This blog recounts two Fungi Field Recorder Days we ran in London in October 2025, the first at Tolworth Court Farm (Kingston) and the second in Lesnes Abbey Woods (Bexley). By Joss Carr.
Whilst most of the general public mourn the end of the summer and the onset of the shorter, colder and darker days that signal autumn, the humble natural history enthusiast may find autumn a particularly exciting time of year. The reason? Fungi.
As deciduous foliage begins to decay, leaf litter accumulates, and dampness encroaches, a whole host of fungi begin to adorn our grasslands and woodlands. Brackets, boletes, bonnets, inkcaps, saddles, crusts, polypores, staghorns… the list goes on. With nearly 15,000 described fungi species currently known from the UK, and many obscure ones yet to be found, there is undoubtedly plenty for the budding mycologist to get stuck into learning. And that’s true even in London, thanks to the wonderful network of nature reserves and green spaces under protection in our city.
Fungi at Tolworth Court Farm
On Wednesday 15th October we ran a Fungi Field Recorder Day in partnership with Citizen Zoo at Tolworth Court Farm (Kingston) as part of the Wild Tolworth project. We had record high number of attendees: a whopping forty enthusiastic fungi enthusiasts! Field Recorder Days at Tolworth Court Farm started in 2022, so it’s a site that we know well. We recorded fungi here back here in 2024 and found 16 different species, so we were keen to see if we could add any species to the site list this year. As in 2024, our party was helmed by our resident botany and mycology specialist, the ever-wonderful Mark Spencer.
With such a large group, we wanted to try out a new format on this event. We split into groups and directed each group to search for fungi in different 100-metre grid cells across the site. After a 15–30 minute search session in each cell we would then reconvene to go through specimens, identify our finds, and record the species. This method aims for reasonably widespread sampling across the site.
Highlights from our fungal finds from the day included large patches of a Paneolus species, growing from dead wood in Tolworth Court Farm Moated Manor. We also found numerous specimens of Laccaria laccata (Deceiver), the slimy yellow Pholiota gummosa (Sticky Scalycap) and Armillaria mellea (Honey Fungus) across the site. The attractive yellow Bolbitius titubans was also abundant in the grassland edges. Blushing Bracket Daedaleopsis confragosa was commonly spotted on trees.
Fun fact: the genus name Daedaleopsis is derived from the greek mythological figure Daedalus – the creator of the labyrinth in which the minotaur resided. The labyrinth-like gills of Daedaleopsis confragosa (see photo on right) are named in this character’s honour! Another notable find was Dichomitus campestris (Hazel Porecrust), a rarely recorded but relatively distinctive crust-forming species on deadwood.
Often when collecting fungi you stumble upon unexpected stowaways. A particularly manky Meripilus giganteus (Giant Polypore) yielded several such stowaways, most excitingly the tiny (2.6 mm) staphylinid beetle Autalia impressa (pictured left), which feeds on fungi. Tolworth Court Farm seems to be only the fourth site this species has been found in London!
Since our last visit there has been one very notable change at Tolworth Court Farm: earthworks have begun for the creation of a new wetland! Covering a considerable area alongside the Hogsmill river, and fit with its very own shiny new bridge, this area is set to be re-colonised by nature as part of the ongoing rewilding project on site. Hopefully it will soon become attractive to a range of wetland plants, invertebrates and larger animals, helping make a considerable boost to Tolworth Court Farm’s already not-unimpressive biodiversity.
Fungi at Lesnes Abbey Woods
On Tuesday 28th October we were at Lesnes Abbey Woods (Bexley) yet again in search of fungi – this time in partnership with Bexley Council. Like Tolworth Court Farm, Lesnes Abbey Woods is a site at which we have run multiple Field Recorder Days in the past, although this was our first day at the site focused on Fungi. The Lesnes team are making a real push to generate biological records this and next year as part of a National Lottery-funded project ‘Lesnes 500‘, which celebrates a century since the publication of a seminal natural history text focused on the abbey’s famous woodland. We are very excited to be involved! This Fungi Field Recorder Day had another big showing, so we again divided into smaller groups and each tackled a grid cell. We also greatly benefited from the indoor tables and chairs in the Lesnes Lodge building which allowed groups to lay out and organise their fungi specimens over lunch and in the afternoon, ready for identification.
In the morning we focused on the northern woodland edge, with four groups each tackling an 100x100m grid cell. Some of the species found in this session are shown in the photo collage below.
In the afternoon we headed up to the small heathland in the south of Lesnes Abbey Woods. This is one of the few remaining heathlands in the whole of Greater London, and is kept in good condition thanks to the protection and care of the Lesnes Abbey Woods team. It is an important site for many scarce heathland-associated species in London, including Peltigera lichen and several heathland mosses.
In terms of fungi, highlights included a attractive patch of the bracket fungus Trametes betulina (Birch Mazegill) which, interestingly, was growing from an English Oak (Quercus robur) stump (pictured right), and a few particularly good specimens of the red and white Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric).
More unusual finds on the heath included the jelly-like Phaeotremella foliacea (Leafy Brain), the red-stemmed Gymnopus erythropus (Redleg Toughshank) and the maroon Cortinarius decipiens. The latter is particularly rarely recorded in London with Lesnes Abbey Woods being only the second site with records on iRecord. The heathland also proved very productive for Russula (Brittlegills) with three different species found by Mark Spencer: R. ionochlora (Oilslick Brittlegill), R. betularum (Birch Brittlegill) and R. velenovskyi (Coral Brittlegill).
Many thanks to everyone who came along to our Fungi Field Recorder Days in October 2025. It was great to see so many people out and about learning about and recording fungi. All records generated from these two events are now available for anyone to view on iRecord, and reports with interpretation of the species lists will be published in the future. An extra special thanks is due also to Mark Spencer, our mycology tutor, for his invaluable assistance on both of these events, and a big thanks to Elliot Newton and co. (Tolworth Court Farm) and Ian Holt and co. (Lesnes Abbey Woods) for contracting us to run events. See you at the next one!
One last thing – if you are someone who records fungi in the UK, we would love to hear your thoughts on the experience in our Fungus Recorder Survey. In collaboration with the British Mycological Society, we are currently reviewing the protocols and approaches for fungi recording and verification in the UK. We are really keen to hear all about how people currently find the experience of recording fungi and having their records verified, so that we can identify what we can improve in the future. You can find out more about the project on our webpage: The Fungus Verification Consultation Project.
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