Collins Complete British Mushrooms and Toadstools: The Essential Photograph Guide to Britain’s Fungi Paperback – 3 Sept. 2009

I noted a number of fungi webpages referring to this book. We've recently been out exploring the wonderful world of fungi, to record & photograph, not to forage and eat, no, we v much believe they should be left in nature and for others to enjoy. We want to know who they are cos that can add depth to our wildlife surveying & enjoyment on our walks. How can anyone survey any natural habitat without considering fungi? Unthinkable.So we embark on an exciting mission which has made October a rather magical month. I've already got half a dozen fungi books and got nowhere. Apps are now so very good. AI and geolocational data has revolutionized field recording. The apps are the first step. Every record is then checked and doubled checked with books. This is by far the best and most up-to-date comprehensive book we now have. Unlike birds, where we like drawings, for fungi we've found photos are immensely more helpful. My other books feel obsolete. I bought this for my partner and he loves it. Considering the info in it, it's not too unwieldy to take in the field. We'll test that tomorrow. EDIT: It's great in the field :-)Very happy I bought it. Loving visiting fungi in their weird wonderful world. They are well worth putting your exploring feet on for, getting muddy and going out to meet.

I bought this to replace the same one that I had worn out through constant use. I mistakenly did buy the most recent version, but discovered that it had drawings in it, not photos as in this edition.

Bought this book to help me alongside my nature-based degree! It’s well written with great information on identification of mushrooms in Britain. Would highly recommend for a budding conservationist or someone who loves the outdoors.

I own several mushroom ID books and, in terms of readability and the quality of photography, this is my favorite. It's my go-to first source for identification due to the brilliant, high res, nicely printed photographs. The guide to terminology is also very thorough and I really like the small section at the back about specific types of woodland - it even has a short tree identification guide.This book doesn't have edibility notes - although if you're adventurous enough to be eating mushrooms you should have several ID guides anyway so this isn't a huge oversight. What is slightly crazy is that in most cases it includes no pictures of the gills. This is seems like a fairly astounding oversight as gills are on of the most obvious identifying features of a mushroom. Of course this would have doubled the size of the book and I can see why they didn't include it... but even so....Except for that, it's a truly excellent book.

Great information supplied in the book. Arrived quickly as well so seller good.

This was a gift for my wife who is a forest school teacher, she loves the book, finds the pictures really helpful when identifying the many different types of mushrooms and fungi

For amateur mycologists and mushroom lovers, this book is great. It has good clear photographic pics and the taxonomy (scientific names &c) - all up to date and it has some of the latest UK records.The authors concentrate more on the actual mushrooms, descriptions, where they are found with useful cross-referencing relating to habitat type. So if you find something unfamiliar under, say, a pine tree then you are likely to find it by going to that section first.There is a handy terminological glossary for those less familiar with mycological anatomy terms and a section on the correct way to collect mushrooms without getting too 'precious' about it.Although mentioned, there is not much description relating to edibility, although poisonous species are clearly labelled, so gastronomes may be slightly disappointed from that point of view but there is a good section on character recognition which is vital to such a book.The book is a handy pocket size, at a very good price and a very useful tool in the field.

I purchased as a gift for a friend that loves foresting and they love it. They keep coming in with different fun facts about mushrooms.