Are Mushrooms The Secret to Rewilding Britain?

Join our PATREON to support the channel, gain access to exclusive videos, Q&A, livestreams, vote & influence the direction of Leave Curious.

Leave Curious T-shirts & Hoodies all sustainably created

Begin rewilding your feet with Vivo & use the code LEAVECURIOUS to get 20% off!

Contribute to a growing diversity of rewilding projects at Mossy Earth

[doubledee]

Gotta say, I rather enjoyed watching a man progressively having a mental breakdown just from not finding a colourful mushroom.

[Sean_Shaun_Shawn]

You asked for anything we recognised so here's a few of my first guesses/"recognitions"-

0:46 Woodland inkcap
0:49 possibly scarlet or crimson waxcap
0:55 & 1:46 Beefsteak fungus
2:31 Red Cracked Bolete
2:33 Sepia Bolete
2:36 Magpie Inkcap
3:55 can't see the gills but potentially Porcelain fungus
3:56+ Parasol or shaggy parasol
4:42 Heath waxcap
5:12 probably Bolete family
5:39 lower: Sulphur tuft
5:41 Angels Wings Pleurocybella porrigens
5:42 Ganoderma family, possibly Ganoderma applanatum
5:58 possibly Clouded Agaric, wood blewit or Cortinarius family
6:23 Hen of the Woods
6:24 Jelly ears
6:41+ Probably Lilac Fibrecap rather than Amethyst Deceiver
7:44 Scarlet Elfcup
7:58 Tawny Grisette
8:11 Tawny Funnelcap
8:54 not sure, old Blackening Polypore?

Note that all of these are just my first guesses and a single image/video screen often can't and probably shouldn't be used to identify mushrooms in most cases, especially if you're ever consider eating something where you should be 100% sure first.

[PaulCoxC]

I love that fungi are finally starting to get the attention they deserve. Although related to this, people should make sure that if they are foraging, that they aren't picking places dry.

[leolake]

I think you did actually find one! It seemed purplish inside…..As they get older and if they have been through a dry period, like our recent drought, they can appear whiter. Love your videos! You are a good egg!

[IbexWatcher]

I love how you capture the fun of a good nature hike, reveling in everything you find even if it’s not the thing you set out looking for :)

[nathalie]

Such coincidence, I stumbled upon an amethyst deceiver on Friday. It was growing on the forest ground and it was actually quite difficult to spot. Who knew a faded purple would blend in with the forest floor? I'm hoping you can still find them! I found mine in a relatively small forest, around the size of a small park, so who knows

[AnnaG-toke]

Your enthusiasm is really infectious, so happy I found your videos! Thank you and keep up the good work 🥰

[rfldss]

6:45 from the quick glance we got, it looks like mycena pura to me. These aren't the shrooms you're looking for.

PS: I'm kinda jealous of some of your finds. Lots of oxtongue, although it definitely looked past it's prime (but it comes back in the same spot every year since it parasitises certain tree species), and some hen of the woods, which also come back yearly. the blue one at 2:00 looks like Clitocybe odora to me, aka the aniseed toadstool, which as it's name suggests smells like aniseed!

[robertsdarren]

Happy to say we have lots of amethyst deceivers in our 10 year old coppice. Happily growing under hazel and sweet chestnut in West Yorkshire. Happy to show you some but not sure how much longer they will be around for.

[callummack]

I found a few yesterday in a tiny nature reserve near my house, purple as anything! I love fungi, if you haven't already I highly highly suggest reading ''entangled life'' by Merlin Sheldrake, it's an incredible book about mycology and I ended up writing about it in my personal statement lol, hopefully it gets me some offers.

[aye]

Just signed up using the referral link :) Mossy earth and Leave Curious are truly a breath of fresh air.

[Gnarmarmilla]

Have you thought about why people use the name of Jesus who was called “Christ” by God as an expletive?
Indeed, those who give thought to their ways will understand them if they give thought to their ways with a loving and humble heart.

