A truly magical festival!

[Beatmonkey]

Slypsy has texted to say there's loads of liberty caps (shrooms) growing in the field where he's camped.

that is quality.
are you sure he aint having you on. i've never heard of them coming out that early before.

Don't forget Slypsy has a PhD in soil science and he contacted a mate who has very detailed knowledge of fungi

Actually, i am a soil microbiologist/microbial ecologist, not a soil scientist!

I was certain that they were liberty caps, but as with may others, had never heard of them coming out so early so called up my friend how did his whole phd on soil fungi (and now uses the username Dr Mushroom ) to double check. And liberty caps indeed they were; although of course my interest was purely academic.

So does this "Dr Mushroom" think if I went on a trip to try and view some of this type of fungi in their natural habitat now I would be sucessful or was them appering at BC simply a result of freak localised climatic conditions?

[Slypsy]

I think if you are happy to wander through the countryside, ideally going to areas of unimproved pasture, that is areas where animals such as sheep and cows feed which haven't been "improved" through the addition of fertiliser and the like, then there is a good chance you will find some. It depends on the prevailing climatic conditions at the time. They grow very fast, but also die back very fast so if you have 1 dry hot day that will probably be enough to kill all of those that might be out. So if you have 3 - 5 overcast, drizzley, misty days, then i would certainly recommend going for a wander

[leah]

if you have 3 - 5 overcast, drizzley, misty days

that's what wales is for