The Flirt

A bright and very breezy day - and we headed to Holme Fen which has dense birch woodland - to hunt for fungi. The wind became noticeably stronger during our visit, and it was quite worrying in some areas, with the trees creaking and rattling above our heads. At one point we heard one crash down quite close to us, and when we finlly returned to the car we found our way blocked by a freshly fallen birch.

However, it was worth the slight frisson of danger as there were quite a few fungi around, though most were species that we'd seen there before or proved to be unidentifiable to me! This image shows one of the only reddish species of Russula that I can identify fairly confidently in the field. Russula vesca is known as The Flirt or the Bare-toothed Russula, because the cuticle of the cap tends to retract enough to expose the gill ends, 'showing its teeth' (quite clearly visible and looking rather fierce in this image) or 'wearing short skirts'. It's a common enough species throughout Britain, growing under various broadleaved trees on neutral to acid soils, and is edible and good.