Author Archives: Alastair Culham

About Alastair Culham

A professional botanist and biologist with an interest in promoting biological knowledge and awareness to all.

Thames Valley Fungal Group – species list from last foray

Posted on 2021/04/28 by Alastair Culham

It’s taken a while but here is the list of fungi found on the Thames Valley Fungal Group foray on 7th October 2018.  The new reports have yet to be added to the main species lists.

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Black footed polypore (Picipes badius)

Posted on 2018/09/17 by Alastair Culham

The black footed polypore gains it’s name from the black stipe supporting the fruiting body. It’s a saprophytic species growing on dead hardwood. This quite large and colourful fungus has not previously been reported on campus so I was excited … Continue reading →

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Orobanche hederae – Ivy Broomrape

Posted on 2016/07/12 by Alastair Culham

My last blog was on the common broomrape, Orobanche minor, the only species I had seen on campus in the past few years.  Today I was excited to receive an email from Phöbe, one of the volunteer Friends of the … Continue reading →

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Orobanche minor on Whiteknights campus

Posted on 2016/06/15 by Alastair Culham

Parasitic plants, particularly ones with large and colouful flowers, are always a cause of curiosity from the casual observer, and are generally uncommon enough to exite field botanists. For many years there were numerous flower spikes of Orobanche minor on … Continue reading →

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UK Fungus Day @UniofReading notes 3

Posted on 2015/10/25 by Alastair Culham

I’m still working through numerous photos and trying to edit them – several of today’s blog batch are those our MSc Plant Diversity (#MScPlDiv) students tried to identify the next day.  Note that not all the names scribbled on the … Continue reading →

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UK Fungus Day @UniofReading notes 2

Posted on 2015/10/22 by Alastair Culham

Here is the second gallery of fungal finds from our UK fungus day activities.  A range of both small and crust-like fungi through to large boletes.  There are part of the morning collections and a few of the afternoon foray … Continue reading →

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UK Fungus Day @UniofReading notes no. 1

Posted on 2015/10/11 by Alastair Culham

UK Fungus Day was marked by excellent weather for seeing and collecting fungi.  The group walked through the Wilderness on the morning foray and then in to central campus for the afternoon foray. The group consisted of Thames Valley Fungi … Continue reading →

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Moth Nights 10-12 September – will you be recording?

Posted on 2015/09/10 by Alastair Culham

Over the next two nights the UK will be aflutter with moth enthusiasts looking to see what is out and about.  UK Moth Night aims to celebrate British moth recording activity and highlight this to the public.  News coverage has … Continue reading →

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Campus fungi, 9th November 2014

Posted on 2014/11/19 by Alastair Culham

Sunday was a sunny, warm and pleasant day so it seemed a good idea to have a forage for late season fungi.  The route took us through the wilderness, along the path from Earley Gate to the Library and then … Continue reading →

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Magpie Inkcap – Coprinopsis picacea

Posted on 2014/10/16 by Alastair Culham

Thanks to Dave Butlin I can add another toadstool to our campus list – the black with white spots is a distinctive feature of Coprinopsis picacea, the aptly called Magpie Inkcap.  These toadstools were seen today in wood chips and … Continue reading →

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