I love your work, Rob and I am very thankful to know that someone in the UK is working to restore that precious land to its former glory. Keep it up, sir.

Have you heard of Paul Stamets? He is a fantastic mycologist who said the same thing as you about fungus, how it is the bedrock of all life on the planet and if we are careful to protect it and to understand it as we use it for our well being, the planet can be preserved from the path of destruction that it is indubitably on.

Peace to you, brother.

[solarpunkalana]

This was a really interesting video Rob! I find there's so many less mushrooms in the UK than I used to find foraging for mushrooms as a kid in France.

[benmcreynolds]

I love these purple mushrooms. I've luckily stumbled upon a handful of these purple guys through out different hikes here in NW Oregon. I sadly never had my DSLR with me. I was just wondering around with my dogs. I hope to photograph these beauties someday. I'm the same as you where I hike, take photos, appreciate mushrooms, love to photograph them but I personally don't know a lot about a ton of mushrooms. I like to share my photos with a fungi identification group on Facebook and I've learned a lot over the last couple years. There is just so much to learn about fungi and lichen. It's actually mind boggling. I'm just a fan of it and I love searching for things in the woods so it creates this type of treasure hunt sorta pass time. It's really fun. Makes me feel like a kid again.

[krose]

I related to the energy in the middle of the video so much. I was thinking "yeah, Ive been there before just not over a mushroom hunt."

Thank you for this video. The more I learn about fungi the more I wonder why they dont get talked about more.

[TRODD]

Looking forward to next year's video.

I hope you enjoyed the liberty caps you found.

[Narnendil]

I read a book about mushrooms this spring (in Swedish and it's not translated into English... yet?) and mushrooms are really cool! I remember being especially amazed by how they can grow deep deep down in cracks in the bedrock, like kilometres down! It's amazing!

This was a really nice video, but too bad you didn't get to see the mushroom. Since it's purple it must be very pretty to see irl :) Better luck next year! And the Mossy Earth project seems really interesting, I'm hoping for updates! :)

(For those who speak Swedish it's Svamparnas planet by Jesper Nyström.)

[debbiehenri]

I have to say, the Amethyst Deceivers I'm collecting right now are as purple as it's possible for them to be. When they fade on top, it's my experience that their stems 'remain' purple and don't turn that tawny colour. So I'm not sure what they were. Also, you need to be careful of Lilac Fibrecap.
I think you're conducting too quick a search. Running about too much. Amethyst Deceivers are the reward for the patient, gently ambling forager.
I have found them growing under quite as many ancient Oaks as Beech trees. In fact, the best haul I've had this year was in a copse of very old Oaks (which also produced a very nice haul of Hen of the Woods too).

Yes, there is certainly a great advantage for a tree to be inoculated whilst young.
However, I don't have the money to spare for expensive, lab-created liquids with which to inoculate my own tree seedlings.
Instead, over the past 10 years, I have grown a number of tree seedlings in pots. Once Autumn arrives, I collect and break up old mushroom caps into tiny pieces, mix them up, and then scatter them onto the surface of the pots like a very thin mulch. Mycelium soon proliferates, coats the tree seedling roots within, and then they're planted out. Before now, I have upended a pot and found the rootball to be entirely white with mycelium.

I also apply leftover amounts of this home-made mushroom mulch around trees already planted and growing in my garden.
So far, I've introduced Fly Agaric, Bay and Birch Bolete, I see the occasional Amethyst Deceiver around (but I leave these well alone, as they are few and I want them to spread), Griselle, the occasional Stump Puffball, Trametes, and a few others whose names escape me right now (I tend to forget those that are either inedible or look less interesting).
The trees 'do' grow better now these fungi are here, and I'm hoping that now I can chop and drop more material as the hedgerow grows, they will break this matter down into soil all the faster.

[Squarepeg]

I find the mycelial network absolutely fascinating. I’m gradually working my way through Paul Stamets books which are amazing. He’s fantastic.

[GeorgePMusic]

ANOTHER AWESOME VID ROB.. very educational and inspiring as always mate. Love em :)