£49 

Tuesday 7th October

6:00pm - 8:30pm

Moonlight Mushroom Hunting

Experience the world of wild food in a new light on this nighttime foraging course.

Under the light of the full Hunter’s moon, experience foraging like never before.

Donned with torches, UV lights and and guided by the light of the moon, explore the forests and meadows for seasonal fungi and plants.

The practice of nighttime foraging has been recorded throughout history. Mushroom hunters would set out into the forests with oil lamps, hunting for the edible treasures of nature. Traditionally, certain mushrooms, flowers and herbs were collected by the light of the moon. This is due to mushrooms releasing particular scents as the humidity of the night rises, moths pollinate the flowers and the bioluminescence of certain mushrooms glows!

During the night, mushroom caps fully open, revealing gills, the cuticle becomes more elastic, reducing harvest damage and specific enzymes activate, intensifying aromas. Connect with your senses in the dark, learning ways of finding and identifying plants and fungi by smell, sounds and feel.

Halfway around, enjoy a seasonal snack and drink made with things we have found on the day.

Set in the stunning South Downs National Park near Liphook, GU31. An email with full location and details on what to bring will be emailed to you 2 days prior so keep an eye out on your inbox and junk emails.

Hunt mushrooms by the light of the moon in this traditional, sensory experience.

An evening experience like no other

Step into the wild and clear the mind with a 2-3 hour foraging course through the moon-lit South Downs woodlands and forests, learning what the nighttime has to offer. Follow your senses through the forest, learning how to detect mushrooms by smell, location and witness their bioluminescence. Don your torches and follow our experts through the woodlands, searching for the glow of edible mushrooms, the fragrance of herbs, and fruit.

The perfect gift for lovers of the outdoors, hiking, nature, and herbalists and foodies. A great Christmas gifts for those wanting to start a new hobby or learn more about nature. With events every weekend through the year, they are ideal for birthday surprises!

Plan for the day:

Please arrive 10 minutes before the start time to allow for introductions and get settled. The walk will start with a safety talk and overview where you can have any questions answered before we begin. We will then head out into the South Downs woodlands to bathe in nature and learn about seasonal fungi, plants, berries and trees, learning how to identify them from their toxic lookalikes, their properties, edibility, uses and more.

Torches will be provided.

• Can I bring my dog?

  As much as we love your furry friends, they unfortunately do not love foraging! We do not allow dogs on our walks due to them getting frustrated with standing still, slow walking speeds and not getting the true attention they deserve. There are also dangers of them eating poisonous plants and fungi that we are waving around and making look extremely interesting. For the sake of your own sanity and the safety of your fur babies we recommend you leave your pooches at home.

• What is the age limit?

  We recommend a minimum age of 16 on our courses as we do talk about very complex scientific topics, touch on adult situations (such as illicit drug use through history) and we all handle extremely toxic and deadly specimens while out. If you think your child will absolutely love the course and are mature enough please get in contact and we can assess case-by-case but otherwise check out our brand-new family-friendly foraging courses!

• Is it accessible?

  We head off into the wilderness of the forests and hedgerows where it is unfortunately not accessible with steep hills, rocky ground and wayward roots. Please do get in contact with us if you have any accessibility needs and we can see what we can do and if we have sites that are more suitable.

• How big will the group be?

  We like to operate in smaller groups usually 6-12 people. This means that we can communicate effectively with everybody, all the forager’s can see and hear the important information and there is the least amount of impact on the environments we are foraging in.