Middle class foragers are desecrating the countryside b…

Middle class foragers are desecrating the countryside by copying influencers who have fuelled the popularity of berry picking and mushroom hunting.

Wholesome influencers are winning millions of followers who watch them traipse forests and fields with wicker baskets full of artfully-arranged pickings, and their recipes for making hot sauce out of rose petals or a batch of horse chestnut soap.

However, conservationists are concerned that Britain’s countryside is being depleted by over-eager foragers inspired by online content that ‘romanticises’ the practice, as well as high profile fans such as King Charles and Jennifer Garner.

Some woodlands and parks have been so stripped bare that wildlife trusts are enforcing foraging guidelines – and, in some cases, blanket bans on wild food gathering.

The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust issued a warning last week that foraging is not permitted on its reserves, reminding visitors that picking mushrooms and toadstools disrupts the reproductive cycle of fungi and removes a ‘hugely important sources of food for a host of wild animals’.

The trust’s Principal Ecologist Andy Coulson-Phillips told the Daily Mail that their reserves are ‘home to a number of sensitive and protected species of fungi’.

‘Even if they‘re not the targets for foragers, they can be harmed through trampling and disturbance,’ Mr Coulson-Phillips said.

‘We have seen examples of indiscriminate foraging on our reserves where all manner of species have been picked and later discarded if they’re not suitable for consumption.’

The one upside to people throwing away their spoils is that they’re avoiding the very real risk of serious illness and even death, amid a rise in mushroom poisoning cases in the UK and across the world.

Last September, three people in Jersey – including a mother and son- were rushed to hospital after eating a death cap mushroom that, as the name suggests, is lethal to humans even if a piece as small as a coin is ingested.

Monica Wilde, 61, who founded the Association of Foragers a decade ago told the Daily Mail that watching a short video on social media doesn’t allow for a comprehensive lesson.

The Edinburgh-based expert forager explained: ‘Good foragers are often some of the best stewards and conservationists I know, as we want to return to the places we love – year after year after year.

‘The problem is really about the way that social media’s short posts do not allow time to explain these issues to followers.’

One of the UK’s best-known ‘foraging influencers’ is Fern Freud, from West Sussex, who has amassed more than half a million followers with instructions on how to prepare a ‘healing plantation balm’ or sticky-weed infused water ‘to flush chemicals and toxins from the body’.

The 31-year-old, who shares ‘wild recipes’ for much-loved treats like sweet pear and chestnut tarts in her cookbook, Wild Magic, organises foraging walks and £180 workshops for budding truffle hunters that sell out months in advance.

Fern, who runs her website ForagedbyFern, turned her ‘favourite childhood hobby’ of mushroom foraging with her father into a burgeoning business that focuses on how to ‘safely and sustainably gather wild foods’.

The pro forager, who set up the lifestyle company in 2019, said the skill helped her ‘find delicious foods for free’ as a cash-strapped university student who couldn’t afford to shop at ‘organic markets and high-end stores.

Meanwhile, former Michelin star cook and MasterChef contestant Christian Amys, 40, founded UrbanForage, a business that offers foraging workshops to customers for between £15-£80.

Christian has almost 90,000 followers on TikTok and his videos have earned him over 600,000 likes.

One of the most popular videos on his account, which has over 2.5 million views, is about foraging sumac berries and turning it into ‘citrusy, zingy, and delicious’ sumac powder ‘just like you buy in your supermarkets’.

Nic, who has been living in a campervan with her partner Sam, has also gained over 137,000 Instagram followers from documenting her off-grid lifestyle online.

In one of her recent videos, ‘digital nomad’ Nic shared her mushroom foraging journey as she reiterated that she won’t eat any species that she can’t ‘100 per cent identify as edible’.

Videos posted on her channel show Nic preparing wild garlic salt, eating ‘wild bilberries’ instead of store-bought blueberries, and turning her foraged blackberries into homemade jam.

The clampdown on foraging has sparked a debate online after one Reddit user spotted a Woodland Trust notice prohibiting ‘fungi foraging’.

‘Our woods are managed for the benefit of the wildlife and ecosystem, and for everyone’s enjoyment,’ the message read. ‘To protect the fungi…foraging is not permitted here this year.’

A photo of the sign was shared on the Foraging UK subreddit and drew mixed reactions from social media users as one person wrote: ‘I’m getting increasingly concerned seeing the amount that some people are taking.’

They wrote: ‘On the one hand, I don’t know that they have the authority to ban people foraging in an area that isn’t a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

‘On the other hand, I’m getting increasingly concerned seeing the amount that some people are taking, both here and in person. People taking 5kg+ of mushrooms in one session for “personal consumption” is ludicrous.

‘Honestly I think we need to get better at calling it out as a community, because the greedy folks are ruining it for the rest of us for the sake of showing off a massive basket/bag/table full of their pickings.’

According to The National Trust’s code of conduct, foragers are urged to ‘always leave plenty for others to enjoy’ and be absolutely certain of ‘what you are picking’ while avoiding toxic or lethal species.

They are also warned that foraging anything ‘without consent on a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) or Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI)’ is illegal under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

‘Only pick common and abundant species,’ the notice read, while reminding hobbyists to steer clear of ‘rare, vulnerable, or threatened species’.

However, Monica Wilde claims that the problems caused by foraging have been exaggerated.

‘It is easy to come down on foraging – after all many people just don’t like seeing someone else with a “freebie” but the controversy around foraging is a much deeper issue around access to the land and nature.

‘The UK is one of the most depleted countries in Europe when it comes to nature and the way we tackle development, planning, roads, and so on do so much more damage than the still very small percent of people who forage blackberries or wild mushrooms.’