Fairy ring

In English folklore, fairy rings were said to be caused by elves, fairies or pixies dancing in a circle, wearing down the grass beneath their feet.

Poet W.B.Yeats wrote of this, “…the fairies dance in a place apart, Shaking their milk-white feet in a ring,…”

Believers say fairy rings are doors into the fairies’ world, transporting people to other places or making people appear in the same place in a different time.

A fairy ring, also known as fairy circle, elf circle or pixie ring, is a ring or arc of mushrooms. The rings may grow over thirty feet in diameter. They are found mainly in forested areas, but also appear in grasslands.

Fairy rings are made of mushrooms in rings or arcs, or a ring of dark green grass. Science tells us that a fairy fungus mycelium is likely present in the ring or arc underneath. But who can say what really did happen here when human eyes were not nearby.

Fairy rings are as varied as the personalities of the faeries who as said to create it.  There are 40 to 60 mushroom species which can grow in the fairy ring pattern. The best known is the edible Scotch bonnet (Marasmius oreades), which is commonly known as a “fairy ring mushroom”.

One of the largest rings ever found is in France. It is thought to be about 800 m in diameter and over 700 years old.  On the South Downs in southern England, Calocybe gambosa has formed huge fairy rings which appear to be several hundred years old.