Winter chanterelles are a common, easy to identify and delicious mushrooms that can be picked in large numbers right through November and well into December. Here I look at 4 species that often get referred to as winter chanterelles: yellowlegs, golden chanterelle, ashen chanterelle and winter chanterelle

The cep is the king of edible mushrooms. No food, fungal or otherwise, comes near it for flavour and texture and when you find a firm young penny bun, or ‘bouchon’ cep as the French call it after champagne corks, there is an irresistable fairytale beauty to them which is both beautiful and seductive.

It can feel like finding the mythical pot of gold at the end of a rainbow when you come across a cluster of these beautiful mushrooms on a shady woodland floor.

Hemlock is not the common species it once was, especially in farming areas like Galloway. It is as toxic to livestock as it is to humans, so farmers have all but eliminated it from inland areas. It is most commonly found coastally, having a preference for sandy soils, but that’s not to say it doesn’t lurk inland too.

Anyone picking spring leaves, especially comfrey or wild garlic, should be able to recognise this plant by its basal leaves alone. 2 leaves can contain sufficient cardiac and steroidal glycocides to cause severe hallucination, nausea, headache and raise or lower your heart rate rate to fatal levels