Q&A – Page 24 – Hoopoe

Mycologist Geoffrey Kibby on childhood discoveries, woodchip mulch, and his long time passion for the genus Russula

Geoffrey Kibby, senior editor of Field Mycology, and author of two recent best-selling photographic keys to fungi – British Boletes and The Genus Agaricus in Britain – talks about how childhood discovery in a woodland wonderland led to a life spent mushrooming…

What first attracted you to the curious world of fungi, and what are your mycological credentials?

I have been mushrooming for over 45 years; as a boy of 13 I was convalescing from some surgery and was staying in a cottage very close to the Queen’s estates at Sandringham in Norfolk. Opposite the cottage was a large area of fenced-in woodland with “Private, property of HM the Queen” on a gate. Like any self-respecting schoolboy I completely ignored the sign and climbed over the fence and into what I can only describe as a wonderland. A damp, mossy conifer wood, dripping with lichens and ferns and with fungi everywhere. I still remember the first fungus I was ever consciously aware of, a beautiful, small and intensely violet toadstool (Laccaria amethystea) and I thought I had never seen anything so amazing, so magical. I soon purchased my first book, the Observer’s Book of Mushrooms, and quickly realised that I needed a bigger book! I have been collecting and writing about them ever since.

For most of that 45 years I have been a member of the British Mycological Society and for the last 12 years have been the Senior Editor of the journal Field Mycology which deals with all aspects of mycology (the study of fungi). For about six years I lived in the USA and was at one time the President of the New Jersey Mycological Association. I have published numerous books on fungi including general field guides as well as more specialist monographs.

Your recent publications on British Boletes and The Genus Agaricus in Britian have become instant bestsellers. Who are they aimed at and what can the reader expect from them?

My specialist books are aimed at the enthusiastic amateur all the way up to the specialist – usually people who realise that the popular field guides are not sufficient to tackle some of the larger or more difficult groups of fungi. I have tried to make them more user-friendly than the traditional identification keys, often using a synoptic system whereby the reader only has to decide on 6 or 7 principal characters before attempting to key out the particular species. My keys include lots of illustrations to aid the reader in making these decisions. In some cases a microscope is required but the techniques needed are not that difficult and of course a microscope opens up a whole new world of wonderment in all areas of natural history, not just in mycology!

Generally, what part do fungi play in the world’s ecosystems?

Without fungi to digest and break down the decaying organic matter in our woods and fields the world would soon be swamped in enormous depths of fallen twigs, leaves and other debris. Most trees are dependent on fungi and form specialised symbiotic relationships with them, they cannot grow well without them and vice versa. Other fungi of course are parasitic and attack other organisms (including ourselves…) and many others have strange life cycles which we scarcely understand at all and this all adds to our fascination with them.

We’re in fungi season now – to what extent are there annual changes in the fungi ‘populations’ throughought the UK, and is there any way in which fungi acts as an indicator of wider environmental changes?

In recent years there have been enormous ‘invasions’ of new fungi and as the climate has changed we have seen corresponding changes in the way fungi behave and fruit. Our penchant for covering the world in woodchip mulch has paved the way for numerous exotic species to come into the country. Some species have spread to every British county, using this newly invented habitat, within 5 years of their first discovery, an amazing colonisation by any standard.

Increased annual temperatures are affecting the way in which fungi fruit; species which formerly fruited only in the autumn are now often fruiting twice a year in both spring and autumn. Others which were specialists in fruiting only in the spring, such as the common and deliciously edible morel have been appearing as late as November or even January!

Do you have a favourite mushroom?

Almost an impossible question to answer, but I certainly have favourite groups. The boletes have been a favourite since my childhood as they are for many other mycologists. Their large size and often bright, exotic colours are very appealing and they are relatively easy to identify also, hence my recent book on the subject. I also have a long time passion for the genus Russula, a sometimes very difficult group with around 170 species in Britain, often of very bright colours once again and very common everywhere. I am putting the finishing touches to my ‘magnum opus’ on that group as I write this.

Can you describe a particularly interesting species, or feature of a species of a mushroom found in the UK?

Many fungi form associations with other fungi, some of which we are still in the process of discovering. Many boletes for example, particularly in the genus Suillus form associations with a group of fungi called Gomphidius. Each species of bolete seems to latch onto a particular species of Gomphidius, very specific, and we don’t really know what is going on, although the best guess is that one partner is sort of hitching a ride on the other, tapping into its associate’s ability to obtain nutrient from the particular conifer with which it grows, without having to do the work itself.

