I've spent most of this year looking for and cataloguing varieties of fungi in my local park and all the patches of woodland in my area, and I have to say I've rarely enjoyed myself quite so much.
Getting out in the fresh air, climbing through hilly woodland, scampering down slippery slopes, blundering through brambles, stooping under fallen logs - I've had a ball, and in all sorts of weather from torrential rain to sweltering sunshine.
I've learnt a tremendous amount about fungi and their relationships with the plants and trees they are often found under or close to, much of it from the wonderful iSpot.org community, and I've filled a whole journal with my observations and finds - it's turned into an absorbing hobby and I get twitchy when I can't get out for a forage.
I don't collect mushrooms to eat because I'm not that fond of the taste - I hunt for them to learn about them and to identify them. I reckon I've discovered close to three dozen different varieties in and around my local park (it's a very large park) alone, from tiny, delicate fungi to whopping great brackets and funnels.
I stumbled upon one beech tree with close to 40 oyster mushrooms (very tasty, I'm told) stacked in tiers up to about 15 feet up the trunk and during the course of the past few weeks I've watched them change colour and, eventually, wither under the joint barrage of rain and frost.
Personally, I can't wait for next year and the emergence of a new year's crop of fungi so I can get out exploring again. I'm often accompanied by my Border terrier, Jess, who has learned to be patient when her pal scurries off under a bush or into a thicket for a forage - she just potters about sniffing and snuffling until I return, mushroom in hand!
I'd recommend two books to the new forager - the Collins guide to the mushrooms of Britain and Europe, and Roger Phillips' more detailed guide.
Happy hunting!
Steve