Parrot Waxcap

Alex, Chris, Pete and I spent a glorious frosty morning at the Orton Pit Christmas work party. Alex and Pete stacked logs and fed the bonfire while Chris and I occupied our time hunting for things to photograph. Our most exciting find was a colony of Parrot Waxcaps Hygrocybe psittacina, a species I've never seen before, although I've admired other people's photographs of them. They are such a vivid green when they're fresh, though gradually fade to a straw yellow. They're also very, very slimy, as you can probably see. They were growing in an area of plantation woodland, but there must have been some unimproved grassland before the trees grew up, as we also found earth-tongues and a variety of other associated grassland fungi.

We stayed for lunch, which consisted of potatoes baked in the fire (complete with a thick layer of charcoal), grated cheese, pancakes cooked over a bucket stove and home-made biscuits. All delicious!! Unfortunately we had to leave rather early as a friend of Alex and Ben was coming over for the afternoon - too many things to fit in one day!!