Oh, how we love to go shrooming (that's mushroom foraging) in the woods. In the winter you are more limited to what you may find, but today, in Limpsfield Chart we found funnel chanterelles and birch polypore.
Lee is the expert of the family, but our eagle-eyed children are pretty good hunters. In the past they have spotted ceps, boletes, honey fungus, jelly ear, huge parasol mushrooms, chanterelles and the fly agaric mushroom which looks like a fairytale toadstool and its cousin the Panther cap (do not touch these - they are highly poisonous!)
Lee uses an app on his phone called Myco Pro, which helps identify what we have found. I wouldn't recommend touching any fungi unless you can fully identify it, some are highly poisonous.
Damp, boggy ground with fallen leaves is usually a good place to start, so woodlands are perfect. Check out the Wild Food UK Facebook page or their website to learn as much information as you can first.
If you are going to pick mushrooms make fully sure you can identify them, some look very similar. We usually cut ours at the stalk, and put them in a cloth bag or a basket as plastic bags will make them sweat.
Believe it or not - it's actually good fun hunting for them!