There is some great photography in the keys – I guess a mushroom is a perfect still subject for the nature photographer – is photography a hobby of yours that has grown from your work?

I have been photographing for as long as I can remember and using fungi as subjects was a natural extension of this. I now teach digital photography and the use of Photoshop to enhance and edit photographs as part of adult education courses at local colleges. Fungi are ideal subjects since they don’t run away or even sway in the breeze as wild flowers do, and of course their strange shapes and colours are wonderful subjects to try and capture.

I went mushroom hunting recently and always ended up way off a positive identification. Given the dangers of mistaken-identity, what advice would you give the amateur fungi hunter?

Start small: learn to recognise the basic groups where possible, that is half the battle. Go on as many guided mushroom walks as possible and learn from experts in the field – there is no substitute for that. Field guides can only take you so far and cannot show you all the many variations that fungi are capable of. My favourite saying is that “mushrooms don’t read the books!” Meaning that they don’t always conform in size and appearance to the illustrations in the book, they vary enormously as they age. Get as many books as you can afford, each will offer some extra information and pictures that another might lack. Finally, never, ever eat a fungus you are not confident of. All mushrooms can be eaten once but sometimes not twice……the history of mushrooming is filled with people who have eaten and become very sick or even died from making an error in identification.

On which cautionary note…

Geoffrey Kibby’s keys are available now from NHBS:

British Boletes: With Keys to Species

The Genus Agaricus in Britain

“This tiny bundle of energy in my hand…”: John Altringham talks to the Hoopoe about bats

John Altringham, author of Bats: From Evolution to Conservation, discusses the appeal of bats, what they are, and how we should think about their conservation needs.

How did you first become interested in studying bats?

I was taken to a Natterer’s bat roost, almost 30 years ago now, and saw my first bat close up. I was a research scientist in biomechanics – trying to understand evolution’s engineering problems and solutions. This tiny bundle of energy in my hand was an engineering marvel I’d never really thought about, so I went away and read about bats. However, I didn’t read just about flight and echolocation, the subjects that came immediately to mind. As a zoologist and conservationist, I read more and more widely and became increasingly fascinated. Bats became an important ‘extra-curricular’ activity, but it was many years before they displaced biomechanics in my work. However, the seeds were most definitely sown during that very first encounter.

We all know what bats are, but – what exactly is a bat?

A bat is the only flying mammal and one of nature’s few echolocators. With these ‘skills’ it has evolved and radiated into the most diverse, the most widespread and the second most speciose group of mammals on the planet. A bat is a small mammal with the lifestyle of its much bigger cousins. It lives a long time, but only produces one baby a year. It lives within often complex social units, exhibiting complex behaviours, and makes use of the landscape on a grandiose scale through the seasons. It shows a bewildering range of ways that an animal can makes its way in the world. It is an important cog in many ecosystems, as predator, pollinator, seed disperser. Its contributions to the human economies of the world are only now being determined and appreciated. Likewise its value as an indicator of the planet’s health. It is a source of endless fascination, study and appreciation.

Why do you think there is such popular interest at this time in bat detection and conservation, and what can we learn from studying their ecology?

I really think that bats sell themselves. The formation of the bat conservation movement, some knowledgeable and enthusiastic activists and some cracking documentary footage are the catalysts in the bat conservation movement – the bats themselves do the rest, if we just show the world something of them.

Bats are also surprisingly accessible. It is relatively easy, even in suburban areas, to see and hear bats, sometimes at fairly close quarters – you can’t say that about many wild mammals. They often live in close proximity to humans, you don’t have to be particularly stealthy, and they just get on with life while you watch – they have a lot to offer the casual naturalist. However, there are plenty of challenges for the more dedicated naturalist.

The need for conservation is pretty self-evident. Bats need large home ranges in connected landscapes, they rely on threatened habitats for both roosting and feeding and they are slow to recover from population setbacks. However, there are modest things we can do to help them, from practical conservation to education, which encourages widespread involvement – and success fuels further effort. Conservation needs passion and commitment – bats appear to have the charisma to generate them.

Conservation gets a big chapter in the book – it is the focus of a large and growing proportion of ecological research. There has been a lot of bridge building between research ecologists and conservation practitioners in recent years, but we still have some way to go. I’ve tried to highlight some of the issues in this chapter – evidence-based conservation is the future!

What can we learn from bats? Where do I start?! Science is all about understanding how the natural world works. Everything we learn, from the ecology of individual species to the general processes that govern the way ecosystems function, comes from the study of appropriate ‘models’. The sheer diversity of bats means that they offer useful models to study all sorts of things – just look at the topics I cover in the book.

