Chicken of the woods

Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) is popping up on trunks across Burley Old enclosure, its' near florescent orange easy to spot against the verdance of spring growth. This is a perfect example of a young mushroom here on a hulk of truncated Beech.

Chicken tree

This year continues to be a bumper year for Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus).

Chicken dinner

Someone has grabbed themselves some tasty fungi for dinner, a lovely fresh bracket of Chicken of the Woods. It looks like it's been harvested fairly recently  allowing a good look at the flesh, and it's easy to see how it got its' name. Remember, always 110% on identification, and they can cause gastric upset to some.  

Chuck

Even at a distance it's easy to spot a clump of Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) off amongst the stands. This year they've been both particularly numerous and particularly beautiful, their yellowy creams through to bright oranges definitely adding a splash of colour to the woods. When young and fresh like this they do look good enough to eat, and are. Remember though, although classed edible good, Chicken of the Woods can cause mild, though quite unpleasant, reactions in some. If you do collect some, only collect young and fresh as above, cook well, try a little at first, and you should always be 110% with your identification.

Eh chuck

The first burgeoning of Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) I've seen this season. I was quite taken aback spotting the unmistakeable sulphur polypore in the cracks of a weathered trunk deep off in the stands.  It's the right season, though I'd thought it too dry to see any fungi action. Nice to be wrong.

Chuck

 

There's been a flush of Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) about the forest of late, good sized fresh specimens too. Although within it's recognised season, it's not common for me to see so many handsome clumps at this time of year. We've been seeing them everywhere we've roamed. 

Chicken on Yew

Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) is often found growing on Yew (Taxus baccata) trees, although as I mentioned to in a previous post it's best avoided due to safety concerns. Why? Well. All parts of the Yew are highly toxic, and there's some debate within the fungi fraternity as to whether or not the Yews' toxins leach into the fruiting body of the Chicken of the Woods; some will say the flesh is safe to eat whilst others say it's not, so with the jury out I for one will give them a miss. It’s not like they don't grow on plenty of other trees.

Tree chicken

More and more clumps of Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) are bursting out all over the forest; their vibrant hues easy to spot amongst the greens and browns of the stands. Easy to identify and hard to misidentify, versitile to cook, tasty, and listed as 'edible good' in most books on Mushrooms, Chricken of the Woods is a favourite among wild fungi munchers. Be warned though, although listed 'edible good' Chricken of the Woods can cause dizziness and stomach upset in some; collect when young before they become woody, avoid specimins growning on Yews, and remember, if you're not a 110% leave well alone.

Ay up chuck

 

Small yellow bubbles of Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) burst out of the trunk a veteran Sweet Chestnut on one of Wilverleys' forestry tracks. The first I've spotted this year, and right on time too.

Chuck

 

A couple text book examples of young Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) clumps bursting from a weathered oak trunk; very nice.

Chicken's hatched

First Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) I've spotted this year; a good healthy clump too; could be a week or so old, still good enough to eat though.

Chucky in town

I was surprised on our visit to Burley Old this morning to see an abundance of Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus); a glorious sight to behold. Of course, it is the proper season for them, though we'd only been walking here last Thursday and then there were nought about; so to find over a dozen good sized, firm, fresh and vibrantly coloured clumps had appeared, was unexpected. Nature doesn't hang about though; the wheel turns, after all. A good, and always popular, edible fungus, Chicken of the woods' distinctive orangey hues make it hard to miss or misidentify. As always though, remember care should be taken when collecting wild foods, and if in ANY doubt...then don't; of particular note with this species is that they have been known cause stomach upset in some people. 

What time do you call this?

 

What time do you call this? Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) is commonly found between May and August, a popular edible* bracket fungus, it's distinctive orange/ivory colour makes it hard to miss or misidentify. Of course, care should always be taken when collecting wild foods, and if in doubt...don't. To find fresh young fruits like this towards the end of September is quite an unusual occurrence. It's been a strange year for Chicken of the Woods, I saw scant signs of it through May to August, though now there are fresh clumps bursting out all over the place. The chaotic elements this year have played havoc with natures routines.

