Horses and mosquitoes

Saturday's trip to the forest confirmed one thing: mushrooms do not like it if you let your thoughts wander. And unfortunately it was one of those days when I just had too much on my mind.

First thing, I found an excellent spot with early blackberries, all juicy and sweet and ready to be eaten. You see, plants don't really care if you are distracted. They are just there for the picking.

First find of the day

And next to them, a variety of mushroom that equally was not so fussy about my state of mind. Humble grassland fungi, very plant-like in this respect.

Hiding in the weeds, fairy ring champignon (Marasmius oreades), at your service

After that, unfortunately, things went rather downhill. Going along my usual mossy paths, I met a fair number of ceps, all were mouldy and maggot-ridden, with the exception of one specimen:

Yours truly, king of all mushrooms (a slight slug issue apparent, but no matter)

I picked it on a secret path that is used by only myself and roe deer and lots of ticks. Got a couple of tick bites there, and my problems were just starting.

Exiting the deer path, I met a competitor. On horseback! She looked at my basket, and said, "Oh, don't go that way, I've just beat you to the mushrooms." She had a bin bag (BIN BAG? Sacrilege!) containing three ceps.

I should have listened to her. I should have gone another way. But I thought, come on, what can you possibly see from horseback? So I went the way she came from. And all I found were mosquitoes. And some midges. And then some more mosquitoes. My skin was soaked with jungle-strength insect repellent, and do you think those insects hesitated even a little bit? Think again!..

With three mushrooms in my basket, I was about to give up the hunt and head home, when my wet feet and itchy bites and frustration finally made me to concentrate. At that moment, I suddenly realised that I was standing at the beginning of a forest clearing that I never explored before. It also looked much drier than the previous section of the woods, and there was no sign of mosquitoes. That was obviously the way to go.

In under a minute, I found several bay boletes (Boletus badius), a mushroom scorned by many pickers, but no worse than cep in my opinion:

Often underestimated, but always worthwhile: bay bolete

Its species highlight is coming this week, so no more about it just now. With basket already half full, I proceeded along the clearing, only to see this:

Which way?

The moss reached to my knees! Fallen trees seemed to block the path entirely, but before heading back I decided to take a break and eat an energy bar and have a sip of water. Sitting down, I noticed that the clearing continued beyond the blockage. It seems, forest spirits were smiling on me again.

In the end, the clearing led me to a known path, with lots of chanterelle spots, while avoiding the current forest management works. I'll write about them someday. It's soul-destroying though, so it won't be any time soon.

In the end, it was a decent trip, with almost a basketful. The chanterelle spots yielded about 500g of edibles, so an appropriate recipe tomorrow is definitely in order. Stay tuned for that, and meanwhile, don't eat any strange mushrooms!

Yield of the day: bay boletes (top left), scarletina boletes (top), ceps (top right), chanterelles (centre),
two saffron milk caps and one slippery jack on top of them (bottom right), a handful of blackberries (right), and
assorted fungi for identification and spore prints (bottom left)