Foraging Courses

• - The rules that keep foraging safe: never eat anything unidentified, handle and carry specimens properly, and know what to do if you get it wrong
• - Responsible foraging ethics, covering Leave No Trace, sustainable picking and respecting private land
• - Where we are going, what we are looking for, and what to expect over the next two hours

• - The three roles fungi play in a woodland: decomposers, tree partners and parasites, and why that matters when you are looking for them
• - The tree species that particular fungi associate with, including birch, oak, pine and beech
• - How to read a woodland and recognise the habitats where specific mushrooms grow

Identification and Responsible Harvesting

• - Identifying common Yorkshire mushrooms in the places they actually grow, rather than from a book
• - Distinguishing edible species from the toxic lookalikes that catch people out
• - Practical safety in the field: carrying specimens separately, washing hands, and avoiding spore dust

Identification and Handling

• - The features that confirm an identification: gills, pores, stems, cap and spore colour
• - Comparing edible and poisonous species side by side, so you can see the difference rather than read about it
• - What makes an identification certain rather than likely, and when to walk away from a specimen