Fungi Nature Walk - Hammond Pond Reservation

For this walk, I decided to go to the reservation by Hammond Pond, as I had seen several species of fungi here in the past. I started my walk around 5:30pm under cloudy conditions with some light rain. On my way over, I noticed some light green lichen on the trees along Beacon Street. I decided to include this organism in my observations and identified it as Fluffy Dust Lichen. This species is found commonly among the trees in this area and it was interesting to finally put a name to it. Upon entering the Hammond Pond Reservation, I first encountered a Common Greenshield Lichen. This lichen differed from the first by being smaller in size and slightly darker in color. I next found a Whitewash Lichen on a large boulder. Of the the three lichen I found on this walk, this was the lightest in color and provided the smoothest surface. It was also the only organism on this walk to not inhabit a tree. Finally, I found a colony of shelf fungi that I identified as the species Hairy Bracket. This fungus was more difficult to identify. Overall, it was relatively easy to find species of lichen, but more difficult to come across regular fungi.

Posted on October 8, 2024 03:07 AM by pecopc