by Katie Cameron of plant & fungi protection charity, Plantlife
The autumn spectacle of multicoloured waxcaps is an important indicator of ancient grasslands that have been unploughed for decades, and which are rich in carbon and soil biodiversity.
Britain’s waxcap grasslands are considered to be some of the best in Europe but finding them can be a rare occurrence as these special habitats are declining in the UK and with them the fungi. Nature-rich grasslands cover less than 1% of the UK. The 2023 State of Nature report on the UK’s current biodiversity, revealed that over a quarter (28%) of fungi and lichens are now at risk of extinction.
Unfortunately, many of these irreplaceable grassland fungi sites continue to disappear under tree planting, new houses, intensive farming, transport infrastructure and more. It is certain that many more are also lost unseen, because of a series of interlinked issues that place the conservation of fungi far behind that of other taxa like mammals and birds.
The shortage of skilled field surveyors (mycologists) means we still have very little data describing the distribution of fungal species and when people don’t know they exist, or aren’t able to identify them, planning and development on seemingly ‘uninteresting’ but important, ancient grassland habitats may go ahead on land before we’ve been able to recognise them for what they are. Sites are lost without ever being recognised for their biodiversity.
But there are many things we can do to address this problem.
- We need government, local authority planners, and developers, to recognise that current systems regularly fail to identify sites that are important for fungi, and make sure that the impacts on our internationally important ancient grasslands are better addressed;
- We need better legal protection for fungi. For example, there are presently only 27 species protected under Section 7 of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016, compared to 51 birds and 188 invertebrates;
- We need more investment in surveying fungi before committing to land use change. That means training and employing more field mycologists, but also making more and better use of new techniques such as eDNA surveys. These surveys can identify fungi present in the soil and help to reduce our dependence on surveys during the autumn fungal fruiting season;
- We need more data. We can all help with that, by recording fungi when we see them. Even if you aren’t an expert, you can take part in Plantlife’s Waxcap Watch, which only asks for the colours of grassland fungi you see. This helps to identify sites of potential value. When the value of a site is understood and recorded, it makes it easier to fight to defend that value.
You can discover various resources to support your waxcap forays, including a free online training course called Grassland Fungi Identification and Management by signing up at https://plantlife.org.uk/waxcapwatch.
Plantlife has launched a Fungi appeal to highlight the importance of this captivating group of organisms. Plantlife’s website has further information on how to help and why fungi like waxcaps need our help more than ever.