How do you see the future for bats?

I have no idea what the future holds, for bats or the rest of biodiversity. I do think bats are among the more vulnerable animals, so looking after bats is a good way to protect other animals and plants that share their habitats. We have a growing knowledge about what we are doing wrong to our environment and what we need to do to begin to put things right. However, there is a lack of will among politicians and the ‘captains’ of commerce and industry to provide the conditions and the resources to do it. Lots of talking the talk, little walking the walk. Conservation will always be a compromise – but the balance point is far from the right place. Too many people still think of conservation in terms of what we sacrifice to achieve it, not what we gain from it. We need more objective science in conservation, alongside the passion and hard work. They provide the evidence that forces people to act and they help us to decide how to use most effectively the limited resources we have at our disposal.

NHBS stock an extensive range of bat conservation equipment, supplying a range of customers from ecological consultants needing bulk stock for a construction project, to amateur naturalists keen to investigate their local bat population and do their bit for conservation.

Browse our range of bat detection equipment

Browse our range of bat boxes

NHBS Customer Services will happily discuss your needs and advise you on the best purchase for your project.

Phone: +44(0) 1803 865913

Email: customer.services@nhbs.co.uk

Life with Birds – an interview with author Malcolm Smith

New from Whittles Publishing, Malcolm Smith’s Life with Birds: A Story of Mutual Exploitation zips around the world picking up sublime and ridiculous, sobering and frivolous facts from all its corners. Truly bulging with bird-lore, this makes for an engrossing read for all ornithology enthusiasts.

What’s your background in the bird world, and how did you first become interested in avian-human mutual relations?

I think I’ve always noticed bird/human interactions wherever I’ve been – though probably more subconsciously – until I began to think about compiling and organizing them into chapters for the book.

It’s been part of a life-long interest in birds combined with a training as a biologist, though with very limited time to pursue these interests personally when I was Chief Scientist at the Countryside Council for Wales.

From a 10ft high Jackdaw nest at Eton college and the silvery bird trills of Vivaldi’s Flute Concerto in D ‘The Goldfinch’, to the 1,728 word vocabulary of Puck, the world’s most literate budgerigar, it seems there is no bird fact left out. Have you always been an intrepid collector?

Quite the contrary, there are probably just as many examples of bird/human interactions left out of my book! I’ve tried to include examples of all the major ones and many of the more unusual, bizarre and intriguing. But I had to be selective! It would be quite possible to write a whole book on birds inspiring literature and art for example but I particularly wanted to weave an interesting story using a whole range of examples to show how widespread our links are with birds.

While parts of the book have a more light-hearted, even irreverent approach, you do take a serious look at exploitation. How do you see our relationship with birds as we move through these challenging and changing times?

I think most people will continue to be oblivious to birds, almost forgetting that they eat them regularly, make use of their feathers, see them every day on their homes and in their streets, and hear them almost constantly.

I’m pretty sure that more species will take to city life, mostly causing no problems to people. But I think I have probably underestimated the future impact of city gulls – which are taking over from city pigeons – and are likely to cause more and more summer-time injuries by attacking people. Local Authorities will soon be wishing that their docile city pigeons were back! If we don’t want a growing gull problem, we need to keep our streets very much cleaner and food discard-free, something we seem to find impossible.

Human greed knows seemingly few boundaries and it’s easy to get depressed when you witness the illegal wild bird trade first hand. Unless some of the worst offending countries start acting on their international responsibilities, it’s set to continue apace.

You have plenty of interesting stories to tell – are there any bird encounters/tales featured in this book that particularly stand out for you?

Many stand out, particularly those where I had personal experience such as a Parsi funeral or collecting eiderdown from nests. But one story that does stand out particularly is that of Honeyguides leading African tribesmen to wild bee nests. I was able to gather it from a N’dorobo tribesman in northern Kenya via an Italian ornithologist working there who translated his words for me! And next week I join them both in the isolated Mathews forested mountains in Kenya. So I will be able to follow Honeyguides with Robet Lentaaya, the tribesman concerned. It’s a practice that’s dying out.

What was special, too, was the information that he can follow three different Honeyguide species, each with a different call and different response call back from the tribesman. I can’t find any mention of that anywhere in the literature!

If a reader were to take one thing away from the experience of reading Life with Birds, what would you like that to be?

That our lives and theirs remain very strongly bound together, more closely than most people would ever imagine, even in our supposedly advanced western society.