Bedgebury Pinetum, Kent, September 2023
I visited Bedgebury Pinetum in Kent for the first time in early September. It was impressive to see a noticeboard highlighting the Pinetum as one of ‘the best places for fungi in the country’!
Here’s the proof:
It has 12,000 specimen trees and a ‘world-leading collection of conifers’
Tell you what, though – they were not wrong about the dragonflies. The most impressive sight of the visit was dragonflies swarming on the margins of a field of, erm, monkey puzzles! Here’s the video:
It was dry and rather hot so I don’t think the Pinetum was at its best in the funga stakes, compared with the dragons.
As usual, I wasn’t there to forage, just to photograph. I don’t think Forestry England are fans of foraging on their sites. One of the first sightings of the visit was that common species in this part of the world – sulphur tuft.
I haven’t seen brick or conifer tuft yet, to my knowledge, so was wondering if this landscape where conifers were so dominant might change that. Looking at the gills and the caps, I don’t think I’m there yet.
Here’s the nice early stages of a bracket, which I haven’t identified yet. Might be a mazegill.
Tawny grisette is a lovely early Amanita. There were a couple at Bedgebury.
I have cobbled these together, even though they’re in different stages. I think they’re in the Clitocybe group, and are very likely funnels. The habitat and seasons are right, and the features look right (gills). It seems that there has been a taxonomic shake-up with this group, but it’s beyond this blogpost (and author!) to go into detail on that. Please comment if you have any suggestions.
It’s easy enough to plop these mushrooms into the ‘dungi’ category, and am confident that they’re mottlegills (Panaeolus). I’m half suspicous that the pale-capped shroom is a yellow fieldcap, rather than a saturated older fruiting body, just hanging out in the dung.
I haven’t done much work on trying to identify these yet, but they look like a group I am not familiar with. They were growing under an unusual type of turkey oak, but I don’t think there will be a mycelial connection there. Then again, what do I know.
So was it one of the best places to see fungi in England? I have no idea, but it will definitely be a good place to visit in the autumn months. Bear in mind the car parking fee is about £14, and I don’t know about public transport links in the area.
Thanks for reading.
This is a version of a previously-published post on my fungi blog.
Daniel Greenwood 