Fungi of 2023- best year so far

The year 2023 is currently turning out the best I have ever seen for boletes. Although we are not quite at the 2013 level yet, when a collection in Thetford Forest saw the amount of penny buns obliterate the 120 mark, this year saw the appearance of many beautiful and very rare boletes, some of which have never been recorded in the areas I visited before.
My first visit was to a patch of forest in Thetford, where I found a few lurid boletes, penny buns and actually, finally, found scarletina boletes, which I have not seen there since 2016. Whilst exploring for them, I noticed a small, pure-yellow mushroom growing nearby, unlike anything I have ever seen before. When I touched it, it immediately bruised blue, bruising blue at the slightest touch.
I discussed it with the Norfolk County Recorder, and we both agreed that it was Neoboletus pseudosulphureus- an exceedingly rare species in the UK which is on the Red List as 'Endangered'. Such is its rarity that I left it alone and completely intact. The area in which I found it seemed most unsuitable for rare boletes like that to grow in.
My next trip was in early August to Windsor Great Park, to see how many rare mushrooms I could find. Last year, I found my first-ever bilious bolete in this area, including one with most unusual yellow pores. Windsor seemed far better for rare mushrooms, and I quickly found a huge butter bolete, as well as an interesting Neoboletus, spectacularly colourful but unfortunately mostly grazed by slugs.
As I cut the fungus open, the cap bruised normally. The stem, however, bruised extremely slowly, and the lower part of the stem did not bruise at all, remaining golden yellow and also with a golden-yellow stem in places. This behaviour is reminiscent of the fungus known as Boletus immutatus, which seems to occur at Windsor and practically nowhere else in Europe. I consulted Martyn Ainsworth about it, who said that it was close to the 'normal' immutatus, which doesn't bruise at all when cut, but not quite there, but still was a very unusual mushroom.
Next encountered was a bizarre inkstain bolete which failed to bruise profusely when cut open, instead remaining light blue throughout and, finally, in the evening, two majestic bilious boletes growing right by the edge of a busy road. Very richly-coloured boletes, with a powerful smell. Given everything found and realised up to October 2023, these still remain the most photogenic R. legaliae I have yet come across. All the others weren't as impressive.
During a subsequent trip around Kersey Tye in Suffolk, I had no idea that when I went for a late summer orchid I would end up finding a huge amount of rare boletes in the area.
Whilst almost there at the reserve I was going to, I noticed a few rooting boletes growing on a track leading to a field. As I explored, I found a cluster of at least 15 beautiful bilious boletes growing right out in the open, on the edge of this field!
These boletes had most unusual cap colours- almost bronze-red when mature. And there were more here than I saw during all my Windsor trips, combined!
After a few other mushroom trips to Thetford Forest and to Leigh Woods in Bristol, I decided to repeat a trip to Windsor to look for one very specific mushroom which had eluded me for years- something extremely rare in the UK and also one which has not been recorded in the UK using inaturalist before.
I was shocked when I found it- a group of two oldrose boletes!
This is probably the most beautiful fungus I have seen in my life. Even the Devil's bolete I found in October doesn't come close- because this fungus seemed like a kaleidoscope to me. Pink cap, a golden-yellow stem which turned sapphire-blue when cut open, bruising blue all over at the slightest touch. Endangered in the UK, this may yet increase in numbers as a result of warmer summers.
The next time I sought mushrooms was in Coventry. It was early oOctober and, after finding a huge cluster of rooting boletes in the university as well as lurid boletes nearby, I inadverantly cycled past a group of bilious boletes when I finally saw them!
These were visually stunning, and there was a huge group of them growing underneath that tree. To my knowledge, these have never occurred in Coventry before.
A few days later, I found another group nearby, followed by a king bolete on the university grounds as well! However, the second legaliae group was wiped out by mowing. Searching for any 'survivors' of this rampage afterwards, I found a majestic example growing in a ditch, and was shocked to discover it had yellow pores when I turned it over!
The yellow-pored legaliae to my knowledge only occured in Windsor! And here was one giant example from my university! Exploring further, I was further shocked when I found the slightly shredded remains of a young Devil's bolete, which had been ripped out of the ground. It was damaged, but as I investigated, its bruising, colouration, and rather revolting smell all indicated Rubroboletus satanas.

Posted on 13 de outubro de 2023, 10:12 PM by hypercolius