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Pony near Hampton Ridge
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Southern Bracket Fungus (Ganoderma Australe)

Southern Bracket fungi growing on beech
Southern Bracket fungi
growing on beech

Ganoderma Australe fungi - also called Ganoderma Adspersum in some field guides, and sometimes known as the Southern Bracket Fungus) are unmistakable! Well, almost. They are common and widespread in the New Forest, are present all the year round, so visitors to the local woodlands have plenty of opportunities to become familiar with the species, and are often of considerable size - up to 60 centimetres across and 30 centimetres thick.

A parasitic, inedible fungus usually found on beech trees, the Southern Bracket Fungus has, however, been recorded in the New Forest on birch, alder, oak and pine. Its upper surface is dark brown with a distinctive hard, knobbly surface; the lower surface is white or pale yellow; in the growing season, the edge is usually white; whilst in late summer, reddy-brown spores often lie conspicuously thickly on top of the cap and on the wood above and below it.

Some potential for confusion does exist, however, for the Southern Bracket Fungus has close relatives that live locally: Ganoderma pfeifferi - the Beeswax Bracket - and Ganoderma resinaceum have both been noted, but are less common than the Southern Bracket.

 

Warning: refer to a good, comprehensive fungus field guide to confirm identification, and only eat those species known without any doubt whatsoever to be edible - people have died after eating certain poisonous specimens.

 

References:
Mushrooms and other Fungi of Great Britain and Europe - Roger Phillips
The Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and North-western Europe - Marcel Bon
Fungi of Britain and Europe - Stefan Buczacki and John Wilkinson
The MacDonald Encyclopedia of Mushrooms and Toadstools - Giovanni Pacioni
Fungi of the New Forest: A Mycota - Edited by Gordon Dickson and Ann Leonard
A Passion for Mushrooms - Antonio Carluccio
Hampshire Fungus Recording Group

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** New Forest ponies and other animals**
The New Forest
Commoners' ponies, cattle, pigs, sheep and donkeys are a popular part of the New Forest scene, but during 2019 agisters attended 159 road traffic accidents involving these animals, a small but disappointing increase on the 154 accidents attended in 2018.

Sadly, 58 animals were killed - 35 ponies, 13 cows, 8 donkeys and 2 sheep, whilst a further 32 were injured - 3 pigs, 9 donkeys, 11 cows and 9 ponies.

(Forty-three accidents occurred in daylight, 15 at twilight and 101 in the dark. Twenty-seven accidents were not reported by the driver involved).

Here's just one horrific example - Three donkeys killed in collision with van at notorious New Forest blackspot (Advertiser and Times)
** Always take care when driving **
Content produced by Andrew Walmsley
Content produced by Andrew Walmsley