Diary of a Brown Birch Bolet - Leccinum Scaber

Autumn brings great visible change in Ireland as the leaves of the many deciduous trees turn from green to orange, red and yellow ochres bringing great colour to the countryside. Although we did not have too many hot days this Summer, the temperatures begin to steadily decline from late September in tandem with the reduction in daylight hours; sunrise is just after 7 a.m. and sunset at about 18.15. With thick cloud cover the daylight hours can be shortened dramatically.

As the leaves begin to fall, and the average temperature declines, the ground becomes wet and mosses and all kinds of mushrooms begin to thrive in a rich environment. For the last four weeks I have tramped through a number of small birch forests, enduring the thorny briers and heavy undergrowth as I went. I was attempting to find mushrooms from the Boletaceae family, many of which are edible.

It is important from the outset to state that mushrooms and fungi look great, and add colour and interest to the forest floor at this time of year. I have gone mushroom hunting with friends on a number of occasions and have a familiarity with a number of varieties. However, I am not an expert and as such I will not pick, touch or eat anything I have not identified with absolute certainty. That is the golden rule.

My interests were aroused when a friend had been on an organised mushroom hunt in Wicklow and had found quite a few bolets. This spurred me on to check out some woods nearby and see if I could find some bolets locally without having to travel to Wicklow. We were quite lucky and found two types of edible birch bolet; the leccinum scaber and leccinum aurantiacus.

A magnificent oxidised birch bolet or leccinum oxybile discovered on mossy ground in an open area of a birch forest

Since then Corrine and myself have worked through a number of small woods every weekend and have found a number of locations where the mushrooms tend to grow. I have always associated the bolet with damp mossy spaces. From previous mushroom hunts I never considered "aspect", and invariably we found our mushrooms on the southern edge of the forests growing in mossy areas with a little protective cover from briers or the odd fern. This is probably because these areas benefit from the warmth of direct sunlight encouraging growth.

It was also interesting to see that they are quite solitary fungi, and will not be found in close proximity to other mushrooms. This is rather convenient because I would not be confident picking and eating a bolet that was growing close to a mushroom from the russulacaeae family for fear there might be some cross contamination.

We did a quick sweep of the woods on Saturday and collected enough mushrooms for a risotto and a lasagne; they taste very good and are well worth the effort. I did another sweep of the woods this afternoon and collected four good specimens and also spotted a few young bolets in the woods. I found one very small mushroom at about 16.30 and decided to leave it in its mossy tuft as an experiment and to answer a few questions that were on my mind. How quickly do they grow? How does the stem and cap develop? How long does it take to grow to full size?

The distinctive brown cap of a young bolet in the moss to the left of the coin

This could be a very short experiment, and indeed one of the shortest diaries ever kept, but I think it is worth the effort. The bolet is about a day old at a guess, and from the photograph you will note the deep nutty brown cap is just a little smaller than a 5 cent coin. It is difficult to be certain about the variety of bolet at this early stage but identification should become more definite over he next day or so. From the colouring of the cap at present it appears to be a boletus scaber.

These mushrooms are quite sensitive to cold temperatures. Consequently, if there is a cold snap in the next few days the experiment might be brought to an abrupt end. Another real threat to the experiment is the fact that slugs feed upon the bolet mushroom and it is entirely conceivable that the mushroom [yet to be named] may be eaten within a day or so. In the interests of science, I have not taken any measures to protect, interfere with, or assist the development of the little bolet. I am satisfied to let nature take its course, and hopefully nobody will find the little guy and chop him up for an omelette.

Having checked the projected weather forecasts for the next 7 days, temperatures will only begin to drop on Monday morning where just before dawn temperatures are predicted to be in the region of 6 degrees Celsius. Tuesday and Wednesday have been forecasted to have similar temperatures, so I am hopeful the diary might last into next week.

Over the last two days the mushroom has broken through the mossy cover; a period where daytime temperatures have been in the region of 14 degrees Celsius or slightly more where there was direct sunlight. Last night temperatures dropped to 8 degrees Celsius, however tonight and tomorrow morning should be warmer as a front comes in bringing with it thicker cloudcover and wind. As I have stated the last two days have been quite stable with nice weather and good spells of sunshine. The barometric pressure has also risen from 1010 to 1018 over the period, however I believe this will begin to drop quite soon.

After very little thought, (basically the time it has taken to type the last paragraph) I have decided to call this brown birch bolet "Bertie". I am due to go away on the 28th of October, and hopefully by that stage some of the questions will be answered and Bertie's fate will be known. I hope you will take an interest in Bertie and monitor his progress over the next few days.