Country diary: Our tiny island is awash with waxcaps | Tim Earl

The bird observatory on the Calf of Man was sulking under a low cloud base as we stepped ashore at South Harbour. The dank mist was perfect for our surprise visit to the island, as it was not for the birds we had come across, but fungi – in particular, waxcaps.My wife, Liz, and I had taken the chance to accompany Nev Kilkenny, a visiting mycologist, who would help identify and study some autumn mushrooms and toadstools – and contribute to a map that is being assembled of Manx fungi.Autumn gales make visits to the Calf (off the south-west corner of the Isle of Man) difficult to plan, but Nev’s visit coincided with a calm spell, and so an impromptu expedition was arranged.Nev Kilkenny at work. Photograph: Tim EarlA whole kingdom of life was literally at our feet. We weaved back and forth across the fields muttering words like parrot, spangle, golden, garlic and goblet, all wonderful names of waxcaps previously found on the island. The fields were tightly cropped by sheep and rabbits, the soil bare in places – ideal conditions for unusual species. Indeed, it was at a burrow entrance that we found a date waxcap, one of Britain’s rarest fungi.The waxcaps kept coming: we found butterscotch, snowy and glutinous varieties, and over our two-day survey we identified 18 – doubling the Calf’s known waxcap species.The study of Manx fungi has had a resurgence recently. The island has four sites that qualify for the top European status (compared with just one in the whole of the Netherlands), and many areas are expected to become sites of special scientific interest for their fungi alone. Doing their bit, the Isle of Man Fungus Group, under the tutorship of Nev and Liz, has identified more than 400 species including blushing waxcap and mealy waxcap, both on the global red list for species at risk of extinction.All of which makes the map of Manx fungi – to be used at government level for conservation purposes – all the more important. Every fungal foray is a vital piece of the jigsaw. With our Calf visit done, we look forward to our next one, at the Creggans, a nature reserve set up to protect fungi.