The event, organised by the Field Studies Council in conjunction with Surrey Biodiversity Information Centre, was attended by three of our group members, Ray Tantram, Dick Alder and Brian Spooner. Although they were distracted with rich displays of other interesting subjects, they enjoyed talking with many visitors and recording some summer fungi. 14 Ascomycetes and 6 Basidiomycetes were recorded. Among the Ascomycetes were powdery mildews and leaf spots on plant leaves. Interesting ones are: Erysiphe platani, on Platanus x hispanica, shoot tip leaves: Golovinomyces verbasci, on Verbascum nigrum: Podosphaera dipsacacearum, on Dipsacus fullonum: Ramularia sambucina on Sambucus nigra: Septoria cornicola on Cornus sanguinea: Septoria cymbalariae, on Cymbalaria muralis (new to Surrey, perhaps only 4th GB locality).
Also recorded on the same day were two downy mildews (non-fungi, ‘Chromista’ or Chromalveolata). Bremia lactucae, a downy mildew on a wide range of Asteraceae plants, was found on Arctium lappa. Surprisingly, this proved to be a new host record for Britain. This species was also seen on Cirsium vulgare. Peronospora potentillae was new to Surrey, found on Potentilla reptans.