Glistening Inkcap

Autumn days are so often spent in front of the computer, trying to distil the summer's fieldwork into lists and reports. Today my stints at the computer were broken up by an eye test - so pleased to find that my sight hasn't changed in the last two years so no new glasses needed! Unfortunately they missed out part of the test, so I ended up going into town twice - luckily we don't live too far away. 

I sneaked off for a late afternoon meander round Thorpe Wood, which has more fungi than I've seen for at least five years as a result of the wet weather. I found huge troops of parasols, wood mushrooms and funnel-caps, and several groups of Glistening Inkcap in perfect condition. Common in Britain and Ireland and throughout Europe and North America, the Glistening Inkcap is truly a cosmopolitan mushroom, being found also in most parts of Asia and in South America and Australia. It usually appears in quite large clusters and very rarely as solitary specimens. It's one of the easier inkcaps to identify, on account of the shining mica-like granules that can be found on young specimens, and which give it its Latin name Coprinellus micaceus..