Fungi in Autumn

Autumn is a time of rich colour. Red's, oranges, browns, yellows. Colours that warm you up and get the heart racing. That moment when the sun hits the copper of a beech tree and you have to stop and take it all in. Walks in the woodlands take on a different feel. Wrapping up warm and getting out on a crisp frosty morning, nothing like it.

Westonbirt 

Acer 

To combine a bit of family visiting and to get the most out of the Autumn colours we decided to visit the national Arboretum at Westonbirt! We were not the only ones who had this idea, it was immensely busy, but the colours were great. They really do have a fabulous tree collection. However, for me the real highlights were some of our native species. Beech trees really do turn a stunning colour and I think that familiarity can often prevent us from recognising them.

Westonbirt 

Worcester in Autumn 

Visiting the Arboretum really encouraged me to take note of some of the woodlands and trees around Worcester. Sometimes you can easily take for granted what you have on your door step. So we made a few woodland trips over the last few weeks to local woodlands: Pipers hill and The knapp and paper mill. My daughter loved them. Taking in the colour of the trees and getting out on the colder days for an embracing walk. However, if you keep your eyes peeled there are other sources of colour to be found. Fungi. 

Knapp and paper Mill - Ann-marie (King Alfred's Cake) 

Knapp and Paper Mill - Jemima

This Autumn when ever we have been out and about we have tried to find as many fungi as possible and indeed photograph them. We turned it into a bit of a competition on who could take the best photo! The idea is to try to identify them but this is a challenging job. The diversity of fungi is huge. The total number of fungi species in the UK is 15,000! They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Spending a bit of time looking and enjoying them is the first step in understanding how this amazing form of life survives. 

 

Knapp and paper mill - Laurie (Matchstick Fungi)

Piper's Hill - Gabriel (Amethyst Deceiver) 

 The exciting part of fungi is the mushroom or toadstool. However, this is only a small part of the organism. It is important to note that fungi are a kingdom of their own, they have a completely different cell structure to plants and animals. They have a different way of doing life and the mushroom is a small but important part of that. Toadstools are the fruiting body and connected to a much larger organism that lives under the ground. They are found as a network of cells called hyphae that are grouped together as a mycelium. They are vital for life on earth as they help transport nutrients through the soil and enable trees to exploit water and nutrients in the soil. The hyphae will interact with the root system of a plant or tree. The hyphae are smaller and further reaching than the plants own root system so can cover a wider range. This makes them vital for the survival of plants and trees.

Piper's Hill - Gabriel

Piper's Hill - Jemima (Fly Agaric) 

They obtain their energy, not from the sun, as plants do but from decomposing organic matter. They do this by absorbing the nutrients through their cells walls, which are made from chitin not cellulose as it is in plants. They are in fact important decomposers as well as providing trees and plants with nutrient they break them down into the soil. They also have a complicated reproduction cycle as well. But it is the reproduction cycle that provides the toadstool that we often enjoy fried for breakfast.

Piper's Hill - Laurie

Piper's hill - Laurie 

Fungal reproduction is a complicated topic and most fungi will reproduce both sexually and asexually. Asexually is by far the most common method. It is quite simple as they don't have to come across a partner. They just produce the spores and away they go. There is a disadvantage and that is that it produces genetically identical offspring. Sexual reproduction tends to occur when nutrients are scarce. It is a very complicated process compared to plants and animals but the out come is essentially very similar to that of the asexual process: spores.

Pipers hill - Jemima

Pipers Hill - Jemima

Which ever way they reproduce they will produce spores. I think that the fungi's real bit of evolutionary genius is the spore. Made in the fruiting body and they are a microscopic, often single cellular, new self contained fungi organisms ready to grow into new mycelium. Due to being so light they can be transported on the wind and air and spread out across the world. What an amazing, and successful, way to spread out across the planet. But I suppose it is the spore producing, spore releasing fruiting bodies that form all these weird and wonderful shapes that make the whole process so enjoyable to the human observer. Of course that is not why they evolved.

Croome - Ann-marie (Earth Star's) 

Pipers Hill - Jemima

We have really enjoyed walking in our local woodlands this autumn. Enjoying the natural colour of the leaves and doing our fungi forays. I really think it an excellent way to get out and enjoy nature. Even of the huge variety of mushrooms is daunting. We can at least reflect on the diversity that our planet has evolved. 

Knapp and Paper Mill

Pipers Hill 

Dipper from Knapp and Paper Mill