Fungi foray in the New Forest | Mat Smith Photography

New Forest ponies in the mist at sunrise, Hollands Wood — New Forest Ponies at sunrise in Hollands Wood

DISCLAIMER: I've labelled mushrooms on this blog. I'm new to foraging and my labels may be wrong. Refer to a professional. We had the knowledgeable Lisa of Edulis and Matt of Eden Wild Food by our sides to show us the ropes.

Showering at the end of today reveals little pin-pricks on my skin from brambles, itchy raised bumps of stinging nettles unnoticed until now, and "foraging fingers" of yellow, brown, and slime. This all gives way to an overwhelming sense of a thrill which, until recently, I'd have reserved for discovering a new piece of music from my favourite artist or experiencing some new culture or cuisine.

Mist over the New Forest at dawn — New Forest mist at dawn

Rewind the clock back 2 weekends, and I was camping in the New Forest. Camping is not a pastime I had ever relished. I had taken every opportunity over the last 15 years since my teens to scald the stupid types who trade warmth, civilisation, slated pitched roofs and other first world comforts for a night in an undersized, cold, damp figleaf of canvas that barely covers enough floor space to lie in the foetal position. I'm not an outdoorsy type.

But after 16 years of refusing to camp (I last camped in my teens), I gave in, on the proviso that there would be a minimum of 18 inches of air between me and the ground at night - oh - and on the proviso we would find a room with a view.

The reason for all of this camping nonsense? Mushrooms. I've long held a great deal of respect for fungi, although I've not until now known the first thing about the subject.

We booked onto a mushroom course, and within a day of meeting the wide-eyed Lisa Cutcliffe of Edulis Wild Food, I was bitten by more than one type of bug.

Basket of edible wild mushrooms with one poisonous imposter, New Forest — A basket full of edibles - with one exception

Lisa Cutcliffe showing off foraged mushrooms for lunch, New Forest — Lisa Cutcliffe - look what we have for lunch

Gills of a porcelain mushroom, New Forest — The mesmerising gills of the porcelain mushroom

The common reaction to "I'm going to pick some mushrooms to eat" is "goodness, isn't that dangerous?". Well it only took a day with Lisa to realise how much I have to learn in the coming years about the enchanting world of fungi, but this one day certainly set me on the right path. Now I'm able to confidently identify 20+ mushrooms from 10 paces. Since the course I have become somewhat obsessed with how to determine the right environment for different types of mushrooms, and this seems to me harder than making sure you don't poison yourself.

It's hard to work out where mushrooms grow.

But if all else fails, you could do worse than starting with a wood that looks like something out of a fairy-tale:

Fairy-tale woodland for mushroom foraging, New Forest — How to find the perfect woods for foraging - choose the ones that look most fairy-tale

Lisa taught us about the trees that fungi seem to latch on to most, I won't spill the beans here but these are two of the main four:

Lisa Cutcliffe holding oak and beech leaves, New Forest — Learn your leaves

An early success: some beautiful Chanterelles.

A single chanterelle mushroom, New Forest — A single Chanterelle

Handful of yellow gold chanterelles, New Forest — Beautiful yellow gold colour of the Chanterelles

One of the memorable pieces of advice given to us by Lisa was this:

Start off by learning the 50 tastiest edible mushrooms, and the 50 most poisonous ones, and don't bother with everything in between.

To my mind, the safest place to start is to look for the Boletes. These are mushrooms with tubes underneath the cap, as opposed to the more common gills. Apart from one or two of the more rare Boletes, they are all pretty harmless, and the best Boletes can be some of the most valuable and delicious mushrooms. The Cep (aka Porcini or Penny Bun) is one of the superstars of the mushroom world, as such they can be a great find.

Here are some Boletes. Had I seen the bruised underside before, I would have thought "ugh, that's a rubbish mushroom". Now I have a great fondness for seeing the tubes under a Bolete bruising blue. Combine this with brown flecking on the stem and this means you've found a Bay Bolete:

Bay bolete with a brown stem and blue bruising on its tubes, New Forest — The distinctive brown stem and gentle blue bruising of the Bay Bolete

Mottled bolete hidden in moss and bracken, New Forest — Leccinum Versicolor (Mottled Bolete) , hidden in the moss and bracken

Another mottled bolete, New Forest — Another Mottled Bolete

Scarletina bolete turning electric blue where cut, New Forest — Despite turning a scary electric blue when cut, the Scarletina Bolete is edible and delicious

These slimy looking mushrooms are called Porcelains, and they are edible. They are very fond of Beech and they grow in this tufted manner. I've found quite a few since our day with Lisa but I'm yet to take the plunge and cook them up! They are exquisite to look at and touch.

Tuft of porcelain mushrooms on a tree, New Forest — A tuft of porcelain mushrooms on a tree

Pair of translucent porcelain mushrooms, New Forest — A pair of Porcelain Mushrooms

We met quite a few weird fungi on our travels, including this little coral:

The Tawny Grisette with its strongly grooved cap edges and tall elegant stem:

Tawny grisette mushroom with a grooved cap, New Forest — The Tawny Grisette mushroom

Winter chanterelles on a mound of moss, New Forest — Winter Chanterelles on a mound of moss

Tufted mushrooms growing from a log, New Forest — Some other-worldly tufted mushrooms growing from a log

Blusher mushroom cap golden brown in the sun, New Forest — A Blusher looking golden brown in the sun

Lisa opened our eyes to so many wonders of the natural world, including this Beefsteak mushroom found by one of the course attendees. You can pull these straight from the tree and eat them raw. Surely this is the closest thing in the natural world to eating cured meats?

