Below are Amazon links to my three books on foraging. Hedgerow is published on the 3rd of August this year.

Welcome to my web site which supports the forays I run in Dorset, Devon, Hampshire and elsewhere.

I take about two dozen mushroom forays each year and also many seaside and hedgerow forays. Details of all of these are on the Forays, Events page.

Most are run through the Kingcombe Centre in Dorset or River Cottage in East Devon and a few other organisations but I also run my own which have always been in the New Forest. These have proved very successful and I have had to release a new date for this year:

Saturday 16th October, New Forest - FULL

Sunday 17th October, New Forest - FULL

Sunday 31st October, New Forest  - FULL

Friday 15th October, New Forest - new date available! (Fridays are awkward for many people but the best day of the week to go foraging - you get there first!)

If you would like to come along on please download and fill in this form (doc format) and send it to me with a cheque. More details here.

The cost is £80 per person, £15 for children. The number is restricted to about 16 people so it is quite cosy. The day includes a very good lunch!

It has been a dry spring and I have seen very little in the way of fungi this year. The recent rain should bring a few of the early species up - look out for Oyster Mushrooms on fallen beech trees - watch out for maggots though - it is notorious for them. Also a friend has just told me he found some Giant Puffballs - June is very early for them so this is an exciting find.

Announcement: My new book “Hedgerow” is due out on August 3rd - it is a mushroom-free zone dealing with over sixty edible plants and, to help you stay safe, a dozen or so poisonous species. And a lot of recipes including my proudest moment - Elderflower Delight!

Also I have contributed a chapter on foraging for mushrooms in a book to be published in the summer by the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh - it is a gloriously glossy book entitled “From Another Kingdom” and is designed to provide an extensive introduction to the fungal world. More details of this later.

John

Warning: Eating wild fungi can be a wonderful way of enjoying the fruits of nature, but if you get it wrong you may kill yourself. Before you eat anything please read this.