Fungi discovery

North Pennines National Landscape team recently ran a fungi discovery event in Arkengarthdale, North Yorkshire. This event was part of the Tees-Swale: naturally connected programme, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund using money raised by National Lottery players.

The group met in the new Community Hub located in the St Mary the Virgin Church and started with a brief introduction about mushrooms and other fungi. There was good discussion about what mushrooms are, how they reproduce with spores and how we have only discovered an estimated 5% of fungi species.

Kennedy Page, part of the North Pennines National Landscape team and member of the North East Fungi Society, provided do’s and don’ts whilst foraging and helped to dispel some myths around fungi. Kennedy said, “As an experienced fungi enthusiast and someone who believes in connecting nature and society, I felt there was an opportunity to encourage others to delve into this often unknown world with me. I want to safely expand people’s knowledge of fungi and help them to connect deeper with the environment right on their doorstep”.

Heading out as a group, they explored the local grasslands and ancient woodland, finding lots of different types of mushrooms. With the help of spotters’ guides, books and online sources they were able to identify waxcaps, russulas, milk caps, boletes, ink caps and various types of bracket, to name but a few.

Kennedy explained about the underground fungi network, mycelium, also known as the ‘wood wide web’ and how plants and trees use this to communicate, trade nutrients and put up defences in times of stress. The group was amazed by this; Kennedy went on to point out examples where communication between trees has taken place across this network.

After a session of exploring and foraging for mushrooms, the group came together and discussed what they had found. Over 30 different species had been spotted and they were grouped into families, putting their new found skills into practice.

Kennedy reiterated that it’s important to use multiple approaches to identify mushrooms and to never consume something unless you are 100% sure of the identity.

The group enjoyed the session and everyone said they now had the knowledge and skills to start exploring and identifying fungi with confidence.