Clare Blencowe
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clareblencowe.bsky.social
Clare Blencowe
@clareblencowe.bsky.social
1K followers 620 following 750 posts
Field mycologist with a passion for grassland fungi. Interested in the history of mycology. Bang into biological recording. Located in West Sussex, UK.
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Man sculptures of Kent.

Left: by Anthony Gormley in Canterbury Cathedral Crypt

Right: by Jason Decaires Taylor at St Mary of Charity Church in Faversham.
Against the honey-coloured stone backdrop of a vaulted cathedral crypt background, a human figure hangs horizontally in thin air, wrought from black iron nails. Against the background of a chrichyard, with its green grass, stone path and wrought iron railings, a human figure stands tallk, made from concrete and flint.
November 25, 2025 at 8:39 AM
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I present for comparison, John Tenniel's original illustration for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Public domain.
John Tenniel's famous illustration of the hookah smoking caterpillar, perched upon an enormous mushroom which Alice is just tall enough to peep over.
November 2, 2025 at 3:59 PM
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Hey, mushroom fans. How come we never talk about the video for Tom Petty's Don't Come Around Here No More? #FungiFriends

youtu.be/h0JvF9vpqx8?...
A blurry still from a 1985 music video in which an Alice character in a blue pinafore dress walks tentatively through a scene of giant mushrooms that look like somebody sewed them out of velvet. Blurry screenshot from a 1885 music video. We see Alice's head and shoulders, pictured from behind with her long strawberry blonde hair wearing a blue pinafore dress. She is staring up at a figure perched on a mushroom clouded in hookah smoke, playing a mandolin.
November 1, 2025 at 11:29 PM
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Well looky look what's arrived! In the same month that it's got written on the cover! I think that's a first for this editor.

Field Mycology magazine ▶️ fieldmycology.org/index.php/jo...
A magazine with the title Field Mycology and a picture of a couple of pale olive-brown Mycena mushrooms on the front is pictured on a jeans-wearing person's lap in a matching green and brown living room setting. A magazine is held open on a person's lap. The title of the article on this page is "Fun with aquatic hyphomycetes" and various spores are illustrated, stained with aniline blue. On the facing page a woman is pictured having fun netting foam out of a river.
October 30, 2025 at 6:50 PM
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Screenshot from the Simpsons. Principal Skinner is seated at a table about to tuck into a plate of steamed hams, saying, "Oh, not in Utica, it's an Albany expression."
October 29, 2025 at 7:41 PM
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Perhaps we've all been seduced by self-sufficiency's gorgeous cover star: Felicity Kendal.
Black and white photo of a middle aged couple embrace with broad smiles suggesting happiness brims from their very souls. She is wearing baggy old possibly men's clothes and he is holding an enormous leek. They are Tom and Barbara Good, characters from the vintage British sit com The Good Life.
October 24, 2025 at 7:11 AM
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Delighted to hear that my co-editor on the Field Mycology publication, Alick Henrici, has been awarded the @britmycolsoc.org.uk Benefactors' Medal 🏅

Alick's knowledge and enthusiasm for field mycology is very motivating - and his grasp of English grammar and punctuation is invaluable!
A photo of a man holding a yellow box with a bit of fungus lying on it. The man has grey hair and glasses and an enquiring expression. There are trees and people in the background.
October 22, 2025 at 6:25 PM
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Very much liking this mushroom I saw today in West Sussex.

Amanita franchetii. New to me.

Andy Overall says in his book, "The yellow velar patches quickly fade once mature", so it was a treat to find one looking like this. 🟡🍄🟡
A yellow mushroom pictured against a background of brown autumn leaves (Beech and Hornbeam). The cap is covered in yellow warts. The stipe is bulbous with yellow girdles around the base. Similar to picture 1 on this post. A yellow mushroom pictured against a background of brown autumn leaves. This photo shows more of the stipe in focus. It is white towards the top and yellow towards the bottom, with yellow girdles around the base. A close up photo of the cap of a mushroom. It is covered in yellow warts. Where the warted veil is breaking up, you can just about see a darker fawn coloured cap underneath.
October 12, 2025 at 7:50 PM
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Checking out the night moves of a couple of local craneflies. Pictured here under torchlight, making themselves at home on the sinister Entoloma sinuatum.