 (*although can cause stomach upset)

Ay up chuck

The yellow orange hues of fresh Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) clumps are noticeable in themselves, shine a light on them and, man, they fluoresce. You could spot this clump from way off amongst the stands of Brinken this morning. It's been an average year for Chicken of the Woods, plenty about, though not noticeably abundant. Something I have observed though is the amount of it that's been foraged. You'll always see the stumps of harvested clumps, although they're far more widespread and often clear cut this season, and from some awkward to get to spots too. To me that could highlight the reach of the media; during the 'panic buying' prelude to the covid lockdown I'd seen a marked increase in the number of articles relating to foraging...and here we are, a visible increase in foraging. It's unwise to underestimate the influence of the media.

Chuck

First Chicken of the woods I've seen this season, much later than I'd usually expect too. It's been a sparse year for Chicken of the woods, well, at least it has been in through my roams. It's been particularly noticeable as for the last few years they've been bountiful, I'd regularly been seeing a dozen good sized clumps whilst out wandering. It doesn't worry me too much though, I've been collecting fungi in the forest for 30 years and I'm used to these yearly fluctuations, and have not noticed any long term changes in frequency, quantity or distribution. I think it's just natural cycles at play. Lovely colourful clump though. Fresh too.

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.

Full of chickens!

The forest is very dry, that's established, which makes the abundance of Chicken of the Woods about even more surprising. Why? More though, how? Where are they getting the energy, and liquid from, what with fungi being mostly water. Really! I've not known such a season with so much Chicken of the Woods, no matter where you look there are flashes of yellow/orange. All of the examples I've come across are perfect too. Usually they're flawed or damaged or faded in some way, though that doesn't appear the case this season. Maybe, these are the perfect conditions for Chicken of the Woods. It's quite a sight.

Chicks

More Chicken of the Woods. It appears the forest is full of it this year, it must be a good season as I'm seeing it wherever I'm walking. One of today's finds was very fresh, and has yet to develop into the recognizable orange yellow spreading bracket of its mature form. Fungi is parasitic in nature and this Oak trunk had blobs of young Chicken of the Woods exploding all over it.  Young, it looks like this, blobby and wet, quite alien and strange, and not something that naturally shout 'eat me!' at you.

Remember to look up

They say chickens can't fly, though this beauty was way up on an gnarled and weather battered Oak hulk in Camel Green. Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) is surely one of the easiest to spot mushrooms in the forest, especially when young and their colours are so fresh and vibrant. I've seen it growing from the base of trees to way up in the crown, so when searching them out always remember to look up. Though as I said, they're so easy to spot you can usually see them from quite a way off. And you know, chickens can fly, they're just shit at it and so don't bother, true.

Mushroom season

As autumn falls so fungi's reign begins. It's still early in the season, and it's still quite dry, but the frequency with which you see mushrooms is slowly increasing. Some of those mushrooms are edible favourites. Today I saw Beefsteak (Fistulina hepatica), nearing the end of its season some Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) and the often present Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus).  Commercial picking has long been forbidden in the forest, although collecting for personal consumption up to 1.5kg has been permitted. I say permitted as the Forestry Commission have just announced that mushroom picking has been banned throughout the forest, full stop. What nonsense, based on little scientific evidence, in fact, the evidence suggests that picking helps fungi communities, or at least has no negative effects. Also, there are a couple of thousand types of mushroom in the forest and of those only a tiny handful are collected to eat. The other reason they say, are these mythical hoards of organized pickers sweeping the forest, well they may, although in 30 years of forest foraging I've never seen them, or evidence of them. This ban follows a worrying trend, such as some local councils bans on collecting wild berries. Foraging is our human right, wild food is just that, wild and therefore in my mind at least free. Few even forage anyway, and the seasonal increase sometimes seen in the forest is driven by the media harking on about how much fungi is worth, encouraging people to collect, the same media that then runs angry stories about too many people collecting mushrooms.  As I say, I've been collecting mushrooms for years, you have good years and not so good and in both I always see countless mushrooms go uncollected. Stop publicising mushroom collecting as a profitable activity, stop creating and fuelling the problem, and see the numbers of those picking drop back to just those who are into it for the right reason and pick responsibly. Anyway, I can't see it being enforceable, if the can't stop the hoards (oh, that's right, they can't because they're bloody mythical), then how are they going to stop the responsible individual.  And more to the point, why bother? What's the real agenda here?