Churchyard watch for mushrooms!
Have you ever noticed colourful mushrooms and toadstools in your local churchyard? If so, the National Botanic Garden of Wales would like to hear from you. Carmarthenshire is one of the best places in the Britain to find a group of wild fungi known as waxcaps, fairy clubs, spindles and earth-tongues. These bizarre and beautiful mushrooms come in a variety of strange shapes and vivid colours – reds, yellows, orange, green, purples and pinks – which can stand out in short mown churchyards. The Botanic Garden is helping to conserve these wonderful fungi because they are fast disappearing from farmland which is being treated with chemical fertiliser or ploughed up. Luckily, some churchyards are providing a refuge for these delicate life-forms. Their cemeteries tend to be well drained, well mown, have the grass cuttings removed and don’t have fertiliser spread on them. We want to find out where these are and contact the churches to let them know what a valuable piece of biodiversity they ...