Shroom hunting Mushroom Hunting in the United Kingdom

[TJW.88]

When is the best time to find mushrooms in the UK?

Apparently the season is getting earlier due to global warming and that. Whens the earliest they can be expected to be found?


ta

[Micklemouse]

Don't know about earlier, but it is certainly getting later by all accounts, with Liberty caps being reportedly found well into December over the last few years.

Early to mid-September still stands as the starting point. Some early fruits may be found in August, depending on the rainfall. The recent few years drought, alongside overpicking does seem to have had an impact in some areas, from what A Certain Mouse has been told.

[Conkermon]

SWIM found some curious looking mushrooms in the nearby fields, the grass had recently been mown and there had recently been rain (he's based in north london).

Is there a possibility they may be shrooms, obviously I don't expect you to identify them but would it *possibly* match the criteria: the gills were chocolate/dark brown the stem was thin, there was a dark patch nipple on the top (but not such a prominent nipple as a liberty cap) and the shape was like a liberty cap but less bell shaped with a greater diameter - any ideas?

Hmm cannot seem to edit post - anyway SWIM will upload a pic tomorrow but he only picked one and it's kinda messed up since he's doing a spore print and was trying to bruise it to see if it went blue. He also tried to "separate the gellatenous pellicle" as is reccomended in one of his books but did not fully understand wtf he was doing and abandoned his attempt.

[Bikelbees]

Im told that they didn't seem to arrive at all last year.

[spastic]

I have been searching high and low in various parts of Surrey and Somerset for libs, as I read that if the weather has been particularly wet, they may grow slightly early but as yet, I have found nothing. Has anyone found any yet? If not, when would you expect they would grow and do you reckon the excessive rain may have shunted thier developement somehow?

Thx
spaz

[Abrad]

It is very early yet. In a wet year SWIY may find them towards the end of August at the earliest, not in July.

Also, please do not incriminate yourself. Psilocybe mushrooms are illegal in the UK.

[Lunar Loops]

As Abrad says, you have obviously been searching in order to observe them in the wild or perhaps take photographs, but nothing else right.

Actually, although extremely rare, they have been known to put in an appearance in late July upon these islands of ours.

[spastic]

yeah I just am interested in mushroom photography and surveying mushroom growth and the effect of severe rain in relation to thier development, wouldnt dream of doing anything illegal!

Here are some pics I took of other wild mushrooms...



Some Bolletus I found in Richmond Park...






Amanita mushroom I found in Effingham, a lookalike of the panther cap, tho it is said to be edible, I wouldnt recommend it because of the possibility of it being confused with panther caps!



This ones a really cool one.. looks like an ear!

Has anyone heard about any likeminded enthusiasts who might have encountered the Psylocybe Semilanceata (Liberty cap) growing so far this year?



I'm also keen on seeing Psilocybe Cyanescens in the wild for photography puposes as well.

I know a few big clumps of wood chips by the side of a busy A road, which I have already visited and seen many clusters of other species. I'm curious to know if Psilocybe Cyanescens will not care that the clumps have previously been occupied, and if August/Sep is favourable to them also.

p.s the big clumps were in fertile pine woodland.

Thanks

[dangermouse]

cool pics,you wont find libs this early in the uk,swims cat always watches and waits,but the earlyest hes ever seen them is first week in aug,(more likely to be second week in september but).hey hope you get a photo of the cyanescens,swims cats allways wanted to find out more about this spieces.......

[white rabbit]

Has anyone found any liberty caps in kent? SWIM has been told of many places around the country where he can find them but they are all hours away. Someone must know where u can find some in the area? Or is kent the only county where they dont grow?

[vikingwizardeyes]

they grow all over the UK, but wont be found for another month yet, theyll b in their prime september till november. however, the colder the nights, the better it is. get up as early as you can, say 6am, get somewhere for 7am and theyll be easiest to spot then. big hills/mountains are a good place to look, fields with cows and sheep are good as well. some golf courses as well. you just need to look really. check the "mushroom hunting" forum, theres a thread there about where some mushroom spots in the UK are.
however, i wouldnt really bother till october as we are in for a good august/sept weather wise, and like i said, they grow best when cold at night.
hope that helps

[Nagognog2]

Most 'shroomers keep there 'spots' closely guarded secrets. Wouldn't you?

[maz-manik]

swim just searched around diffrent fields where other shrooms grow.
it taken swim at least 2 seasons 2 find what he wanted.

[spastic]

Swim came across an article here that concludes that autumn really is going to be early.

Swim, who wants to make his first journey to somewhere 'far out' would be interested if anyone knows someone who has had luck finding liberty?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/mai...eautumn101.xml

Can't edit, nevermind, swim is referring to ENGLAND only...!

[scottaaaay]

while ignoring the bs above.

I've had disscussions with a few people who seem to have the 'knowledge'. and they agree that it could well be early, but with alot of the downpours and such that all the wet weather could be too wet for them, therefore making the season late.

