Wild Shrooms South Wales, UK

[Ruudboy3]

Do any of you guys have any experience finding magic mushrooms in the wild? I'm currently at my grandparents house in South Wales in the UK and I've heard they grow a lot around this area this time of year, Autumn time. Specifically I was thinking of going out to look for liberty caps, otherwise known as Psilocybe Semilanceata. Before I say anymore I want to make it clear that I don't intend to pick or try anything I would find, at least not right now. I know it's illegal to pick them but I'm also really worried of picking the wrong kind and ending up in a hospital bed so I was thinking of just familiarising myself with the area and seeing what's about. I've heard that they're likely to grow in fields that horse, cows, and sheep graze in and that south facing fields are good spots aswell. I've also heard that if you go out into the fields at night and shine a torch around they glow in the light and can be easily found. As for ID I know they have the distinct nipple on the top of the head, long slender stem, and I've heard they bruise blue but don't really know what that means. A friend also said it's good to do a spore print before eating any wild mushrooms so I'll be sure to do that when I'm ready but I'm not sure what a liberty cap spore print is supposed to look like.

Also I've been told that there aren't any shrooms that grow in Wales in the same place as liberty caps that look similar with the nipple that will do you any worse than a bad stomach but I'm pretty skeptical of that.

 

[leet]

Hi

The fungi you are interested in do seem to grow in fields with sheep or cows in. I really don't think they glow in the dark. The blue bruising refers to the cyan colour the base of the stem turns when picked. [please see edit]

There are a few mushrooms that look a little like the ones you are talking about, but once you've seen the real deal you'll always recognise them again - even years later.

Please be very careful, fungus are very interesting to find and document, but saying you'd only get a bad stomach if you ingest non-edible ones is irresponsible and potentially fatal advice.

Edit: I believe it damages the mycelium to pluck mushrooms straight from the ground and when picking any mushrooms perhaps they should be nipped off above ground rather than rip them out of the matrix. This might be nonsense.