Fungi to be with

Today one of our Keepers caught a chap with 4 carrier bags full of mushrooms picked on the Common. Apart from the fact that it is seriously breaking our Byelaws, it breaks the laws of common countryside sense. Pick all the mushrooms, no mushrooms to spore, no mushrooms next year. Over-picking of wild mushrooms is becoming a big problem and there is now a Code of Practice on the subject to help preserve them in their natural habitat. Pick what you can eat is the advice, and if you're not sure, leave them be. I think 4 carrier bags full takes that a little far. What would have happened of course, is that they would have been sold at great profit to local restaurants. We realise that we're not going to stop people picking mushrooms but moderation is everything.



We confiscated 3 of the bags and they would usually get shared out among the staff. Which seems a little hypocrital but if we don't confiscate them, what does that tell people? Oh, you'll get a smack on the wrist but hey, you'll still get the mushrooms. Our office mushroom expert is currently on holiday and the rest of us don't have much of a clue, and wild mushrooms are not something you take a chance with. So I called in OH. Whilst he would not profess to be an expert, he knows enough of the commoner mushrooms to know what's what. Even he couldn't identify them, not even with his books, and so there is every possibility that these bags of mushrooms aren't even edible. Now they are completely wasted and the best we can do is spread them back in the area they were picked and hope that some will be able to spore.



Rant over....