Amanita Muscaria

Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric).   Beacon Wood Country Park, 20 October 2012.

This is not what you expect to see under this name.  That's because it's a baby, just pushing out of the ground, and is still covered with its universal veil.  We found these in Beacon Wood Country Park, near Bean.  There is an extensive area of Silver Birch woodland on what used to be the bottom of a commercial clay pit, and there were hundreds of these startling fungi in clusters and in long crescents.

Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric).   Beacon Wood Country Park, 20 October 2012.

The red cap starts to push through the scaly yellow veil.

Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric).   Beacon Wood Country Park, 20 October 2012.

You probably see it most often like this, with a white stipe, domed scarlet cap and yellow scales.  It's not fully mature yet, but often it doesn't get much further because slugs just love it.  In fact you can see that the one on the left has lost a chunk of the stipe.  If there were not so many of them all at once I would probably not have got to see this ...

Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric).   Beacon Wood Country Park, 20 October 2012.

A fully mature specimen nearly a foot across, quite a giant for this species.