Wild Mushroom Hunting in Donegal

girolles Donegal

Collecting the first wild mushrooms of 2012 in Donegal

A damp start to July has been the bain of Irish agriculture & local farmers. Whilst ” Damo” are local farmer tends to the ewe’s & lambs in this inclement weather, even his 4×4 struggles over the damp ground – hence its parked at the top of the lane & its a trudge down the fields to keep the “Agri food business” at the front off our economic recovery.

I have been empathising with “Damo” & his plight. I suggested it could be a good season for wild mushrooms & I’d keep him updated on my wild mushroom foraging. So far July has been warm & damp and this been proving great for wild mushroom.  I have been out twice so far this month & have collected around 3kilos. A nice mix of Ceps & girolles. Its been the earliest start to the season here in Donegal. I found a new spot & so far it’s proving a good choice, even though their are some parts where I’m crawling through the forest floor & old pine needles are so deep you can’t see the soil. The great thing about this is that the mushrooms are well preserved & relatively soil free. I literally stumbled across a real bounty of girolles & ceps last September, I got lost in the middle of the forest – was going in a straight line & completed a semi circle & came across the new patch.  Try it some time, get yourself a good mushroom guide book, a bit of  local knowledge & go mushroom foraging.   

wild mushroom hunting Donegal