Here’s a code of conduct for wild mushroom collecting:
- Seek and secure the landowner’s or site manager’s permission before conducting the activity.
- Minimise damage to vegetation, leaf litter and soil during the walk and whilst collecting edible mushrooms.
- Refrain from removing dead wood.
- Avoid collecting button mushrooms, to allow development for spores to be discharged.
- Do not collect any rare or Red List species, edible or otherwise.
- Collect responsibly, to minimise the amount discarded at the end of the walk. Very mature fruiting bodies are likely to be maggot-infested and therefore unsafe for consumption; these contain the larvae of important insect species.
- Check your collection onsite so that any mushroom discards can be returned before leaving the site.
- Only collect for your personal consumption and don’t exceed 1.5kg per visit – this is the limit recommended by the City of London for Epping Forest and by most European authorities, where it is necessary to set limits due to the pressure of overharvesting.
- Don’t collect inedible fungi – take a photograph instead.
Thanks to Clifford Davy of Forest Foragers.
