Orange Oak Bolete

 

An Orange Bolete (Leccinum aurantiacum), sometimes known as the Orange Oak Bolete pushes up through amongst a loose group of Oaks on the edge of Red Rise.  They and their close cousins the Orange Birch Bolete (Leccinum versipelle) are usually a very common sight around the forest, though like others of their kin they've been scarce this mushroom season. Both boletes look very similar, and share a broadness in cap colour, one of the noticeable difference is that the stem of Orange Boletes have orange/brown scales floccules, whereas Orange Birch Boletes have small black scales. Both are edible, both require a very thorough cooking. Remember, 110% on identification or leave well alone.

A trio of ceps

 

Well, it would be rude not to.

Boletes baby yeah

I'd been waiting. I thought it inevitable after our recent rains that the Boletes would follow. Well, I say inevitable, that's not always tru, I recall a few years when they've been absent. Pictured above, a near perfect example of the Cep, or Penny Bun mushroom (boletus edulis), you might know them as Porcini. The first one I've seen this year.

Orange Birch Bolete

 

One member of the Bolete family which has done particularly well this year is the Orange Birch Bolete (Leccinum versipelle), wherever there's open rough grass and heather edged woodland you'll find dozens fruiting, all shapes and sizes; they're always a prominent autumn mushroom, though this year they're that and some. There are quite a few similar looking mushrooms in the Leccinum family that you'll see out and about, some much rarer than others, but the Orange Birch Bolete is by far the most common. They're listed as edible good; personally I'm not a fan. Firstly, because you have to cook them good and proper (20 minutes) as they're mildly toxic creating common gastro issues associated with fungi; I'm not that hungry. Secondly, they turn black when cooked, and can colour whole meals; again not that hungry.  Looking good out there though.

Ceps

It hasn't mattered where we've walked in the forest I've seen a good turn out of Ceps everyday. I admit to being a bit surprised in light of the lack of rain and subsequent dryness of the forest; pleasantly surprised.

Nice haul

 

Mushroom season appears to have begun, late but better than never; I've enjoyed a couple of good hauls in recent days, enough to have a quantity drying and plenty for eating. I'm always grateful for the opportunity to gather some of natures' harvests, and give thanks to the land. Even though there's plenty of Ceps (boletus edulis) about I took only what I could reasonably process, being either by eating or drying, and left magnitudes more in peace. As Mando would say - this is the way.

Lunch

Guess what I'll be having for lunch; I was lucky enough to have foraged a half a dozen good sized Ceps (Boletus edulis) on this mornings' roam. Which was nice.

Bolete

 

I've seen a few Summer Boletes (Boletus reticulatus) about.

King of the edible shrooms

I have to admit to being pleasantly surprised by the profusion of mushrooms popping up throughout the forest, I'd imagined that the arid nature of our summer would've possibly put the kibosh on a mushroom season. How wrong I was. It's amazing that a species you'd imagine to be delicate and fragile could force it's way through ground which remains quite hard, and seemingly overnight too. All manner of fungi are beginning to appear, including the king of the edible shroom the Cep (Boletus edulis); it's still early doors though, but fingers crossed, here's hoping.

Red Bolete

 

I'll admit to wondering how much of a mushroom season we'd enjoy after our arid summer; though I've been pleasantly surprised by the range of fungi forcing their way through the hardened forest floor; of course a few mushrooms does not a good season make. On one of the broad grass tracks which cross Burley Old we came upon a cluster of small red boletes; I didn't want to disturb them after what must have been a heroic effort, though I think they may have been either boletus pinicola or boletus versicolor.  The grassy track bisects coniferous and broad leaf blocks, pinicola favours the former whilst versicolor the latter. That said, they may have been another variety, as I didn't examine them and so could not give a definitive identification.

Ac-Cep-table

I've found it a slow season for mushrooms, an unusual year for fungi all round, the mushrooms have been doing weird stuff...appearing when they shouldn't and not when they should. It's still unusually dry out there now, and the temprature's all over the place. You have seasons that are better than others, some worse and others non starters. So in recent years, until I've got a handle on how the seasons shaping up, I tend to dry all the Ceps I collect. I feel you get better bang for your buck, so to speak, by drying them and using them crushed up through the winter in soup, stew etc. Top flavouring, and it's a better use of the resource too. Over the last couple of weeks I've collected a few Ceps here and a few there, and now have an ac-cep-table dried store to carry me through.

Cep

A couple more every day.

 

Dry Spy

The woodland and woodland fringe fungal communities of Red Rise appear to have faired far better than their more exposed community neighbours on the open heathland and lawn of Spy Holms. It's by no means been a bumper mushroom season in the forest, though some woodland inhabitants like Chicken of the Woods, Beefsteak and Oysters have been well represented, the Boletes were respectable and there are plenty of Hedgehog mushrooms too (as have loads of other mushrooms/fungi).  It's a very different story on the adjacent exposed open lawn and heath. Usually covered in a really diverse community, this year...nought!  Or near nought. I've seen two Parasols, when commonly it would dozens, no Wax Caps, no Puffballs, no Liberty Caps, and very little beyond. Where normally you'd have to look where you're stepping, you can look but there's nothing to see, it's barren.  Drier autumns don't do mushrooms any service, I hope they don't become too frequent.

Beletus aereus.....I think?

Larch Bolete

A pair of young Larch Boletes (Suillus grevillei). The Larch Bolete, like 'most' of the others in the bolete family are edible, though care should be taken to remove the yellowy slimy coating which can cause stomach upset. When cut through, the caps flesh is light yellow and not that firm or appetizing.  As their name suggests they're found near or in the vicinity of Larch (Larix decidua), with whom they share a symbiotic relationship. I'll be honest, I've never tried Larch Boletes, too much bother for the return, their cousins the Slipper Jack (Suillus luteus) yes, but there again they're not on my regular eats list. Still, groovy looking shrooms, they almost looked like ceramic representations of themselves, which was weird.

Bolete

A grand example of a Bolete.

Baby Ceps

Early doors. A cluster of baby Ceps (Boletus edulis).

A Cep

Ceps are about in the forest in growing numbers, though I didn't pick any, so didn't enjoy them in a breakfast omelette, nor in my miso soup, nor with noodles, no I didn't do any of those things. #obey

Ceptember

The Ceps (Boletus edulis) are beginning to show. Well, it is cep-tember after all.

More-shrooms

More edible mushrooms are appearing in the forest, not in great quantities mind, though certainly on the increase. Today’s notables were some Hedgehogs (Hydnum repandum) and Cow Boletes (Suillus bovinus).  Even in light of recent rain, the forest remains quite dry.