Now would be the ideal time to go out with a basket and fill it with mushrooms! But has the weather played ball for the forest dwellers?

October is the peak season for mushroom picking, due to the ideal weather conditions, with typical autumnal fog, morning dew and sunny spells.

The fruiting bodies of many fungi species flourish in autumn thanks to the return of cooler, wetter conditions, and we have certainly had that here in the UK and Ireland.

In contrast, the season looks bleak for picking right now across Germany, where the weather has bene less than ideal, with scarce supply of mushrooms to forage.

When you are out picking mushrooms, it is important to remember that if you cannot identify a mushroom with absolute certainty, you should leave it alone.

Identifying mushrooms takes skill and practice, and there are also restrictions on amounts that can be picked.