National Mushroom Day

National Mushroom Day sounds like a good excuse to go out hunting for mushrooms. This year it was on October 15th. As you know, I love hunting for mushrooms anyway, so I  decided to spent extra time in the woods seeing what I could find. With my extra phone battery at the ready I set out.

I was not disappointed, as I stumbled across some beautiful Fly Algaric mushrooms nestled amongst the autumn leaves.

Also, I  found lots of tiny mushrooms growing, hidden on the forest floor.

The Woodland Trust have an article upon their website which identifies some of the most common mushrooms found within the UK, which makes for an interesting read.

The Woodland Trust website link

I managed to find a Birch Polypore growing on a fallen tree, along with moss, which made a lovely photograph. This mushroom is amazing for all of the things that it can be used for. I had a read on the Wild Food UK website as to its uses and was amazed. Apparently, it only grows on birch trees, so it is difficult to confuse it for other mushrooms. It is supposed to have antiseptic qualities, and can be used as plasters. It can also be used as tinder, and would therefore be good if you ever needed heat in an emergency, or to cook food.

Wild Food Uk website link

There are so many different mushrooms out there waiting to be discovered. The more I hunt for them, the more interesting varieties I find. I just need to get better at identifying them now. Identification is so very important, for as I have mentioned previously, there are many poisonous varieties that look very similar to the edible ones. Consequently, I am spending time researching, so that I have more knowledge.