I hadn’t seen a Fly Agaric in the Forest for years, probably from that time before Covid. I also believed that they were only to be found near Silver Birch.
I found one a few days ago, no Birch in sight, so that goes to show the accuracy of my inherited knowledge. I will now expect them anywhere.
The white ‘spots’ which one associates with it are remnants of the universal veil which fully enclosed the developing fungus. They can be washed off in the rain so sometimes it will just look like a burnished crimson hat on a stalk which probably (I’m very cautious now of absolutes) will carry a little skirt, again a remnant of a veil.