Some Ashdown Fungi

Marden's Hill from Church Hill car park, Ashdown Forest, 24 October 2017.

The Ashdown is a mixture of woods and moorland.  This spot has a good mixture of trees, and not far away is the stream I showed in my last post.  Now that the fungus season is well under way, I have walked around several areas with them in mind.

I haven't found any woods as stuffed with fungi as some of the best spots I now in Kent, but I did find some very interesting types.  You have to keep a sharp eye out to spot them in the leaf litter.

Hydnum repandum, Wood Hedgehog.  Ashdown Forest, 15 October 2017.

The creamy blobs in the foreground are Wood Hedgehog, a fungus that has no gills or pores, but teeth.  Fungi that look like mushrooms or grow as brackets usually have pores or gills, so it's interesting to find the scarcer toothed kinds.

Hydnum repandum, Wood Hedgehog.  Ashdown Forest, 15 October 2017.

It doesn't look anything like a hedgehog unless you pick it and turn it upside down.  This fungus is very tasty when cooked, and it's easy to identify, but don't pick any fungi to eat unless you are with an expert. As with all wild picked fungi, this one needs to be quite young and fresh.

On the same day I saw this, I also came across two other less common toothed species.

Hydnellum spongiosipes, Velvet Tooth.  Ashdown Forest, 15 October 2017

Here's one, called Velvet Tooth.  It is close to the ground and more compact in habit than the Wood Hedgehog.  You have to lift a piece to see the teeth.

Hydnellum spongiosipes, Velvet Tooth.  Ashdown Forest, 15 October 2017

This was growing on a bank beside the path, underneath some holly, together with another darker species.

Toothed fungi.  Ashdown Forest, 15 October 2017

Here you can see one Velvet Tooth at the top right, and many of the better concealed species scattered around.  These might be Hydnellum concrescens, or possibly a Sarcodon species.  I was shown Velvet Tooth and a Sarcodon with yet another toothed species very recently at Hosey Common, near Westerham, and the fungus expert who was with us told us how unusual they were, so I was excited to see a very similar display here.

Sarcodon or Hydnellum species.  Ashdown Forest, 15 October 2017

Here's a side view of the one I am vague about, showing the teeth.  The two-tiered appearance is also unusual for a mushroom fungus.  Some were like this, some had the usual one tier, some seemed fused together.

Here's the other species from Hosey Common.

Phellodon tomentosus, Woolly Tooth.  Hosey Common,  8 October 2017

This has a similar habit to my uncertain species from the Ashdown, but I know they are not the same because this one has a distinct curry smell, and the Ashdown specimen does not.

Ashdown Woodland Track

Silk Button Spangle Galls on a fallen oak leaf.  Ashdown, 15 October 2017.

I am starting to see where the interesting places are in my new area.  Of course, some are obvious and are marked on maps.  But some are not.

I went along a track that leads off a steep road towards the "Secret Lake."  I was looking for fungi, but didn't find very many - more on that next time.  But it's an interesting track.

Track on the Ashdown.  15 October 2017.

The bracken is turning brown, and some trees are shedding, but many are not.  There's woodland ahead.

Gate into the woods.  Ashdown, 15 October 2017.

That fallen sign welcomes you.

Fallen sign.  Ashdown, 15 October 2017.

Just past this gate I found some interesting fungi .. I'll show them next time.  But the track past here gets to be unusual.  Soon, there's a stream down on the left.

Stream on the Ashdown.  15 October 2017.

Something else is going on.  That squared-off block on the far side is not natural.  It's made up of smaller blocks.  There has been some sort of construction here in the past.  It turns out that iron ore was worked on the Ashdown in the Tudor period, and it's likely to be related to that.

Further on, there's a junction at which one branch quickly peters out into a narrow gap, and if you squeeze through and look back you can see this:

Woodland Steps.  Ashdown, 15 October 2017.

It's almost like part of a pyramid, very atmospheric.  It's too high up to have been for water.  The stream is down below the bottom level of this area.  So this must be more of the old iron workings.

One of my maps places an "old furnace" further along this track.  I wonder if that label is misplaced, and the furnace was here.

The bridge I took this next shot from was a solidly constructed stone bridge, so this is not just any old ride through the woods.  There must have been some serious industry here at one time.  This is the stream from that bridge.

Stream in the Ashdown, 15 October 2017.

I would think that is big enough to supply water for a smelting operation, and the "secret lake" further on might have been dammed up to provide that supply.

Fungi next time ...

(Added later) I've been told that those ruins might be a flour mill known as "the Old Mill" (originally "The New Mill," reasonably enough) and there is some resemblance to old photos, but I'm not certain.  If it is, it's said to be where the flour was ground for Queen Victoria's wedding cake.