel rooms, if your next stay has a whiff of Colman’s, maybe the SBG have been there!

Fungi in Shropshire

This weekend saw a return visit to FSC Preston Montford for my final course in the University Certificate in Biological Recording and Species Identification - Identification of Macrofungi tutored by Irene Ridge. An interest in fungi (or mycology) was one of my earliest, after attending a fungi foray at Queen Elizabeth Country Park, Hampshire, with the RSPB’s Phoenix group way back in 1996. This led me to purchase a compound microscope in 2000 but I found it difficult to master the techniques needed to prepare slides without tuition and soon moved on to other groups, hence my motivation to attend this course and have another go.

After an introduction to fungi and how to record and describe specimens on the Friday evening it was off to Attingham Park on Saturday to collect our own specimens.




This site introduced me to grassland fungi, a habitat which I had not forayed before. The short, old lawns around Attingham Hall are an example of waxcap-grassland, a fungal community characterised by waxcaps (Hygrocybe spp.), club fungi (Clavariaceae) pink-gills (Entoloma spp.) and earthtongues (Geoglossaceae). Waxcap-grasslands are of conservation interest as indicators of unimproved grassland, a threatened habitat in the UK. It is only recently they have begun to receive attention on their ecology and distribution, with a English Nature Report published in 2003.

Snowy Waxcap Hygrocybe virginea

Apricot Club Clavulinopsis luteo-alba

Attingham is not all grassland though, there were many handsome mature trees in which we found some woodland fungi which were familiar to me. Irene explained the importance of taking good field notes when collecting fungi, many are mycorrhizal, a symbiotic relationship with plants, and some fungi species are restricted to certain tree species; without this information identification may not be possible. Whether the fungus was growing alone or in groups, was attached to wood or soil, and even the smell, colour and texture of the cap which may change after collection can be important for identification and must be noted on collection.

Artist’s Bracket Ganoderma sp. (probably G. applanatum) on Beech

A jelly-fungus, Exidea nucleolus

Irene discusses the identification features of a Boletus fungus

Back in the lab we began identifying our collections using a mixture of identification books and keys. I began by making spore prints as the colour of the spores is a key feature in identification, in the past I had done this by cutting the cap off and putting it on white and black paper but Irene demonstrated suspending the fruit body over a microscope slide in a cup. This keeps the specimen moist, as spores do not drop when the atmosphere is dry, explaining why I was not very successful with mine in the past!



On the Sunday we were off on another trip, this time to woodland at Nesscliffe Country Park.

Beech woodland at Nesscliffe – lots of lovely leaf litter!

Russula ochroleuca

Russula is one of my favourite fungi, they generally have a typical mushroom shape, crumbly flesh and gills (their common name is brittlegill). There are many species, often with brightly coloured caps like the yellow Russula ochrolecua we found in numbers at Nesscliffe, this is very common species which grows with many species of trees, but other Russula form mycorrhiza with specific trees and are one of the groups were good field notes are important. They are also identified by differences in cap and spore colour, ideally using a colour card as this can be subjective. Taste can also be important, which is checked by chewing a small piece which is then spat out, some have a very hot taste. This multisensory aspect of fungi identification is part of the appeal for me although the subjective nature of colour, smell and taste can be a problem, with some books describing species as smelling of obscure things as ‘Russian leather’ and ‘old laundry soap’!

Jelly Ear Auricularia auricula-judae

Also at Nesscliffe I found a branch covered with wonderful Jelly Ear (Auricularia auricula-judae) one of my favourite fungi as it looks so much like an ear. I also found a tiny jelly fungus growing on beech mast while I was searching (unsuccessfully) for the beechmast fungus Xylaria carpophila. Another highlight was the Wood Woollyfoot (Gymnopus peronatus) which as the common name suggests has a lovely ‘woolly’ base to the stipe.

Wood Woollyfoot (Gymnopus peronatus) in habitat and close up in the lab showing woolly base to stipe

Another old favourite is “smell it before you see it” Stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus) although we only found in the ‘egg’ stage and one old specimen, both badly eaten by slugs, missing out on in its erect magnificence.

Stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus) ‘egg’

Back in the lab Irene gave a demonstration of microscopy techniques for fungi and I had a go myself, finally seeing the spores, basidia and cystidia which I had failed to find on my own. These preparations involve taking a small piece of gill, putting a drop on a stain called Congo Red on top and then squashing a coverslip gently over the top. After blotting any excess liquid the slide is examined under a high power microscope. I was hoping to show some of my own slides but unfortunately I don’t have any Congo Red at home so the photomicrographs below are courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

Basidia stained with Congo Red, the pointy bits on top are where the spores attach By Andreas Kunze (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

Basidia (singular basidium) are the spore bearing structures in one of the major groups of fungi, the Basidiomycota which includes most of the species identified this weekend; the shape and number of spores is used in identification. Cystidia are sticky-outy cells found on various parts of the fungal fruit body, and the position, shape and reaction with certain chemicals are important for identification.

Cystidia By Andreas Kunze (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

The course finished with an assignment – identifying 15 specimens and/or photographs, it was strange to think it was my last on the course and that with my uCert and MSc complete I am for the first time in 7 years not in formal education! The two fungi forays and tuition in microscopy techniques were just what I needed to get back into fungi identification, I will be dusting off my old compound microscope and giving it another go!