Lisa Cutcliffe cutting a beefsteak bracket mushroom, New Forest — Cutting the Beefsteak Mushroom

Sliced beefsteak mushroom that looks like pancetta — Looks like pancetta - tastes like mushroom

Cross section of a beefsteak mushroom — Cross section of the majestic Beefsteak Mushroom

Red juice bleeding from a cut beefsteak mushroom — A vegan's delight - the blood of a Beefsteak Mushroom

Although this was a fungi foraging course, we also took some time to get to know a number of other special things in the New Forest, including edible flowers, mosses, hawthorns, sloes. Here is a plant known as Butcher's Broom, said to have been used by butchers to clean their block as the leaves are very tough and scratchy.

Butcher's broom, a plant once used to clean butchers' blocks, New Forest — Butcher's Broom (poisonous) - used to clean butchers blocks

We did concentrate on edible mushrooms, but a lot of time was given to the inedibles which can be equally (if not more) alluring. Here's Lisa and her Fly Agaric, with its own mini-me:

Lisa Cutcliffe wearing fly agaric jewellery beside a fly agaric, New Forest — The Fly Agaric Mini-Me - mushroom jewellery worn by Lisa Cutcliffe

Poisonous fly agaric mushroom, New Forest — The pretty and the poisonous

Fly agaric, the classic fairy-tale poisonous toadstool, New Forest — The quintessential fairy-tale poisonous toadstool - the Fly Agaric

Young fly agaric (Amanita muscaria), New Forest — A young Fly Agaric (amanita muscaria)

Panther cap mushroom, poisonous, New Forest — The perfect Panther Cap (don't eat one)

Our group of 20 stopped for lunch. Lisa had dreamt-up an amazing 4 course meal, starting with the mushrooms we had picked that morning fried up in butter and garlic and served with bread, followed by a feast of venison, ale, and wild mushroom stew, then a selection of cakes made with foraged goods, and finishing up with lots of impressive home made tipples (birch sap syrup, raspberry vodka, and many more!)

Freshly picked wild mushrooms frying in butter and garlic for lunch — Cooking up the freshest mushrooms I've ever eaten

Home-baked apple and blackberry cake with elderberry icing and mallow flowers

In the afternoon we were set free to practice what we had just learnt. This is what we found:

Young panther cap mushroom, New Forest — Young Panther Cap specimen

Close-up of the white scales on a panther cap, New Forest — The white scales of the Panther Cap

Magical looking mushrooms, New Forest — I don't think these are magic mushrooms as they don't have the distinctive nipple but they certainly look magical

Matt Normansell showing how to identify honey fungus, New Forest — Matt Normansell shows us what to look for when identifying mushrooms - (Honey Fungus shown here)

Charcoal burner brittlegill mushroom, New Forest — A Brittlegill mushroom

Edible amethyst deceiver mushroom, New Forest — The beautiful edible amethyst deceiver

Webcap mushroom, New Forest — The wicked Webcap

Cleaning a hedgehog mushroom — Cleaning a Hedgehog Mushroom

Mycena mushroom, inedible, New Forest — The beautiful (but inedible) Mycena

Wicker basket full of edible wild mushrooms, New Forest — A mushroom collector's delight: a basket full of edibles

Oyster mushrooms on a tree fallen over a stream, New Forest — Oyster mushrooms on a tree fallen over a stream

Grooved upper ring of a blusher mushroom — Grooved upper ring of the Blusher Mushroom

Cramp ball fungus growing on wood, New Forest — Cramp Ball growing on wood

Cramp ball fungus, used as a firelighter — The Cramp Ball - used as fungus firelighter

It's no over-statement to say that Lisa's course has re-invigourated my love of the outdoors. As a city dweller I'm seeing more and more the benefits of taking a 1-2 hour drive and spending hours just wandering and looking at things.

Ancient tree roots, New Forest — Ancient forest roots

Oak leaf on a five bar gate, New Forest — Oak leaf on a five bar gate

Caterpillar-nibbled oak leaves, New Forest — Caterpillar-nibbled leaves of an oak tree

Excuse the Instagram-styled photo here (edited on the iphone in situ - never a good idea!), but isn't this spread just gorgeous?

Final spread of foraged food, New Forest — New Forest Final Spread

We weren't exactly "glamping", after all how can sleeping a mere 18 inches off the ground in a tent as long as my own body ever be considered glamourous? But I must say waking up to the stunning view of the New Forest sunrise the next day, pulling out the travel coffee kit, and cooking up a mushroom breakfast in front of a couple of wild ponies was experience never to be forgotten.

Camping breakfast of smoked streaky bacon and mushrooms, New Forest — Breakfast the next day - smoked streaky bacon and mushrooms

And the dinners have started to look a lot more like this ever since:

Wild mushroom and butternut squash risotto made with New Forest finds — Wild New Forest foraged mushroom and butternut squash risotto

Mat Smith photographing the sunrise, New Forest — Mat taking photos of the sunrise

All photographs on this blog are Copyright Mat Smith Photography 2026 unless otherwise indicated.

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