Bertie the Brown Birch Bolet - Diary entry No.6

Bertie the brown birch bolet

It was quite chilly this morning when we got to Bertie's secret location at about 11.30a.m. He was basking in the bright sunshine, but the air temperature was a crisp 11.7 degrees Celsius. I brought a thermometer and have left it in the forest in an attempt to check the temperature range during the day and night.

Bertie is still growing but not a great rate. I fear the damage to his stalk may have caused irreparable damage but I shall continue to monitor his progress. The measurements are as follows; the cap measures in 40mm diameter and he is about 62mm tall.

There was a great spurt of growth in the mushrooms of the various forests over the last day or so. We managed to fill two small boxes as we searched carefully along the forests edge, and a few meters inside the perimeter where the sunlight's influence can still be felt. Among the ferns and birch stumps I managed to find an absolute monster of a birch bolet with a cap measuring just over 150mm in diameter. I do not believe Bertie will achieve this size. He currently has a narrow stalk which I have observed on a number of medium size birch bolets. Some of these smaller varieties do not grow to a great size but develop a swollen convex cap with nutty brown colouring.

Corinne with Il Mostro the brown birch bolet

Not far from Bertie I have discovered "Big Ben", a birch bolet which is very young, but is already 30mm in diameter and just over 30mm tall. He is not disimilar in shape to a penny bun bolet at this stage. The fleshy stalk is quite broad and in excess of 25mm in diameter, even though Big Ben has only just worked his way through the mossy glade. The thich stalk and deep brown colouring of the stalk do suggest that he may belong to a variety of birch bolet that will grow to a significant size.

Big Ben the brown birch bolet