24.10.22/1. Birds, Wildflowers, Fungi and a Bumblebee, Friston Forest.

Sim Elliott

Oct 25, 20223 min read

I decided to walk though Friston Forest to see what Fungi were fruiting, as the autumn is one of the best times to see fruiting fungi; and Friston Forest (see Friston Forest | Forestry England) is a beech forest, which are typically good places to see fungi. I also planned to walk up to Lullington Heath National Nature Reserve, to look for fungi there too. This post covers Friston Forest; my photographs of Lullington Heath are in a separate post, 24.10.22/2. A Crimson-Speckled Moth & Fungi, Lullington Heath National Nature Reserve. (simelliott.net)

I reached Friston Forest from my home in Brighton on the bus. I took a 12X and got off at the Seven Sisters Country Park Visitor Centre at Cuckmere Haven (stopped called Seven Sisters Park Centre); the visitors centre is on the southern edge of the forest. In the week the 12 terminates at Seaford Library, before the Seven Sisters Country Park stop; so it is necessary to get the 12X or 12A; the 12X is a quicker route as it is a limited stop service; see 12 - Eastbourne-Brighton | Brighton & Hove Buses

I walked from the Seven Sisters County Park visitors centre, through the forest to the village of West Dean, and then through the forest along the South Downs Way, until I reached the bottom of Charleston Bottom (chalk grassland combe), then I walked up Charleston Bottom back into Friston Forest. All the photos are in the chronological order of my walk.

The identifications I have made of these fungi may be wrong! I am very new to fungi identification. I have used Buczacki, Shields & Ovenden (2012) Collins Fungi Guide Collins Fungi Guide : The Most Complete Field Guide to the Mushrooms & Toadstools of Britain & Ireland: Stefan Buczacki: 9780007466481: hive.co.uk. I have also just become an associate member of the British Mycological Society to help develop my fungi knowledge Home :: British Mycological Society (britmycolsoc.org.uk). This post is a work in progress: some of the fungi are marked "not yet identified"; I will update this post when I have identified them.

I was amazed to see so many wildflowers in bloom at the end of October. e.g. Heal-All, Prunella vulgaris; Wild Basil, Clinopodium vulgare; Viper's-Bugloss, Echium vulgare; Red Clover, Trifolium pratense and Common Knapweed, Centaurea nigra. All of these typically stop flowering in September. This atypically warm October is the probably a result of global warming.

From Exceat to Charlston Bottom, through Friston Forest

Probably Xylaria genus flask fungus species, possibly Xylaria polymorphia

Probably a species of the Hemimycena genus (Bonnets)

A view through the forest

Probably Fairy Incap, Copinellus disseminatus

Red Admiral

Not yet identified

Probably Trametes versicolor; Turkeytail

Not yet identified

Probably Turkeytails, Trametes versicolor; below probably Candlesnuff fungus, Xylaria hypoxylon

Possibly Hen of the Woods, Grifola frondosa

Common Darter, Sympetrum striolatum. There were quite a few around.

Charleston Bottom

Not yet identified

Not yet identified

Not yet identified

A type of resupinate fungi, not yet identified

Male Stonechat. have seen more Stonechats on the South Downs this autumn than I have ever seen before; they have had a very good year.

Not yet identified

A Boletales order fungi, Boletes order

Sheep munching grass

Not yet identified

Sheep, Charleston Bottom

Probably a waxcap, not yet identified

Friston Forest from Charleston Bottom

Robin, Erithacus rubecula

Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta

Possibly a Mottlegill Panaeolus genus toadstall

Moth, not yet identified

Ragwort. There were wildflowers in bloom that I would not expect to see in flower in late October; but it has been the most unusually warm October, probably as a result of global warming.