Wanted: Hen's tooth: any form of "permission", Hertford/Bucks/Berks/Surrey, for spontaneous bouts of freedom.

[Mungo]

That remains my ONLY fallow! The closest I've been since is that one in December last year I think that grunted at me from deep in a rhododendron when I went back to the high seat we'd been sitting in all morning because I'd forgotten my gloves. Never saw a hair of it though! Still, I found a hatful of mushrooms so worth the trip!

‘A hat full of mushrooms’

Now there’s a good name for an autobiography!

 

[Pine Marten]

‘A hat full of mushrooms’

Now there’s a good name for an autobiography!

Here's the book cover:

 

[Stalker62]

Not in a million years would I have the courage to pick and eat a wild mushroom.

Am still haunted by the story of a family tragedy from years ago after a family went foraging for mushrooms.

The Dad died, Mum and two children needed kidney dialysis.

I get mine from Waitrose (other stores are available).

 

[CarlW]

Not in a million years would I have the courage to pick and eat a wild mushroom.

Am still haunted by the story of a family tragedy from years ago after a family went foraging for mushroom.

The Dad died, Mum and two children needed kidney dialysis.

I get mine from Waitrose (other stores are available).

Likewise.

'Destroying Angel' seems to be the the fungus of choice for aggrieved spinsters in 'Midsummer Murders'. I am pretty confident that I would be the idiot that picked it.

 

[Pine Marten]

Likewise.

'Destroying Angel' seems to be the the fungus of choice for aggrieved spinsters in 'Midsummer Murders'. I am pretty confident that I would be the idiot that picked it.

I have a pretty limited range, but my mother taught me to recognise the ones that her father showed her, so that's at least 120 years of a chain of knowledge transmission that has led to no mushroom related deaths so far.

 

[YoungGun]

Here's the book cover:

View attachment 206654

Are they ceps?

 

[CarlW]

I have a pretty limited range, but my mother taught me to recognise the ones that her father showed her, so that's at least 120 years of a chain of knowledge transmission that has led to no mushroom related deaths so far.

Many years ago, when I lived in Lyon, rural pharmacies offered a mushroom-checking service to their customers. Does that still exist, Pine Marten?

 

[Pine Marten]

Many years ago, when I lived in Lyon, rural pharmacies offered a mushroom-checking service to their customers. Does that still exist, Pine Marten?

A friend of mine runs a pharmacy in France and has done a few extra courses on mycology as part of her anti-poisoning training. She says it's very easy to advise people as they always come in with a basket of mixed mushrooms, which means they've potentially contaminated the whole lot. Also you can't be certain of a specific mushroom's species until you've examined the spores under a microscope. So you also need local knowledge of what grows in the area. In the same way that they know which areas locally carry Lyme's disease.

So in short, it's not a service exactly, more part of the wider pharmaceutical arsenal. But the customers think it is a service.

 

[Mungo]

Not in a million years would I have the courage to pick and eat a wild mushroom.

Am still haunted by the story of a family tragedy from years ago after a family went foraging for mushrooms.

The Dad died, Mum and two children needed kidney dialysis.

I get mine from Waitrose (other stores are available).

Ceps and chanterelles are pretty easy to identify with complete confidence - and are well worth doing so!

 

[Pine Marten]

Are they ceps?

Boletes, the smaller cousins. I found a couple of genuine ceps at the foot of one of the zipwires at Go Ape though...

 

[YoungGun]

Boletes, the smaller cousins. I found a couple of genuine ceps at the foot of one of the zipwires at Go Ape though...

You should do a swap hunt - mushrooms for deer.

 

[sh1kar]

Thats one way of creating vacancies in a syndicate I suppose.........

 

[Border]

In the fungi gathering season local fungi clubs usually have a stall at the entrance to the woods/ nearest car park where gatherers can check their finds. Most people learn 3-5 commonly occuring fungi and stick to them.

 

[Pine Marten]

You should do a swap hunt - mushrooms for deer.

Well they tend to go together. I go stalking and fund mushrooms along the way. Sometimes I have to remind myself stop scanning the forest floor for mushrooms when I'm looking for deer. But I do try and remember where they were so I can swipe them on the way back.

 

[Clydemotor]

Glad you found somewhere, can be very difficult in Surrey.