Every season has a character. Some years the boletes dominate and you cannot walk a path without treading on a Penny Bun. Other years they simply do not come, and something else fills the gap.
This was a hedgehog year. Hydnum repandum was everywhere from late September, in troops and arcs under beech and birch, and it kept going well into November.
Why it is a beginner's mushroom
The Hedgehog Fungus is one of the safest introductions to foraging in Britain. Nothing else of its size and shape has a spine-covered underside instead of gills or pores. Turn it over and you see soft, brittle white spines that rub off on your thumb. There is no dangerous lookalike.
The flesh is firm, slightly rubbery, and it holds its texture in the pan better than almost anything else. Older specimens can be bitter; if so, scrape the spines off before cooking.
What came after
As the hedgehogs faded, the Winter Chanterelle arrived. Craterellus tubaeformis - older books have it as Cantharellus tubaeformis - grows in enormous numbers in mossy conifer plantations, and once you have your eye in on the brown funnel-shaped caps you will pick a kilo without moving far. They dry superbly.
Cauliflower Fungus, Sparassis crispa, appeared at the base of two Scots pines on the same walk. It is unmistakable - a cream-coloured mass of flat wavy lobes like a bath sponge - and one good specimen feeds a family. It needs careful washing; every crevice holds pine needles and grit.
The lesson
Do not go out looking for one species. Go out and see what the wood is doing. A poor bolete year is a good hedgehog year, and the forager who only knows three mushrooms goes home empty-handed four seasons in five.