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There is nothing quite like searching for ones own food. We have an instinct to forage that goes right back those single celled ancestors of ours and we are all the poorer when we ignore it. Wandering around supermarkets can sublimate this instinct but it is a poor substitute indeed. If you haven't tried it yet I do encourage you to give it a go; it is not as scary as you might imagine.
Conservation is of concern in the fungal kingdom as in the plant and animal kingdoms. However mushrooms and toadstools are not organisms in themselves but just the reproductive parts of a larger organism consisting entirely of microscopically thin threads (mycellium) which permeate the ground or rotting wood etc. So when you pick a mushroom it is rather like picking an apple off of a tree, you are not destroying the organism itself. Furthermore by the time a mushroom has been picked it may have already liberated millions of spores. Having said all this the fungus does go to great lengths to produce its fruiting bodies and clearly has good reason for doing so, therefore some discretion is warranted and excessive picking is to be avoided. This argument has been going on for years, my view is that habitat loss and atmospheric pollution are the greater threats by orders of magnitude. Some still maintain that collecting food from the wild is bound to be detrimental to the environment, but it seems to me to be extremely odd that what is, after all, the only natural way of obtaining food should be considered in some way morally reprehensible.
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Collecting. Fungi gathered for scientific identification should be collected in plastic boxes. This protects them from mechanical damage and from drying out. Fungi for the table are fine in baskets (carrier bags make them sweat). When you pick a toadstool make sure that it is not damaged and that the whole of the base is preserved as it often has important identification characteristics. Don't handle them too much as the texture of the stem etc. can be quite important for identification. Note the habitat (put a leaf of the nearby tree in with the toadstool) and any smell. Don't mix edible and poisonous (or uncertain) fungi in the same box or basket - the spores of the Death Cap are deadly.
The law. This is terribly complicated and not entirely settled. In general you are allowed to pick for private consumption from any land where you are not trespassing. (Actually you can legally pick from land on which you are trespassing but of course you are not allowed to trespass in the first place!). There are a few exceptions the most notable being an apparent ban on picking from “Right to Roam” land. This is an odd anomaly in the legislation. Picking for commercial purposes without permission is illegal.
Where to pick. Woods or pasture. These are the main places where fungi can be found, though there are many more specialised habitats such as sand dunes, bonfire sites and swamps. Hay meadows and most cultivated land is generally poor in fungi. Well grazed pasture or heathland produces many of the Agaricus species, as well as Waxcaps, Parasols and Field Blewits. Woodlands produce the Boletes, Chanterelle, Hedgehog Mushrooms, Winter Chanterelle and many, many more species. Many woodland species have a close association with certain trees such as beech, oak, pine, hazel, willow and alder, and will not grow without them. Sycamore and ash woods tend to be poor in the fungi as they do not form such associations. Gardens and parks are often productive with certain Morels appearing in the spring and maybe Wood Blewits or even a Giant Puffball on a compost heap.
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