Whilst trying to find inspiration for an easy activity for Chichester Tree Wardens to run (I'm probably too late, unless anyone simply wants a walk and to keep fingers crossed for fungi and finding out about them together), I stumbled across this comic strip explaining how we rely on fungi in our everyday lives.

"It is worth reflecting that "Over 80% of land plants rely on mycorrhizal fungi to obtain nutrients and water. Mycorrhizal fungi are a critically important component of the microbial community that determines how plants interact with the soil and with other plants. Because of this important role of mycorrhizae, anything that changes the mycorrhizal fungus community can also change the plants that grow there." ( Smithsonian Environmental Research Centre, in studing the effect of earthworms ).

At an Arboricultural Association webinar earlier this year, fungi experts stressed how important it is NOT to use miccorrhizal products, as we simply do not know what fungi is in them and, just like other species, there is a risk of introducing invasive (and invisible below ground) fungi which outcompete members of the existing fungal community and consequently affect whether or not species which rely on them thrive. Find the recording of that 31st March 2021, Fungi Symposium, Session 3  (for now for free) on the Arb Assoc's YouTube channel along with the whole of the associated Fungi Symposium (as pay on demand) and listen to the experts  Anne Pringle , Jenni Nordén and Lynne Boddy , explain.

Paula Chatfield, volunteer Chichester Tree Warden), 28th September 2021

Photo taken Thursday 1st April 2021 (Paula Chatfield). Fallen wood at Hook Dyke, Whitehouse Farm.