Fungi

Fungi is the name given to a strange group of living things including mushrooms, toadstools, moulds and thousands of other weird and wonderful things. It's safe to say that if you see something strange growing outside, and you're not sure what it is, it's probably a fungus.

Unlike plants, Fungi cannot produce their own food. Instead they absorb nutrients from their surroundings.  Fungi spend the majority of the year below ground as a mass of thread-like hyphae.

October is prime time for spotting mushrooms and toadstools; these lovers of damp, wooded places emerge briefly to surprise us all.  This is because the earth has warmed up and the weather itself usually warm and damp. This encourages fungi to send their fruiting bodies (equivalent of seed pods) above ground as mushrooms or toadstools. Just as mysteriously they disappear again once the frosts and cold persist into winter. 

This habit of appearing suddenly, as if from nowhere, is probably why there are many magical tales surrounding them. Have you ever seen mushrooms growing in a circle? People used to think that fairies, elves and goblins danced the night away on the circular "dance-floor" within these so-called fairy rings. It was thought that the mushrooms were used as little stools and chairs. 

Fungi in the British Isles are fast disappearing because of loss of habitat, changing rural practices, intensive land management and over-picking. Yet scientists are now beginning to understand that many of the fungus species in our woodlands play an essential role in the welfare of trees; others are immensely important in dealing with dead materials turning them back into nutrients ready for plants to absorb. 

Due to their value to our ecosystems and the difficulties in accurate identification, we ask you to not pick mushrooms in our parks, commons and open spaces.  If you go elsewhere in the country at this time of year please follow the wild mushroom pickers code of conduct. 

We are always keen to receive photos so if you have a photo of fungi from a  park, common or open space in Wandsworth this autumn you'd like to share with us please email biodiversity@wandsworth.gov.uk