You may have noticed that NatureSpot is reviewing and updating its fungi galleries, starting with the most commonly recorded gill fungi.  More...

We are checking and reverifying past records as well as updating the Recording Advice and Red-Amber-Green ratings. Do please bear with us while the review continues - it’s a long term project but we are aiming to have finished in time for the main fungi season in late summer.  

It is difficult to verify fungi from photographs (however good) without additional comments about size, host, texture, smell and sometimes taste - in other words, use all of your senses! In our revised fungus galleries you will find more about this additional information that is needed to verify species – the information should be added into the notes field when you submit your records.

We’re fortunate to be able to refer to two fantastic sets of source books that have recently been published. Geoffrey Kibby’s excellent 4 volumes of the Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain & Europe (2020–2023) is the most comprehensive guide to UK fungi that we know of and is beautifully is illustrated with his paintings as well as having diagrams of spores and other microscopic features used in ID. Læssøe and Petersen’s 2-volume Fungi of Temperate Europe (2019) is filled with wonderful photographs of strange and fantastic species, and is constant source of inspiration. We can’t recommend them too highly!