He clearly adores fungi, but the repeated dire warnings of deadly confusion species scared me enough to leave that to the professionals. John Wright is the country's foremost expert in foraging and brings decades of experience, including as forager at the River Cottage, to this seasonal guide. Month by month, he shows us what species can be found and where, how to identify them, and how to store, use and cook them. You'll learn the stories behind the Latin names, the best way to tap a Birch tree, make rosehip syrup and cook a hop omelette. However much of that (undeniably useful) information “tastes bland/slimy/disgusting so don’t bother.” He quite likes astringent, aniseed or bitter flavours some of the time but for a good third of the plants he damns with faint praise at best. I've read a number of foraging books and blogs in the past, this is definitely the best starting point.

Fully illustrated throughout, with tips on kit, conservation advice and what to avoid, this is an indispensable guide for everyone interested in wild food, whether you want to explore the great outdoors, or are happiest foraging from your armchair. I love that John comes across a bit fussy - he has carefully curated a list of wild foods that are actually worth eating. This isn't a book of technically edible foods, but of foods worth eating, that will bring something interesting to your plate or drinks cabinet. A frustration I have had with other books and blogs is that their delight with a wild food being edible blinds them to the fact it isn't worth eating. I've learnt to recognise these items as they invariably come with the recommendation that 'it makes a delightful omelette'.

The monthly layout makes so much sense and makes the book very valuable. He provides the right amount of information for identifying everything he includes - where needed recommends caution. It's nice to be mostly confident you won't die. Perfect for a trivia night or a long trip, #TrainTeasers will both test your knowledge of this country`s rail system and enlighten you on the most colourful aspects of its long history. Meet trunk murderers, trainspotters, haters of railways, railway writers, Ministers for Transport good and bad, railway cats, dogs and a railway penguin. This is NOT a book for number-crunching nerds. Many of the answers are guessable by the intelligent reader. It is a quiz, yes, but also a cavalcade of historical incident and colour relating to a system that was the making of modern Britain. There’s little he hasn’t found or tried, and this book is an excellent source of useful information.

John Wright is a knowledgeable and experienced forager with encyclopaedic details about the wild plants and fungi of the British Isles. Fully illustrated throughout, with tips on kit, conservation advice and what to avoid, The Forager’s Calendar is an indispensable guide for everyone interested in wild food, whether you want to explore the great outdoors, or are happiest foraging from your armchair. He writes so engagingly that it's hard to imagine that actual foraging can be more attractive than reading his accounts of it. ...[This book] is a treasure. It is beautifully produced, designed and illustrated." The Sunday TimesThen there are the stars of the autumn show, the mushrooms. There is a great sense of adventure to be had when mushroom hunting. Spotting a dark ring of grass on the other side of a valley might, on closer inspection, reveal a ring of mushrooms, or the fizz when entering a woodland clearing and finding 20 perfect penny buns. One might find an old friend that has proved elusive for years, such as the superb horn of plenty. And then there are those fungi that are inedible but still fascinating – the scarlet caterpillar club, earthstars and the blood red and frankly stinking devil’s fingers come to mind. There is a great sense of adventure to be had when mushroom hunting, such as the fizz when entering a woodland and finding 20 perfect penny buns

Look out of your window, walk down a country path or go to the beach in Great Britain, and you are sure to see many wild species that you can take home and eat. From dandelions in spring to sloe berries in autumn, via wild garlic, samphire, chanterelles and even grasshoppers, our countryside is full of edible delights in any season. John Wright is the country’s foremost expert in foraging and brings decades of experience, including as forager at the River Cottage, to this seasonal guide. Month by month, he shows us what species can be found and where, how to identify them, and how to store, use and cook them. You’ll learn the stories behind the Latin names, the best way to tap a Birch tree, and how to fry an ant, make rosehip syrup and cook a hop omelette.

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He is also, like most fairly normal humans that are worth knowing, a slight dipsomaniac (and I will be buying his other books about how to brew your own etc). I think this is the best "all-rounder" foraging book and great for somebody who is just getting started. However, as I do not live near the sea, I travel around the UK on a narrowboat foraging the towpath hedgerows, I haven't yet, ahem, digested any of the sea-side delights the book has to offer. As this book has really inspired me to forage more I will be buying the hedgerows and mushrooms River Cottage handbooks. Look out of your window, walk down a country path or go to the beach in Great Britain, and you are sure to see many wild species that you can take home and eat. From dandelions in spring to sloe berries in autumn, via wild garlic, samphire, chanterelles and even grasshoppers, our countryside is full of edible delights in any season.