Wild Mushrooms 2024

I will start you with some Ruby Bolete (I think) that have just appeared in our lower garden. These are fairly rare mushrooms in the UK and as they also have a soapy taste they are best left for photographs.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5n242mCeH5RjCGEE9

OK, not a mushroom but found the biggest fly agaric I’ve ever seen the other day – about a foot across

I thought Fly Agaric/Amanita Muscaria was a mushroom, looks like one to me anyway.

I’ve seen a few common puffballs coming up in some woodland near me, may go try some. It’s always a nice feeling the morning after eating wild mushrooms when I awake to find I am still alive.

Went out with my girlfriend and her daughter at the weekend, mushroom hunting. About 5 kilos of mixed Karl Johan, Kanterell (about 3.5 kilos), early Trattkantarell and Taggsvamp.
All prepped and ready to eat now.

Can confirm that Fly Agaric is a mushroom. And that one is a big ‘un!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_muscaria

Not much room left in your trug if you forraged that fly agaric.

any tips on figuring out whether a wild mushroom will be decent? there’s loads in our woods, just use google lens to figure it out?

GoogleLens is what I used for the first one. No idea if it is correct though

just use google lens to figure it out?

Yeah you’ll be fine..remember to save a few for the coroner ?

Cycling over the top towards Wycoller this morning, there were some ‘wheel estate’ types in the fields, stooped over, clearly foraging for ‘special’ mushrooms…

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipOvoRWXDOu5JesIG0J1-ar8t9QU5qMxf9EPhJK7

in gwydir forest over bank holiday and found chanterelles, which were mostly past it, tawny grisette and possibly plums and custard

just use google lens to figure it out?

What could possibly go wrong?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/01/mushroom-pickers-urged-to-avoid-foraging-books-on-amazon-that-appear-to-be-written-by-ai

Had good chanterelles this year and really good hedgehogs, it’s been a bit meh for bolletes so far here.

Saw a fair few common puffballs growing about 6’ away from a main road, on the way out of aberdeen on Monday.
at tullos, if you know the area.
never seen any in such a well trafficked area before.

Some beauties are starting to appear… But not for eating.

any tips on figuring out whether a wild mushroom will be decent?

Always cross reference your identifications with at least 3 reliable sources of fungi information. We will not be held responsible for stupid people who break the number 1 rule of foraging! NEVER EAT ANY WILD MUSHROOM OR PLANT UNLESS YOU ARE 100%SURE OF WHAT IT IS AND THAT IT IS EDIBLE. 99% SURE IS NOT ENOUGH

Wild Mushrooms for Beginners

There penty of FB group’s for you to post your find to, an app is useful but shouldn’t be relied upon, and book to help you learn would be good.

Yeah, not something to do casually while relying on’t web, either, especially as Google is now presenting AI generated images of mushrooms: https://www.reddit.com/r/mycology/comments/1fkm59w/google_snippets_using_ai_generated_images_of/?share_id=iLojRP0YprANX-VB2vSHF

I’ve also surprised a couple of foragers on a local hill in the past – there seems to be a bit of a group of them that rotate through multiple hillsides around here at this time of year. I’m not sure if they’re super-keen amateurs or collecting for restaurants, but they’re not exactly chatty…

NEVER EAT ANY WILD MUSHROOM OR PLANT UNLESS YOU ARE 100%SURE OF WHAT IT IS AND THAT IT IS EDIBLE. 99% SURE IS NOT ENOUGH

Pah. You can eat any mushroom.

Some, you can eat more than once.

I like to forage a bit but there are very few mushrooms I will take, and even then not without checking again. Mostly ‘cos I never seem to find any at all, but heyho.

It’s not just mushrooms to check… Just the other week I found some nice mint, took some home and made mint tea for me and my wife. Later that evening I decided to look up what type of mint it was and discovered Pennyroyal, a poisonous type of mint. Cue a mild panic until further research turned up that a) pennyroyal tea is not so bad and b) it probably wasn’t pennyroyal, though I still don’t know what it was.

Oops. Lesson learnt.

Some from our recent camping trip. Screenshots from Instagram

I’ve also surprised a couple of foragers on a local hill in the past – there seems to be a bit of a group of them that rotate through multiple hillsides around here at this time of year. I’m not sure if they’re super-keen amateurs or collecting for restaurants, but they’re not exactly chatty…

If it is a grassy hill then they are probably looking for Psilocybe Semilanceata, would explain why they aren’t chatty anyway, they’re trying to suss out if you’re “cool” or not.