North Kerry Waxcap Survey 2012 - the Northern Ireland Fungus Group

Methodology
The 1:50,000 OSi maps were studied as were aerial photographs available on Google Earth
and (even better) the OSi SmartMaps Viewer available at http://shop.osi.ie/shop/. As with the
West Donegal Survey (Mitchel, 2009), another key dataset examined in advance was the
Environmental Protection Agency’s National Soils database (https://maps.epa.ie). Earlier
analysis of the waxcap surveys funded by the Heritage Council against soil type identified the
soil types more likely to support waxcaps (Table 4).
IFS SOIL type Description No Records
AminSRPT Podzols – Peaty 423
AminDW Acid Brown Earths – Brown Podzolics 131
BminSW Renzinas / Lithosols Basic 128
AminSW Lithosols / Regosols Acidic 103
MarSands Beach sands and gravels 86
AminPD Surface Water Gleys, ground water Gleys, Acidic 85
Made Man made soils 43
AeoUND Aeolian undifferentiated 41
AminPDPT Peaty gleys, acidic 24
BktPt Blanket peat 23
BminDW Grey Brown Podzolic Brown Earths, Basic 15
AminSP Shallow Surface or Ground water Gleys Acidic 14
BminPD Surface Water Gleys, ground water Gleys, Basic 6
BminSP Shallow Surface or Ground water Gleys Basic 4
AlluvMIN Mineral Alluvium 4
Table 4: National Soil Database soil categories and number of grassland fungi records from
the Co.Clare (2006), West Cork (2007) and West Mayo (2008) surveys
From this, the preference for better drained mineral soils compared to the wetter gleys or
blanket peats is marked. National soil datasets are however relatively broad scale and do take
the local complexities of soils into account and this is the scale at which fungal mycelia operate.
However, with the limitations in mind and if taken at a broad scale, such maps can help target
possible new sites and the identification of possible sites using the soils map helped
significantly in finding new sites.
Other useful datasets used were Geology available from the GSI website and the Gardens
dataset of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (http://www.buildingsofireland.ie).
The latter dataset was also digitised allowing them to be plotted in GIS for identifying possible
large estate lawns and included them in site search planning. All churches marked on the
1:50,000 maps were also digitised in a new layer to highlight their presence.
Another incredibly useful datasource is Google StreetView. This is particulary comprehensive
in Ireland and allowed me to view the sites in advance eliminating sites that were too wet or
churchyards with no lawn. Without this targeting, this survey would be a lot more difficult with
more spent driving than on the ground.
Using all these datasets, the most likely sites within each 10km square were identified and
driving routes for each survey day were planned in advance. Each site was visited for as long
as was necessary. Whilst the target groups were searched for as priority, all species of fungi
encountered were recorded. However many of these latter records were of a casual nature
and many of the species maps produced for these species are very unrepresentative as they
were only recorded if seen and were often not searched for.
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