The season is looking good now after a very poor start and a terrible summer for wild mushrooms. I just wanted to take this opportunity to relay a story you you all as a warning to ALL OF US about eating wild mushrooms and more importantly, not eating wild mushrooms unless you are 100% sure and have backed up your identification by someone else - NOT just from looking at this website or any other website. The risks are just too great.

So here is a sad story that I do not want to depress you with - but I want to make anyone who has a relaxed attitude towards Fungi just how dangerous they can be:

Although this is an old story from 2008 - its words of warning are as important now:

"The author of the acclaimed novelThe Horse Whisperer fell seriously ill after eating poisonous mushrooms while on holiday in the Highlands.

Nicholas Evans, 58, his wife. Charlotte, 50, her brother, Sir Alistair Gordon-Cumming, 54, and his wife, Lady Louise, 46, consumed Cortinarius speciosissimus, a rare species that can cause renal failure.

All four are in hospital in Aberdeen, where they have received dialysis and other kidney treatment, but a family friend has said that they are mobile and in “a positive frame of mind”.

Mr Evans and his family ate the mushrooms on Saturday, August 23, after picking them during a woodland stroll through the Altyre Estate, near Forres. The 12,000-acre estate is owned by Sir Alistair, who is chief of the Clan Cumming."

I understand that they are still awaiting kidney and liver transplants and it has irreparably affected their lives.

Please READ the rest of this story here