Mushrooms and the UL Nature Society

A couple of weeks back, when the Nature Society in UL decided to organise a trip to Lough Boora organic farm in co. Offaly, I happened to join them. During that trip, I decided to join the society and their mailing list. Last week, this email landed in my inbox:

Dear members of the Nature society,

The Nature Society is planning a mushroom picking trip this weekend. Our very own Tom Harrington a local expert from the Life Sciences department will be giving a tour of the scenic Cratloe woods near Limerick. You don’t have to be interested in mushrooms if you’re interested in nature come along to this wonderful forest in county Clare for a trip to remember.

The dates for the trip are either Saturday the 16^th or Sunday the 17^th of October. Please reply to myself if you are interested and which date would suit you better.

Kind regards,

T O’D

I expressed my interest, and this afternoon I was among the 16 people who got on the bus to Cratloe. It was my first trip to that area, so upon arrival, I checked the map:Tom Harrington explained the role of mushrooms in the woodland ecosystem, identified every mushroom we collected, told us about the extreme toxicity of some mushrooms, encouraged us to touch, smell, break and compare different types of mushrooms. And we found a lot! Here are just a few:

• hedgehog mushrooms;
• fly Amanita;
• plums and custard;

Jane Doe, 10000001