▶️ uk.inaturalist.org/observations...
Two craneflies are perched on the cap of a greyish-cream coloured mushroom cap. The surroundings are a woodland floor: a stick and ivy leaves creeping over the leaf litter.
September 27, 2025 at 8:53 PM
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What would Orwell have made of TK Maxx, I wonder.
A pile of books is pictured on plastic-y shelves. From bottom to top: LIVING WITH WHITE; GUCCI; LUXURY CARS; LIVING WITH WHITE; MONOCHROME HOME; THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER. Label on shelf reads "ALWAYS UP TO 60% OFF.
September 21, 2025 at 12:37 PM
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Can we get a hat trick of photo books with tiny blue mushrooms on the front?

There is room still for one with a blue Entoloma on the cover. (You can have that idea for free, publishers of the world).
A book cover with the title Funga Obscura in italic script features a photo of tiny blue Mycena-like mushrooms with wet glistening blue caps and midnight blue edges to the gills. A book cover with the title Planet Fungi: A photographer's foray features a photo of a tiny blue-capped mushroom with a white stem. Light shines off tiny erect cells in the cap. Pictured against a black background.
September 20, 2025 at 9:22 AM
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Started a new job in June and a colleague is showing me waxcaps outside the office already. Really landed on my feet.

Hygrocybe conica, Blackening Waxcap - the pioneer
An orange mushroom with a pointy cap is pictured against a background of rough meadow, under a blue sky
September 19, 2025 at 5:04 PM
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Psyched for today's fungus conservation meeting - haven't left the house this early for a meeting in a while!
A dark scene. The outline of trees in black silhouette is set against a background of the first orange glimmers of dawn.
September 17, 2025 at 4:42 AM
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Experiment Part 2: iNaturalist photo recognition results with geographic location set to UK.

Slightly different suggestions but T. biforme is still there, "expected nearby".

Interestingly, you can see the geomodel on which this result is based on the website ▶️ uk.inaturalist.org/geo_model/12...
Screenshot from the iNaturalist app photo recognition screen, analysing the photo at the top of this thread. Results read: We're pretty sure it's in the genus Trichaptum. Top suggestions: Trichaptum biforme, Trichaptum abietinum, Auricularia mesenterica
September 12, 2025 at 10:25 AM
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Why have I never heard of "giraffe wood" before?

Beautiful patterns of fungal interaction.

Xylaria sp.?
A big stick is pictured with a black 'giraffe'-like pattern, with pale zones in-between black patches. The stick is being held by a person on a black T-shirt with blue mushrooms on. The words read zlot grupy, Grzyby, grsybiarze, grzy-something.
September 11, 2025 at 6:56 PM
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Little experiment!

Here are the iNaturalist photo recognition results for my photo, using the app in Poland.

Will report back later on results from UK!
Screenshot from the iNaturalist app photo recognition screen, analysing the photo at the top of this thread. Results read: We're pretty sure it's in the genus Trichaptum. Top suggestions: Trichaptum biforme, Trichaptum fuscoviolaceum, Trichaptum abietinum.
September 11, 2025 at 6:25 PM
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The UK record on GBIF is a research grade iNaturalist observation - and there are a few more not research grade observations there.

I wonder if some of these are the product of photo recognition. Or people sort of recognising it - like I thought I did!
A mobile phone screenshot of the iNaturalist app, showing a grid of Trichaptum biforme observations. At the top the stats read 18 observations, 1 species, 18 observers, 2 identifiers.
September 11, 2025 at 6:18 PM
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My last day today on the Polish Mycological Society foray.

Interesting thing about foraying abroad is seeing species you think you sort of recognise, but they are not the one you know.

