You are probably thinking the above date is incorrect as it is not a Tuesday! The visit was intended to be on the 15th but it had to be rearranged at short notice due to the awful weather forecast for that day and the forecasters were not wrong. The next two days were also very poor as was the Saturday so we were fortunate to have one dry day that week.
Our group of four were well looked after by Jack Ogg and his gardening team. An invitation to take refreshments in their office was not of course turned down. After discussions with the team about the gardens and the maintenance regime we proceeded to look for fungi in the meadow which lies below the large car park. We were joined by Amy, one of the trainees & by Jack himself.
As soon as we reached the large solitary Beech tree at the top end of the meadow we began seeing fungi; lots of Wrinkled Clubs, a few Jelly Babies & a big group of Deceivers. In the grassland itself were waxcaps galore ! Parrot, Meadow, Slimy, Snowy, lots of the splendid Scarlets, Butter and Golden. Groups of very small Apricot Clubs showing their splendid white tips, Meadow Corals, Ivory Bonnets (Mycena flavoalba) & Pointed Club (Clavaria acuta). There were of course several species that couldn't be identified without microscopy such as the Yellow Clubs & the large dark capped Entelomas (Pinkgills). On the way back up the meadow we again checked out the area around the Beech and Sue found a single Amethyst Deceiver that we missed first time around and I spotted Inocybe praetervisa. This species had been ID'd a few weeks earlier by the Mid Yorks Fungus Group who visited on the 29th Oct. Common Inkcaps were on the large grassy mound next to the path.
One benefit of switching the dates was that the excellent cafe was open ! It does not open on Tuesdays. Surprisingly a Red Admiral flew past the window during lunch.
After lunch and at the suggestion of Jack we explored the surrounding gardens & woodland areas & further species were added to our list; Fly Agaric, Candlesnuff, Glistening Inkcaps, Turkeytail, Hairy Curtain Crust, Jelly Ear & Ganodermas. Alice spotted Cowslips.
The minibus was not available to us so we had travelled in two cars, Sue from Silsden & myself & Alice in Julia's car. On our way home we called in at St John's Churchyard & found further waxcaps incuding the very slimy Heath Waxcap (Hygrocybe laeta). The original plan was to have visited St Chad's after lunch but we decided to take advantage of the kind offer to spend more time at York Gate. This is a site we will come back to again.
John Gavaghan