It has been a remarkable autumn. The leaf colours have been beautiful. As the strong winds have not featured so early this year, we have been able to enjoy the autumn leaves much longer.
Autumn too is the time when fungi produce their fruiting bodies. The warm summer and the damper soil conditions in the autumn provide ideal conditions for fungi to produce their “fruiting bodies” (e.g., toadstools,), which contain the spores, from which new fungi grow. The ‘fruiting bodies’ come in an array of shapes, sizes, and beautiful colours. Most of the year, you see little evidence that there are fungi in the wood as the body of the fungi is underground or in decaying logs.
The Forest supports the greatest variety of fungal species on one site in the UK, now topping 1,600 species. Fungi help break down decaying matter in the Forest, provide a valuable food source for deer, many insects, and other species, and protects the roots of ancient trees. It is against the bylaws to pick the fungi in the Forest.
Regrettably particularly this year, the Forest has been visited by significant numbers of commercial fungi pickers, selling them off to restaurants and markets, it is claimed. In a most recent incident, involving legal action, a haul of mushrooms weighed 108 lb.
Fungi picking is not allowed in Epping Forest. Please contact the City of London Epping Forest on 020 8532 1010 if you see anyone picking fungi.