My first proper little explore with a camera!

[BunnyMazonas]

Didn't go very far afield at all. There is a lovely churchyard right outside my house, and I felt like just having a wander through to see what I could see.

I am a total newb and do not know what ANY of this is yet, although I'm about to have a google. If anyone is able to identify any of these though, would be grateful.

Also, apologies for the lighting; it is actually daytime in these pics, but my camera sucks.




A rather large stump of an old tree that had an interesting variety of mushrooms growing on it.

















So that's it for the mushrooms.

I've seen a few of these bushes around; any idea what they are?


Are these a variety of rosehip? Because if they are I WILL be coming back to pick some:


These have a heavy chalky substance on them and the berries are rough to the touch. Each berry no larger than my fingernail



The rest of these are a complete mystery to me, at least right now.

 

[Shewie]

Pics could do with shrinking a touch

 

[malente]

Hey some good subjects there. What camera are you using, I might be able to give some pointers.

Turning off flash, and go into A or S mode and do some adjustments on the ISO and you can see instant improvements.

Most of the shots are not focussed properly. I remember my first forays into photography looking even worse!

I can PM you with some photography hints if you're interested.

Mike

 

[BunnyMazonas]

Ooh thanks, I'd appreciate that! I'm using a canon powershot a20- nothing special as far as I know.

Yeah sorry about pic size; my PC screen has a very high resolution so I sometimes forget how much bigger my pics really are!

 

[Harvestman]

Ok, the small fungi on the stump are trooping crumble cap, or fairie's bonnets. The big ones with the white lip are probably a species of Ganoderma. The big wavy one is giant polypore.

For the trees, in order
Elderberry - berries edible, the juice makes a powerful syrup
Rosehips - Edible, but see other threads about these. You need to get the seeds out before you eat them.
Blackcurrant - edible
Dunno - don't think it is a native plant, and I don't think it is edible.
Hawthorn - berries edible but tough and unappealing. They need a lot of cooking
Yew - everything about yew is poisonous, except the red fleshy bit around the seeds, and they aren't worth eating because of the risk of taking in a seed, which is extremely toxic. Leave well alone.

 

[stuart f]

Dunno - don't think it is a native plant, and I don't think it is edible.

I was thinking Oregon grape,but the leave shape is not quite right.I do think its a Berberis sp. of some sort,the nearest shaped leave i can find is Berberis fendleri
,Colorado Barberry.

CheersStuart.

 

[Geoff Dann]

Bunny

The brown/white bracket fungus is some sort of Ganoderma. The large groups of little fungi are Coprinus disseminatus or "trooping crumble cap".

Geoff

 

[BunnyMazonas]

Ooh, thank you for the info!

Elderberry - berries edible, the juice makes a powerful syrup
Rosehips - Edible, but see other threads about these. You need to get the seeds out before you eat them.
Blackcurrant - edible
Dunno - don't think it is a native plant, and I don't think it is edible.
Hawthorn - berries edible but tough and unappealing. They need a lot of cooking
Yew - everything about yew is poisonous, except the red fleshy bit around the seeds, and they aren't worth eating because of the risk of taking in a seed, which is extremely toxic. Leave well alone.

Elderberry; I had hoped that is what it was!
Rosehips; excellent. I've made candied rosehips from the rosehips in my own garden before.
Blackcurrant; are you certain? If so, I may go and pick some.

As for the others, thank you for the ID. Will leave those as they are. I didn't know yew, but suspected it wasn't edible, as that tree is home to a huge family of squirrels and I would've expected it to have been picked clean if it was safe.

The mushrooms; thanks for the ID on those. Trooping crumble cap- is that a form of ink cap, or am I completely off base?

The ganoderma; I've looked online since you mentioned it. Could it be Ganoderma pfeifferi? It is white-ish underneath and brown on top, which looks like some photos I've seen of that variety.

 

[Harvestman]

Ganoderma is exceptionally hard to sort reliably to species. I know I can't do it.

And yes, I'm pretty confident about the Blackcurrants. Easy test: Bite one. If it tastes like a blackcurrant, you are quids in; if it doesn't, spit it out.

 

[Geoff Dann]

Bunny

Harvestman is bang on the money about trying to identify ganodermas to species; unless you are a mycologist, don't even try. Yes, coprinus are inkcaps.

 

[BunnyMazonas]

Thank you both!

I wasn't aware ganoderma were that tricky a variety; as you can probably tell I am extremely new at this! Still, doesn't stop it being fun trying.

As for the berries, I am a happy bunny now. May have a nice bit of foraging to do after work tommorrow.

 

[Geoff Dann]

You can actually eat the trooping crumble cap too, although it's hardly worth bothering with.

 

[Toddy]

If the leaves smell like blackcurrant the bush is, iimmc

I'm very fond of yew berries, I find them a very sweet fruit munchy. However, I am *always* careful.
I was taught that Yew is a tongue and palate and lips only fruit, no teeth involved, and the stone gets spat straight out.
Makes a lovely pie too
Fergus the Forager gives a recipe, link on this thread.
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45845

The berries aren't ripe up here yet.

cheers,
Toddy