This is an exceptionally good season for fungi and records are pouring in, which poses a problem for NatureSpot. More...

Weather conditions this year have proved ideal for an explosion of fungal fruiting bodies this autumn - mushrooms, or if you prefer, toadstools. NatureSpot recorders have braved the rain and we are receiving huge numbers of records of fungi, which is exactly what we want. At the same time, many fungi are difficult to identify definitively and the process takes time. Every record received by NatureSpot is assessed and verified by an expert, and unlike fruiting bodies, fungus experts are quite thin on the ground. In addition, or mycologists are very bust people with families, jobs and lives beyond the work they do (unpaid) verifying fungus records. All of this means we have a backlog of fungus records and it takes time to look at every single one. We wish we could verify every record which is sent to NatureSpot within minutes, but although we're pretty smart, we're not artificial intelligence. Accuracy is more important in ensuring the scientific record than speed. So please be patient with us, every record we received will be looked at - it just may take a little time. So go on, send us some more records please - that's what we want. And thanks for all your hard work trudging though the mud and recording all those fantastic fungi.

Photo: Yellow Stagshorn, Calocera viscosa, Catherine Horrell