Scarlet Waxcap - Hygrocybe coccinea

Cap 2 to 4 cm. A small, red fungus with a domed cap and orangey-red gills  The cap is dry or slightly greasy, with a minutely nodulous texture (use a land lens). Stem (stipe) same colour as cap at the top, orange towards the base, and smooth in texture. Spore print white. 

There are several other similar red waxcaps.  Hygrocybe punicea is usually larger, with a bluntly conical/umbonate cap, and is a blood-red or dark-red colour, rather than bright scarlet, and with a white base to the fibrillose stipe.

This is a difficult fungus to identify from field photos.  Your notes should include a description of the cap and stipe texture (dry/greasy/sticky; smooth/ nodulose/fribrillose)

On soil in short or mown grass.

Late summer and autumn

Occasional but widespread in Britain.

Occasional in Leicestershire and Rutland.