Fungi Foraging in Sussex: What to Expect on a Mushroom Foraging Course

Fungi foraging in Sussex is a wonderful way to experience the county’s woods and countryside in autumn. With ancient woodland, the High Weald and the South Downs on our doorstep, there’s an extraordinary variety of fungi to discover. If you know what you’re looking for.

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I joined a fungi foraging course in East Sussex, with mycologist Geoff Dann, for a fascinating day of mushroom hunting, identification and feasting on our edible finds. Geoff has since moved to Wales and no longer runs his fungi foraging course in Sussex, but the experience gave me a brilliant introduction to the world of fungi and foraging.

Read on to discover what to expect from a fungi foraging course, some of the mushrooms we found and where you can book fungi and mushroom foraging courses in Sussex today.

I’ve always been intrigued by fungi. Ripples of milky white frills that appear magically overnight on an old tree stump or a mysterious fairy circle of mushrooms on a dewy autumnal morn are just fascinating.

Foraging for fungi, edible wild foods and bushcraft has become more and more popular in the UK. I live steps away from Battle Great Wood and a foray into the ancient woodland in search of fungi and wild plants is one of my favourite pastimes.

Wild Food Foraging in Sussex

I regularly make food from wild edibles; wild garlic pesto, blackberry vodka, elderflower cordial and bramble jelly. In a good year we also roast sweet chestnuts picked from the forest floor – one of my favourite wild ingredients. But, when it comes to fungi I’ve always been fearful.

‘Look but don’t touch’ has been my motto, but I’ve been keen to learn more. When I discovered there was mushroom foraging course near me I booked up quicker than you can say Shaggy Inkcap.

If you’re looking for a foraging book then I can recommend Geoff’s book; Edible Mushrooms, a foraging guide to the wild fungi of Britain, Ireland and Europe.

Secret Foraging Destination

A couple of days before the foraging course I was e-mailed directions to a woodland site a few miles north of Hastings. It was all very intriguing. I parked up on a brisk Sunday morning in November and followed the route to our secret meeting place in the woods.

A tarpaulin was rigged up to shelter us from the rain, which fortunately, didn’t last long. A circle of logs and low stools were arranged under the shelter and a warming camp fire crackled nearby.

What Happens on a Fungi Foraging Course?

There were around ten people in the group all eager to learn more about foraging. Some had a little experience and others, like me, were complete novices.

We’d been asked to bring some foraged fungi with us and a long table displayed the myriad of mushrooms and fungi we’d sought out.

Geoff began the foraging course by introducing each species – these included many that he’d recently foraged.

From huge field mushrooms and parasols to boletes, blewits and penny buns on the edible end of the spectrum to fly agaric, deathcaps and deceivers on the dodgy end.

Learning how to Identify Wild Mushrooms

The difference in size, colour and shape is vast. We started with the poisonous corner. It turned out that most of the ones I’d brought along were either inedible, poisonous or deadly. I was wise to stick to my motto; look but don’t touch!

We spent around half an hour learning about our foraged finds. The different parts of the fungi; what to look for on the stem, the gills, the cap and other identifying features like the smell, the colour and pores.

Many of the edible fungi have an evil toxic twin, a very similar looking poisonous counterpart. Before you even touch fungi you need to know your stuff.

Important: Never eat a wild mushroom unless you are completely certain of its identification. Some edible species have poisonous lookalikes and eating incorrectly identified fungi can cause serious illness or death. If you’re new to fungi foraging, learn with an experienced forager or mycologist.

There’s a lot to learn when it comes to fungi and these foraging courses are just a taster. I don’t recommend ever picking and eating fungi unless you know exactly what you’re doing or have an expert mycologist like Geoff at hand.

Don’t ever ‘pick and hope’. They don’t have names like Funeral Bell, Deathcap, Destroying Angel or Deadly Webcap for nothing…

If you’re looking for a foraging book then I can recommend Geoff’s book; Edible Mushrooms, a foraging guide to the wild fungi of Britain, Ireland and Europe.

Our First Mushroom Foraging Walk

It was time to head into the forest for our first foraging walk. Within a few steps we found a mossy stump swathed in honey fungus. It was very pretty to look at but we were after better species. It wasn’t long before we found them – lots of them.

There are around 60 species of edible wild fungi in the 20-acres of woodland and nearby fields around the camp. We gathered all kinds of edible fungi from boletes and blewits to hedgehog mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, jelly ear, trooping funnels and many more.

Each time we found a new fungi Geoff would explain which characteristics to look for and how to identify it. He’d also tell us about similar looking poisonous or deadly fungi and how to differentiate between the two.

We switched from forest to field and came across some large, white, flat-capped mushrooms. Geoff asked us what they were. They looked like common field or macro mushrooms which is what we guessed.

Geoff picked one and sliced the cap with his knife. It quickly started to turn an acrid yellow – these innocent ‘everyday’ looking mushrooms were actually the poisonous Yellow Stainer.

