Description

This full day course is for the novice forager wishing to learn more about the wonderful world of mushrooms beyond "Can I eat it?". Fungi are so much more than just a wild food source and all the different families and species found along the way will be looked at.

The course is run from the idyllic grounds of Kidbrooke Park in East Sussex. We will be looking for mushrooms, brackets and other types of weird and wonderful fungi that you can hope to find at this time of year. We will also show you how to identify key trees and plants that can help in identifying which species you’ve found. A foraged lunch and refreshments are provided and will be something wild mushroom based and although our focus will not be harvesting for food we will undoubtedly have some edible species to try at the end of the day too.

You will get to explore the many and varied habitats at this location under the guidance of experienced forager James Grant. James will show you how to approach the subject of fungi collecting for identification and how to go about identifying some of the species that can be recognised by eye and using a field guide.

Sessions

The day is split into four sessions with two 30 minute brew breaks and 1 hour for lunch.

1. Alder & Willow carr - Waterside banks, woodland bogs. You will start the day looking along stream edges and in boggy areas where the tree species are mostly Willow, Alder & Birch and you will learn how tell the difference. You can expect to find the wood rotters here with lots of fallen branches and increased moisture content. These are often areas that have been undisturbed for a long time due to the poor potential for agriculture - so great for fungi!
2. Meadow/pasture - The grass dwelling species (and woodland rogues!) 
3. Mixed woodland - With mostly native trees in a balanced eco-system this kind of habitat holds a vast amount of different species in varying abundance. To set you off on the best path you'll learn to Identify the most common native trees and their commonly associated fungi to give you a bite size chunk of what is really a vast subject... that keeps getting bigger... 
4. Coniferous woodland - Monoculture plantations hold fewer species but can often show in far greater numbers than in mixed woodland offering an increased chance of a prime specimen for a perfect photo. 

Skills covered

• Fungi habitat recognition
• Fungi field ID
• Tree ID
• Specimen collection
• Fungi photography

Fungi Foray and Identification Day

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