'Commercial' mushroom gangs stripping West Berkshire beauty spots, claims Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust
GANGS of thieves have been stripping nature reserves of fungi to sell to high end restaurants, a wildlife charity has claimed.
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) said it had received reports of groups walking around its reserves such as Snelsmore Common and filling plastic bags with fungi.
The charity - which manages 86 nature reserves across the three counties - does not object to people foraging on any land where they have the landowner's permission, but has stressed that it does not allow the activity on any of the sites it manages.
Although mushrooms and toadstools are only the 'fruiting body' of a fungus, and picking them does not kill the organism, BBOWT has claimed it can cause other problems.
BBOWT’s Berkshire Land Manager, Roger Stace, said: "This year I have seen lots of fungi that have clearly been snapped off, many just left there upside down, so my suspicion is that people were picking it, realising it wasn't edible and leaving it.
"Members of public have also reported seeing teams of people sweeping across the site with big carrier bags...I fear commercial foragers are selling stolen fungi to restaurants for money.
"We are lucky to have some incredibly rare fungus species on our nature reserves, and if people aren't trained they could be picking and destroying these rare species.
"On a commercial scale some of these untrained mushroom pickers just take everything they see and someone else sorts through them afterwards and throws away what they don't want – including potentially poisonous fungi."
He added: "That in itself is a pretty sad state of affairs, but if people do that year after year you could destroy the precious populations of amazing fungi that we and our volunteers have worked for decades to protect such as hedgehog mushrooms, death caps, waxcaps and plums-and-custard.
"Fungi will always provide food for other wildlife: if you pick everything you're removing a food source for mammals, birds, insects and other invertebrates.
"Even other fungi rely on fungi: some species of fungus grow on other mushrooms and toadstools, and those can be particular rarities - if you remove mushrooms you could remove that opportunity completely."
Finally, the Trust said it was also concerned about people wandering off footpaths to pick mushrooms, which could damage the wild habitats that nature reserves are specifically designed to protect.
Mr Stace said: "At BBOWT, we aim to protect and restore nature and inspire people about the amazing natural world.
"We want people to come to our nature reserves and enjoy the wildlife we have there, including all the fantastic rare and unusual species that you won't see at a local park, in farmland or other parts of the countryside.
"We know most people feel exactly the same, and that's why we want to remind people - if you're going to take anything at our nature reserves, make it a photograph, and leave the beautiful wildlife for others to enjoy.
"And if you want to go foraging on other people's land, just check you have permission first, but please – don’t pick mushrooms on BBOWT reserves."
