Fungi time

Had a work party at the nature reserve today. When I was opening gates and putting signs out at around 9am it felt very autumnal - there was some mist hanging in the valley and the vegetation was dripping. After a morning of clearing dogwood scrub and a pleasant lunch break, with a few sunny periods, we carried out a count of Chiltern gentians. Then I had a short wander through a patch of mixed woodland and, sure enough, a few fungi had popped up overnight. I'm fairly sure this is Tricholoma sulphureum, with the recently coined common name of Sulphur Knight. When I got home and checked the photographs I realised I should have checked for the smell of coal gas (something at least my generation can instantly recognise) to be sure of this identification. This made me recognise that we are now into fungi time, when most walks are followed up by lengthy periods poring over books and sometimes the microscope. If it all goes to plan I will start to feel quite confident about fungus recognition in a few week's time, followed by a growing pile of specimens/photos that I'm not sure about and finally (often after going on a foray with experts) the annual decision that fungus ID is really tricky and, perhaps, not for me!