We did here in england have daffodils popping up early tho such as in late january which is rather rare must I add. So I do agree that your suspicions may be correct.

My bet is tho its just gunna be a normal, they'll start popping up late august if ya lucky, in higher ground that is, tho on lower parts i'd say your looking at october/november, depending on how the weather goes. #

A few of us went picking last year in october and found hardly fuck all. While a month later got tons in the same place.

TRIAL AND ERROR MATEY ) IT'S ALL ABOUT TRIAL AND ERROR

[gonz0]

SWIM heard from a good friend that fungus has been spotted already and that due to the new legal issues surrounding our liberty friends would reccommend a bank holiday mission to your nearest country-sidey part of the world ASAP to avoid disappointment!

[AcidShroomz07]

God I hope theres a decent Season this year....last year was such a flop I didn't bother even trying. Fingers crossed for this year tho huh.

Oh how I miss bent double in a field searching the grass for those nipple topped beauties

[psyche]

My friend(not to be confused with this SWIM guy) has already found one P. semilanceata some week ago. I know, one cap could mean it isn't a correct one, but his friend can easily identify the mushrooms when he sees them, so I think I'm going to believe him.

[maz-manik]

Originally Posted by psyche

My friend(not to be confused with this SWIM guy) has already found one P. semilanceata some week ago. I know, one cap could mean it isn't a correct one, but his friend can easily identify the mushrooms when he sees them, so I think I'm going to believe him.

if u found 1 on its own u should of left it the spawn that gets blown the more shrooms u get(and never pull straight up from the root

[Mr.C]

Hey peeps, first post here! long time lurker tho. Just a heads up, SWIM found about 20-30 liberties today (4th Sept) so for SWIM the season has officially started! This is enough for a medium level nights fun for SWIM on Friday evening with some cidah! Too many shrooms is not fun in SWIM's opinion.

Btw, SWIM is located up in the sticks and valleys up north in W. Yorkshire. So don't know if season has started all over the UK? SWIM was pleasantly surprised to find them today as last year barely any were found until mid Oct.

[Joe Duffy]

Has SWIMRC got any pictures?

[Mr.C]

Sorry SWIM has no pics as mushies are currently stashed at back of freezer for now.

However, SWIM can 100% confirm that they are psilocybe semilanceata as SWIM has enjoyed the crop each year during the season for the best part of a decade. SWIM is now looking forward to a pleasant time on Friday Hope SWIY has good luck in his own search for these most magical of shrooms.

[meep]

Swims planning a quick jog through his local field, and accross the local golf courses in an attempt to keep fit. Swim has a book on british mushrooms and is fairly confident he can collect and spore print/check colouring for semils.

Swim knows there are poisonous shrooms out there but wonders how alike semis they look and how poisonous they actually are. Swim knows what Death Caps and Destroying Angels look like and is sure NOT to be picking these (or be in their habitat (woodlands)) but what other LBM look like and bruise like semils? If swim ate a tiny spec to test his shroom, and it was not a semi, whats the worst type of other shroom hes going to injest? Mycena's are most likely going to make swim vomit but asside from that ? (and only a very tiny spec)

[Mr.C]

Originally Posted by vuue

Swims planning a quick jog through his local field, and accross the local golf courses in an attempt to keep fit. Swim has a book on british mushrooms and is fairly confident he can collect and spore print/check colouring for semils.

Swim knows there are poisonous shrooms out there but wonders how alike semis they look and how poisonous they actually are. Swim knows what Death Caps and Destroying Angels look like and is sure NOT to be picking these (or be in their habitat (woodlands)) but what other LBM look like and bruise like semils? If swim ate a tiny spec to test his shroom, and it was not a semi, whats the worst type of other shroom hes going to injest? Mycena's are most likely going to make swim vomit but asside from that ? (and only a very tiny spec)

SWIM has been picking p. sem's for near enough a decade and can spot them from quite a distance now reasonably well. There are a few lookalikes (death caps look pretty different in SWIM's opinion). SWIM doesn't know what they're called, but there are some shrooms that are a a similar size and shape to p. sem but are a deeper yellow and the gills are yellow and not browny/purple like p. sem. These fooled SWIM once until he looked more closely. There is also the 'haymakers' mushroom, which is a similar colour to p. sem, but is more of a dome/half sphere shape, and usually without the nipple as well.

Here are some quite good pics of p. sem that SWIM found via google. These are not meant as a definitive guide to identifying p. sem, but they are quite good for starters in SWIM's opinion:

http://www.corewave.com/moves/m-grap...milanceata.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...eata_250px.jpg

http://www.cannaweed.com/upload/server_8/2/19770.jpg

SWIM hopes this helps

Reputation Comments on this post:

ta for the semi post =)

[forrealneil]

Haymakers? - are you referring to the other mushroom that also has trippy effects? I always just stick to the ones that I know to be liberty caps, whilst taking photos of mushrooms for my studies.