Here is Trichaptum biforme, growing on Betula.
A decaying birch log, partially covered in moss, has a pinkish-purple bracket fungus growing on it. Background is a woodland floor with deciduous leaves and pine needles.
September 11, 2025 at 5:56 PM
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Some nice things that weren't fungi, on the Polish Mycological Society foray today:

Maianthemum bifolium berries
A stripey gall
Big frog!
A spray of purple berries is pictured against green pointed leaves. The background is a woodland floor with sticks and other plants. A brown oak leaf is being held between finger and thumb. On the leaf there is a round growth, a gall, with red and beige stripes in concentric circles. In the bottom left quandrant of this image sits a frog with stripey legs and a dark diamond shaped patch by its eye. The background is sticks and leaves: a woodland floor, against which the frog is somewhat camouflaged.
September 10, 2025 at 8:42 PM
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The dry conditions are good for seeing slime moulds.

Shame I don't know what any of them are. But Polish slime mould expert is coming tomorrow, so we will have something to show her.

There is also a slime mould sampling campaign under the Fun-Dive project.

▶️ fun-dive.eu/en/get-invol...
Tiny dusky pink sporangia of a slime mould are pictured under a hand lens. The ones on the left are partially mature - tight at the bottom and springy-looking at the top. The one in the middle has gone full frizz-bomb. A tiny round organism (not more than 2mm in diameter) is pictured under a magnifying hand lens. It has a rough dark grey-brown surface and there is a small opening at the top, like the outer surface has ripped open slightly.
September 10, 2025 at 8:24 PM
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By the stream we passed another species of Pholiota.

I did not realise there are so many species of yellow Pholiota.

I was told this one looked to be from Pholiota sect. Adiposae; possibly P. limonella? (To be investigated).
A clump of scaly egg-yolk yellow mushrooms are growing from the top side of a fallen tree trunk. In the background is a woodland scene with a stream running through it.
September 10, 2025 at 8:15 PM
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Polish Mycological Society foray: Day 3.

The scheduled site for today was a coniferous nature reserve and the dry conditions continue...

Still, managed to find a Geastrum in the car park that will go to the Fun-Dive project.

▶️ fun-dive.eu/en/get-invol...
Two earthstars are nestled amongst leaf litter and grass. You can see the rays of the lower on are splayed open. The one above is still partially enclosed. A collection of earthstars are laid out on a squared notebook with a pair of tweezers holding one at an angle, so you can just see the neck that attached the round part of the fungus to the star-shaped base. The upper part of an earthstar is pictured under a hand lens, showing the pointed peristome at the top.
September 10, 2025 at 8:04 PM
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As I just published an article about this species (recently new to Britain) in Field Mycology, I was pretty thrilled to encounter Sporophagomyces chrysostomus this afternoon (in Poland).

Read more about this species here ▶️ doi.org/10.63482/dtr...
A woman's smiling face is pictured behind the underside of a Ganoderma bracket fungus, in the background you can see the green forest canopy above. The pale white-cream pore surface of a Ganoderma bracket fungus is pictured with a pale pinkish brown feather-like fungus growing from the edge at the top of the picture.
September 9, 2025 at 10:17 PM
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Conditions still very dry here so the bracket fungi (wood rotters and their associates) are really stealing the show.

This one smelled amazing - like anise - Gloeophyllum odoratum. (Also known as Osmoporus odoratus, but I see that name is not yet preferred in Index Fungorum).
A brown bracket fungus with orange margin is growing on a fallen trunk of a coniferous tree (indicated by a few branches sticking out sharply. The ground around is covered in green moss. A vivid orange, almost egg-yolk yellow bracket fungus in close-up. Growing on a dead log which has strands of green moss growing on it.
September 9, 2025 at 10:11 PM
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Beautiful Fomitopsis pinicola in a Polish pine forest today, with very impressive guttation.

Also observed (not quite so photogenic), it's associate: Pycnoporellus fulgens.
In the foreground, three shapely red-brown bracket fungi with cream coloured margins are perched on the trunk of a decorticated pine tree. Droplets of water hang on the margins, glistening in the sunlight. The background is a forest scene. A somewhat shapeless stack of orange brackets, of the species Pycnoporellus fulgens, are nestled in the top of a lichen-adorned pine stump. The background is a forest scene.
September 9, 2025 at 10:05 PM