By Katie Isham.
With the daylight hours fleeing and biblical downpours part of our daily routines, conditions are perfectly ripe for mushroom season.
Abundance is the word on the street. Maybe not the street, but the soggy, boggy woodland trails. The fungi explosion is happening right now and you should be there to witness it.
But where is there?
Little fungi pop up everywhere but the best places, the most abundant colonies are to be found amongst the giant trees of Lords Wood. On any given day, this is possibly the best woodland walk in Southampton, but right now there is as much to see at ground level as there is stretching skywards. Time to find these little treasures.
But first, this safungi is optimised with a little preparation.
It’s not necessary, but if you take along a guidebook and a dainty, handheld mirror, you won’t regret it. The book is obvious. A handy guide to the ‘shrooms spotted will be invaluable. You’ll flick through with the force of a fevered fanatic once you get a sniff of the beasts. And we’ll come to the mirror shortly…
First, let’s begin our search for these fabulous fungi. I’d wish you luck but it’s probably harder not to spot any in the present conditions. Take a loop around the woodland, following the main tracks and being vigilant along the path edges. By the end of your safari, you’ll be dizzy with your brain registering them all over like alien invaders.
Enter Lords Wood from the Coxford Road entrance and bear left along the path adjacent to the neighbouring estate. You’ll soon have a chance to spot your first specimens in the undergrowth heading down to the stream. Keep alert for white puffballs around here.
Start with those alien chest bursters. Once you spot one puffball, you’ll see them everywhere. Small, round white globules lying patiently on the forest floor. Once disturbed by nature, paw or droplet, they release a waft of spores into the air. Once all spored out, they are left looking like an empty chest cavity without its xenomorph.
Near to those hide some daintier varieties. More camouflaged against the dark mulch of the mixture of leaves are some tiny, almost translucent purple stalks. Watch your footing around these delicate yet determined bonnets.
As the route turns into the main logging paths, a few abandoned logs and stumps foster their own collections. Chicken of the woods provides life to dead wood and massive colonies of toadstools clustered together find strength in numbers.
A little further along and it’s time to dip into the clearings amongst the fir trees. Here, beneath the tallest boughs, you’ll find the brightest colours. Striking neon orange tendrils set out their stall on the tree stumps. Together with the eye-wateringly green moss, it’s as if you’ve been submerged under the sea and with an exotic coral reef instead of these glorious examples of yellow stagshorn.
This is the motherload. Around here are all kinds of varieties: fuzzy ones, umbrella ones, gross ones, beautiful ones. Fungi are all about the variety and you’ll find plenty here.
Now, time for that mirror. Take a look up the skirt of these beauties. Don’t disturb them but a well-placed mirror will grant you a view few ever see without destruction. The gills underneath these magnificent models will astound you. Nature is an excellent architect with an eye for aesthetically pleasing patterns.
Don’t stop now. We’re almost at the pièce de resistance!
Alongside the path on the route up towards the motorway, keep a watch for visitors along the verge. There may be earth stars, shaggy ink caps and even death caps (both false and deathly). But keep a special eye out for a flash of red. Somewhere amongst the leaf debris, mythical fly agaric mushrooms are finding their place in the world.
These are the toadstools you drew as a child, those that fairies sit on when we aren’t paying attention. I defy you to spot these without letting out a squeal of excitement. To be fair, this is an exciting walk the whole way round.
We all need some joy and beauty in our dark autumn days, and trekking on a Suburban Safungi will give you just that. I’ll wager that by the time you’re on the home straight, your heart will be leaping at a flash of white in a bush, enthusiastically spotting some new fungi, only to have those hopes dashed when it turns out to be a broken pipe. We’ve all been there. But with the abundance of examples around Lords Wood, there won’t be mushroom for error.
Cost: Free for the walk. Free parking on nearby local streets.
Accessibility: Main paths are gravel but there are some routes around the edge that are woodland paths and under the current conditions are more bog-like. Turn up welly-ready for the win. Carefully leave the path to inspect some of the magical life but watch your footing. Lordswood is located in the north of the city just before the motorway barrier.
Facilities: No facilities within the woods. Attached to Lordswood is Southampton Golf Course and Sports centre if you’re craving some civilisation or a coffee.
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