The weather in Wales this winter has been unseasonably mild in temperature and extremely wet, which provided an ideal environment for fungi thrive. I set off to Hensol Forest in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales to study and photograph the fungi growing there.

For me Fungi are facinating in so many ways. They are spore bearing eukaryotic organisms  (meaning their cells contain complex structures enclosed within membranes)  which vary from plants because they have cell walls that contain chitin as opposed to cellulose so obtain their organic food ready-made. To do this saprophytic fungi can utilise dead plant and animal products or parasitic fungi can attack living animals or plants. Some can have a symbiotic relationship with their host, for example Lichens, where a fungus and alga create a new structure.  Mycorrhizas or “fungus roots” of many plants work where the fungus and plant exchange sugar, water and minerals which the other has trouble absorbing, breaking down or reaching. This relationship can be essential to the ecosystem and has been known to create a huge underground network linking vast areas of forest together.

Fungi have also been hugely important to human life, not only as a food source, but also as a medicine, for example penicillin derived from a green mould. Yeast is used worldwide in the making of bread and alcoholic drinks as is mould in the production of many types of cheese, soy and surprisingly in some citric acids and gluconic acid by using the black mould Aspergillus niger.

The landscape in and around Hensol forest varies greatly from dense deciduous woodland to large cattle grazed fields, dark coniferous woodland, undulating hills and small lakes so I managed to find a good variation of fungi. There were brightly coloured toadstools, carpets of ghostly white puff balls and shelves of mustard yellow mushrooms to be discovered. Some were easy to find, others were more inconspicuous, hidden under leaves or pine needles or at the base of trees in a tangle brambles and branches.