The Fungi of My Land - how many are there?

I am blessed to live on a wonderful piece of land.

Seventeen acres of beautiful Welsh countryside.

That land is green and bountiful and full of nature.

That nature is massive and varied. From the mighty oaks to the tiniest bugs.

I love to listen to the bird song. I am fascinated by the little bugs and creatures that scuttle through the grass. And the plants just intrigue me.

One part of nature that I have so far let pass me by are the fungi.

They have always been there lurking on the dead wood and in the damp and dark places. But I have never paid them any attention.

Then when I was out walking last week I spotted a beautiful bright red mushroom underneath a big old beech tree.

I looked closely and realised how absolutely beautiful it was. And just beyond it was another mushroom - a different type - this time an orangey floppy hat type mushroom.

Then as I continued my walk I started looking more intently and found more - different shapes, different colours.

In one hour walk I found eight different fungi. I was amazed how many I found.

That got me thinking.

I wonder how many different species of fungi are there on my 17 acres?

Are there 50, 500, 5000....

I really want to know more about this wondrous fungi. I've bought the Collins Gem Mushrooms book as an easy start point and that will be in my pocket now when I'm out walking. Hopefully I can identify some of these now.

I will start counting...