News article on illegal fungi foraging
- Thread starter Mick721
- Start date
I'd like to know how they came to the conclusion that the fungi were being harvested for commercial gain rather than personal consumption. Or am I the only one to think they had to throw that bit in to question the validity of the gatherers 
Maybe a Daily Mail cover story, "...come over here, pick our chicken of the woods, eating our boletus - with garlic! Dirty foreigners!"
Then again it would never happen that certain Forestry Commission foresters would put out signs saying that there was chemical spraying going on in an area to stop folks picking "his" mushrooms.
Then again it would never happen that certain Forestry Commission foresters would put out signs saying that there was chemical spraying going on in an area to stop folks picking "his" mushrooms.
I guess I just read the story as "unprecedented" numbers, meaning lots of folks gathering the fungi, rather than a few harvesting everything.
Certainly around here we've had a bumper crop at times and the more folks I see out with a basket or paper bag in their hands, the bigger the smile I get. Though I do believe SSSI sites should be left alone and not to strip areas.
As for putting up signs, all I can say is that's classic
Certainly around here we've had a bumper crop at times and the more folks I see out with a basket or paper bag in their hands, the bigger the smile I get
. Though I do believe SSSI sites should be left alone and not to strip areas.As for putting up signs, all I can say is that's classic
Fungi theft? I take it the mushrooms in question were purchased by someone and grown
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Someone please correct me if I'm wrong as I'm not particularly knowledgeable about this kind of stuff but isn't the bit people pick only a small part of the living fungus overall? I read that the majority of these organisms (if it's right to call them that) remain underground and unseen. I read the mushroom itself is like a fruit of the fungus so it's a bit like telling someone not to pick an apple from a tree so as future generations can enjoy the tree. In other words, complete rubbish as an excuse not to pick??
But if all the fruiting bodies are picked then there is nothing to distribute the spores and in turn help the spread of the fungus.
I have seen an area in Arran which is a prime chanterelle area. I have foraged there for a number of years whilst visiting the island and taken what I needed for my own consumption. Unfortunately this year a bunch of commercial foragers had come in and cleared the whole area. There were that many growing than not one person could have used the mushrooms for themselves but every single fruiting body had been cut! While I was searching the area an NTS Ranger came over to ask me what I was doing. After I had set him at ease he told me about the island being targeted by commercial mushroom foragers and it was now becoming a bit of an issue. He was telling me that some of them don't cut but rather uproot the whole mushroom thus damaging the mycelium. In some areas that particular fungus is not recovering.
I have seen an area in Arran which is a prime chanterelle area. I have foraged there for a number of years whilst visiting the island and taken what I needed for my own consumption. Unfortunately this year a bunch of commercial foragers had come in and cleared the whole area. There were that many growing than not one person could have used the mushrooms for themselves but every single fruiting body had been cut! While I was searching the area an NTS Ranger came over to ask me what I was doing. After I had set him at ease he told me about the island being targeted by commercial mushroom foragers and it was now becoming a bit of an issue. He was telling me that some of them don't cut but rather uproot the whole mushroom thus damaging the mycelium. In some areas that particular fungus is not recovering.
When do they spore typically? Is it only after they begin to break down again from rain etc?
I thought most fungus was quite aggressive in its sporing so once it was in an area it was next to impossible to eradicate altogether? It may well be reduced in its spread by being heavily picked but I always thought that given time it would return.
Thanks for explaining though. I've learnt more on this forum in the last few months than I could have hoped to learn elsewhere in several years!
I thought most fungus was quite aggressive in its sporing so once it was in an area it was next to impossible to eradicate altogether? It may well be reduced in its spread by being heavily picked but I always thought that given time it would return.
Thanks for explaining though. I've learnt more on this forum in the last few months than I could have hoped to learn elsewhere in several years!
xylaria
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
They are dropping spores when they are picked. However with some fungi chanterelle been one they germi ate a lot better if eaten by squirrels or other animals. Most things go wrong when people are greedy. Modern economics requires something of value to be scarce. If something plentyful it doesnt have value. Plentyful food is against that princible. So there is good economic reason to erode common law to favour the dinner tables of the rich.
