Although I am still getting reports of cepes and parasols from correspondents in the South East (and I spotted several shaggy ink caps from the car in Gloucestershire last week), now the frosts are finally here even dyed-in-the-wool optimists such as myself have to concede the main season must now be signed off. This is not to say all hope is lost, however . . .
Newsletter
Mushroom Newsletter (Bumper Crop – 11 Sepember 2010)
After two sparse years, this season is shaping up to be a record-breaker with loads of chanterelles, hedgehogs and porcini bursting out in woods across the country . . .
Mushroom Newsletter (Chanterelles – July 2010)
Over the past 15 years, I have battled with ways to predict the mushroom harvest. Most are very variable, but the chanterelle is one of the most dependable. In Britain it usually comes up in the third week of July given a modicum of rain. This year is no exception . .
Mushroom Newsletter (November2011)
The season is probably now drawing to a close, but at the weekend a nsubscriber e-mailed to report very encouraging finds in Kent . . .
Mushroom Newsletter 3 June
The St Georges are now drying up (in every sense) thanks to the recent hot sunny weather, their centre stage place in the fungi fanatic’s attention has been taken by chicken-of-the-woods . . .
Newsletter (1 November)
The mushroom harvest has got me bamboozled yet again. There are still a good range of edible species and one or two types are having a particularly good season. I have never had such a good cauliflower crop and there are a lot of lovely young fly agarics coming up . . . . .
Newsletter (12 September 2009)
After two barren years, things are starting to look very promising – kilos of hedgehogs, chanterelles, decievers, bay boletes and cepes . . . what more could you hope for in mid-September?
Newsletter (20 October 2009)
The season continues and as usual I’m still confused about what to expect next. The range is still good (we are averaging 16 edible species), but the quantities are low. For all that, I am still sticking to my latest theory about the porcini crop being poor because the surrounding trees had a bad summer (the more I think about it, the more valid this seems), but the warm, dry, autumn is also a factor . . . . .
Newsletter (24 August 2011)
Things are still rattling along, although the summer is not shaping out in quite the way I anticipated . . .
Newsletter (28 September 2009)
It’s still early days, but things are looking good. This morning I went on a scouting expedition to a new wood and two hours later was struggling out of the trees weighed down with porcini . . .