A small, congenial group of naturalists met in P2 of Copeland Forest at 10 am for a Fall walk. Included in the group were 5 members of the Orillia Naturalists and 2 guests. As with most of our outings, we proceeded at a slow pace, casting our eyes around looking for what we could identify and listening for any sounds around us ( a blue jay and a red squirrel).
These multiuse trails were busy as well with other folks…dog walkers, horse riders (one with a skittish horse) and others out enjoying the forest. The previous day, there was a carload of people (mushroom pickers) carrying large baskets heading off into the woods and Barb saw some on Sunday with large pails. We knew, however, that there would still be many mushrooms left to identify since many of the most interesting ones to look at are not edible. They do, however, provide a vital service to the forest by helping the trees and by breaking down the deadfall. We also did some plant identification and discussed how some fungi are associated with certain trees.
The ecology of the forest is most fascinating.
We took a few of our mushroom finds to our resident expert, Nancy Ironside, for identification. Here are her results.
Lepiota cortinarius
Tricholomopis decora
Leptonia incana
Amanita bisporigera
Crystiderma amianthinum
Laccaria laccata
Cantharellula umbonate
Trametes versicolor
Lepista irina
All in all, it was a most pleasant outing.
Barb and Heather
