IT’S A BIT of a well kept secret, but the Isle of Man is actually a really great place for finding all sorts of varieties of edible wild mushrooms.

Firstly, though, a warning. Lots of wild mushrooms are fantastic to eat, but lots of the edible varieties also have some nasty impersonators. So, get a good guide book and make absolutely sure you know what you’re doing before eating anything you may find.

Once you have a good understanding, then the opportunities are really surprising. The Isle of Man has lots of field mushrooms (the sort you get in Shoprite) but there are also numerous other delicious wild varieties and they are fabulous to eat.

I’ve been mushroom hunting on the Isle of Man for many years and have tried all sorts - and I’m still here, although all my hair has fallen out! I’m sure it’s not connected. My initial interest began when I was walking my dogs through Tholt y Will on a brisk autumn afternoon and saw three ladies with Eastern European accents (Polish no doubt) with their arms full of large mushrooms which I would previously not have touched with a bargepole.

I thought to myself ‘if they are taking those mushrooms home then they must be edible - it’s time I found out what this is all about’. Also, mushroom identification across Europe is on a completely different level to the UK and everyone, it seems, loves hunting for mushrooms. You can take your mushrooms into the local chemist in France and he’ll tell you whether the mushroom you’ve found is an a la carte possibility or one which will see you carried off in a cart.

But it wasn’t until I travelled to south Wales to join someone who really knew what they were doing on a proper guided weekend forage through the valleys and plantations that I really became hooked.

Since then, I’ve hunted all over the Isle of Man’s beautiful plantations, glens and walks and found varieties I had no idea existed on the Island.

At the moment the season is just starting to burst into life, although throughout the British Isles everything seems to be a fair bit later this year after the very cold winter. However, such conditions obviously apply every year in countries like France, Italy and Switzerland where mushroom hunting is second nature. So, why not here too?

In the last two years, armed with a decent field guide and - very importantly - photos I actually took myself in Wales of the mushrooms you genuinely can eat, I have been lucky to find a really interesting selection of mushrooms which can be eaten without too much of an identification problem.

But you have GOT to get it right. If in the slightest doubt - which happens to me frequently - then I take them home in the camera only and leave the mushrooms where they are.

My finds of edible mushrooms in the Isle of Man include St George’s mushrooms, chanterelles, amethyst deceivers, hedgehog fungus, parasols, bay boletus, chicken-of-the-woods and the fantastic, fabulous king of them all - ceps. 

My short list is based on personal experience and they all have really good taste. You can also eat lots of others which are plentiful in the Isle of Man, but to be honest they don’t have a lot of taste and, therefore, what’s the point? These include jew’s ear, beefsteak fungus, shaggy ink cap and the impressive, but tasteless (to me anyway) giant puff ball.

No sign of morels (too far north I’m told) and no truffles (worth crazy amounts of cash), although they are found in cold parts of northern Italy in abundance, so why not here? More to the point, has anyone ever tried to find them in the Isle of Man? Maybe we’re unwittingly sitting on a whole new industry?

Recommended:

•  One of Britain’s leading experts in mycology is journalist Daniel Butler who runs mushroom hunting weekends in the beautiful Elan Valley in South Wales. www.fungiforays.co.uk 01597 811168 / 0779 429 4221