Responsible Fungi Foraging

Geoff’s foraging courses are based around safe and sustainable practises. We followed the code of conduct for mushroom pickers by leaving at least half the fungi behind in any one location. Singletons were left alone and mature fungi past their best were left too.

We didn’t trample and didn’t pick any rare species. Not difficult because we didn’t actually find any. Remember to close gates, don’t disturb livestock and don’t litter.

If you’re looking for a foraging book then I can recommend Geoff’s book; Edible Mushrooms, a foraging guide to the wild fungi of Britain, Ireland and Europe.

A Foraged Lunch in the Woods

Back at camp a home-made foraged lunch and a cup of tea, herbal or otherwise, was waiting for us. Geoff’s wife, and cook for the day, Cathy, had a cauldron of mushroom soup simmering over the camp fire.

The soup is made with around 60% parasol mushrooms plus penny bun, saffron milkcap and blusher cooked up with onions and garlic in olive oil. Vegetable stock is added and simmered and then all blended when ready. Add cream at the end for a deliciously warming, very tasty soup served with fresh bread. Leave out the cream if you’re vegan.

A  colourful home-made tart of foraged mushrooms followed and for dessert there were jammy dodgers. The best jammy dodgers I’ve ever tasted, made by Cathy with acorn flour and filled with rosehip and service tree jelly.

The biscuits were deliciously nutty and not too sweet and the flavour reflected all the hard work that had gone into making them. We were very well fed.

If you like eating locally sourced food then you’ll love our Sussex Smokie recipe.

A foraged lunch with mushroom soup, mushroom tart, bread, butter and jammy dodgers –  it doesn’t get any better than this!

Our Second Fungi Forage

After lunch we set out on a second forage to a different, wilder, part of the woods. This area of woodland was more dense with steep ghylls, streams and small waterfalls.

More wood blewits were added to the basket and we learned about puffballs, earthballs and another type of fungi, the Birch polypore. This large bracket fungus can be used to create a makeshift plaster to cover a small cut or graze by peeling away a strip of the cap.

Cooking and Tasting our Wild Mushrooms

We headed back to camp to sample our foraged fare from both outings together with the edible fungi everyone had brought along.

The fungi is chopped up and sautéed in butter over the camp fire. We all have a mouthful or two of around six different mushrooms. It was interesting to compare flavours which, along with the textures, are all quite distinct and vary greatly. The hedgehog mushrooms and trooping parasols were especially tasty.

My Experience of Fungi Foraging in Sussex

For anyone looking for a safe, fun, day’s foraging these events are a fabulous experience. You’ll learn a lot about edible fungi and foraging from Geoff’s extensive knowledge and get to taste some wonderful wild food foraging from the High Weald.

Fungi and Mushroom Foraging courses in Sussex for 2026

Looking for a fungi foraging course in Sussex?

Foraged have numerous autumn mushroom walks and fungi identification days at Kidbrooke Park and Masketts Manor in East Sussex. Their introductory mushroom walks are half-day experiences whil the fungi identification course is a full day.

Foraging with Fern. offer Sussex walks and workshops including seasonal foraging, mushroom hunting and truffle-hunting experiences.

The Barefoot Forager has Sussex mushroom courses at locations including Stanmer Park near Brighton and Wild Weald Wood near Hailsham. Current autymn events include mushroom and plant walks as well as dedicated introductory mushroom-foraging sessions.

All Things Fungi is a fungi festival taking place in Chiddinglye, East Sussex each year in September.

Courses, dates and locations change seasonally, so check directly with the provider for current availability.

Edible Mushrooms – the book

If you’re looking for a foraging book then I can recommend Geoff’s book; Edible Mushrooms, a foraging guide to the wild fungi of Britain, Ireland and Europe. The book is the most comprehensive book available on British and northern European fungi foraging and a must-have for any forager worth their salt. It details edible mushrooms as wells as the poisonous varieties.

I’ve bought myself a copy have found it useful as well as fascinating. It costs around £24 on Amazon although prices vary. It’s a comprehensive book and therefore quite weighty. If you want a smaller book that’s practical to actually take out foraging then the Collins Complete Guide to Mushrooms and Toadstools will be much lighter to carry.

About Geoff Dann

Geoff Dann is a mycologist, professional forager and author who began running fungi foraging courses in Sussex in 2009. His knowledge of wild mushrooms made him an exellent guide for my first proper introduction to fungi identification.

Geoff has since moved from Sussex to Wales and no longer runs the Sussex foraging day featured in this article, but his book Edible Mushrooms, a foraging guide to the wild fungi of Britain, Ireland and Europe remains an excellent reference for anyone interested in learning more about British fungi.

Details of his courses in Wales can be found on Geoff’s Fungi and Foraging website.

So now you know what to expect from a fungi foraging course in Sussex. Are you a keen forager? What and where in Sussex do you like to forage?

If you enjoy exploring local woodland you might be interested in these posts:

• Reconnect with nature: Forest Bathing in Sussex
• Best Bluebell Woods in Sussex
• Autumn Foliage at Sheffield Park, East Sussex

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