SVIMS Spring Foray in Metchosin 2022

SVIMS President David Walde and mushroom expert Allen Szafer emerge from Park

On Saturday, April 23, SVIMS had its second local mushroom foray. Twenty-six people arrived at 10:00 pm at Metchosin Wilderness Park, Clapham Road entrance, to spend two hours in the park. Steve Strybosch and David Walde coordinated the registration and sign-in. Kem Luther and Andy MacKinnon came along to help with identification. Elora Adamson helped with the species photography and recording.

Twenty-seven mushrooms were found and IDed. You can see the list and pictures on iNaturalist.  (The exact IDs of mushrooms posted on group sites such as Mushroom Observer and iNaturalist may change after posting as experts weigh in).

One of the highlights of the foray was finding exemplars of the two common spring foraging mushrooms, an oyster mushroom and a morel. (This may be the first morel ever documented in Metchosin Wilderness Park.) The foray group also found a huge stand of another edible, mica cap.

More to come on: a Zoom talk on spring mushrooms happens on Thursday, April 28, 7 pm (see a previous post for details about the talk).

Rest for the weary and help for the curious. Sinclair answers a mushroom question.

Some event photos from Steve Strybosch. Click to enlarge.

SVIMS Spring Foray at Royal Roads

On Saturday, April 16, SVIMS had its first local, non-lichenized mushroom foray in more than two years. About two dozen people showed up at the back entrance to Royal Roads and spent two hours looking high and low for spring mushrooms. Steve Strybosch, Mel Hesz, and David Walde coordinated the registration and sign-in (and, we are happy to report, lost no one in the deep woods of suburban Victoria). Kem Luther and Andy MacKinnon came along to help with identification and Elora Adamson helped with the species photography and recording.

Fifteen mushrooms were found and IDed. You can see the list and pictures on iNaturalist.  (The exact IDs of mushrooms posted on group sites such as Mushroom Observer and iNaturalist may change after posting as experts weigh in). One of the highlights of the foray was finding the beautiful snowbank orange peel cup fungus, Caloscypha fulgens. With a little encouragement from Andy, this ascomycete put on a dazzling display of spore dispersal. See the short clip in this post, courtesy of Mike Gold.

More to come on spring mushrooms, with a foray in Metchosin on Saturday, April 23, 10 am, and a Zoom talk on spring mushrooms on Thursday, April 28, 7 pm (see previous post for details about the talk).

Looking for elusive spring mushrooms. Photo by Steven Strybosch.
Discussing mushrooms. Photo by Mel Hesz
Kem: "Keep talking, Andy. I've heard this all before." Photo by Mel Hesz

Luther and MacKinnon -Spring Mushrooms Presentation

On April 28, 2022, at 6:45 we have our “May” meeting, so watch for the e-mailed link which will come before then. Kem Luther and Andy MacKinnon will make a Zoom presentation on Spring Fungi of Vancouver Island. Note that the book Mushrooms of British Columbia mentioned in the bios on the poster is already in bookstores.