Fungi are more than just mushrooms and toadstools, which are the easy-to-spot parts of fungi. Underneath the surface where they are spotted lies a network of thin threads called hyphae. The collective name for fungal hyphae is the mycelium which can sometimes be discovered when you break off a decaying tree stump. The toadstools or mushrooms are the fruit bodies of fungi which produce and disperse spores.

Many fungi decompose wood and recycle nutrients from dead organic matter back into the environment. Fungi form partnership with trees and help tree grow healthily: the fungus sheathes the tree roots, its hyphae spread into the soil and get in the tree's root cells. Then, the fungus gets its energy from the photosynthesis of the tree's leaves. In exchange, the tree benefits from the nitrogen and phosphorous via fungal action in the soil. It's a win-win situation! 

Some fungi parasitise insects and thrive at the expense of its unfortunate hosts. For example, caterpillar fungus or Scarlet Caterpillarclub (Cordyceps militaris) attacks caterpillars. The spores of the fungus attach to a pupa underground, absorb the host’s energy, and eventually push orange clubs above the ground, often found in summer and autumn. On Alderney, there haven’t been any records of Cordyceps militaris that we know of, but there was a record of the species in Guernsey on 9 November 2025!

Cool fact: In traditional Chinese medicine, some species in the genus Cordyceps (e.g. Cordyceps sinensis, also known as winter-worm summer-grass which has a pathogenic lifestyle on Lepidopteron insects) have been used for their medicinal value for centuries.

Red Cage fungus (also known as the Lattice Stinkhorn) (Clathrus ruber) was spotted by a local resident in Driffield. Initially, it looked like a small white puffball, slightly larger than a golf ball. It then emerged into a salmon/bright red latticed structure. If you sniff it, it gives off a putrid stench of rotting meat. This foul odour attracts flies, which help disperse the fungus’s spores. 

Bay Bolete (Boletus badius) has a brown cap and stipe without any net or dots. It has pale large yellow pores, bruising quickly to a blue/green. When it matures, it is greenish yellow. The stipe is 10 cm long, cylindrical often with a tapered base. It is often seen with both conifers and Beech on acid soil between August and September.

Jelly Ear (Auricularia auricula-judae) is a gelatinous fungus, shaped like a floppy ear. It is usually attached to wood of deciduous trees and shrubs, often Elder. The fruit body is up to 8 cm across.

Fairy Inkcap (Coprinellus disseminatus) is a small, very fragile inkcap found in dense, often spectacular swarms on large stumps of deciduous trees. Cap to 1.2 cm across. They are creamy buff, then greyish with an ochre centre.

Parasol mushroom (Macrolepiota procera) is a disctinctive statuesque mushroom with a long, slender stipe and wide cap that resembles a parasol. It can be found in grass, often on roadside verges and in clearings in deciduous woodland. 

Parasol mushroom can be found in different places on Alderney, such as the churchyard, Tourgis Hill or Mannez football field. The earliest record of Parasol that we received this year was spotted in Blue Bridge on 23 September.