Ashdown Forest calls for tougher fines as commercial fungi picking strips woodland

The body that manages Ashdown Forest in East Sussex has called for tougher penalties against people who pick wild fungi from the forest to sell, saying the current fines do little to stop them.

What the Conservators said

The Conservators of Ashdown Forest told the BBC that large-scale picking every autumn is damaging the forest's wildlife. The forest covers about 10 square miles of heath and woodland in the Wealden district and is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Ash Walmsley, the Conservators' head of countryside, said: "Every year we have reports of people loading large bags of fungi into vans". He said the picking had become so indiscriminate that species nobody can eat were being taken as well, leaving areas "that should be full of mushrooms" bare.

Chief executive Mark Pearson said: "Taking fungi for commercial purposes is illegal but the fines are not a big enough deterrent." The BBC reported that penalties for commercial foraging under the Theft Act 1968 currently run from £100 to £300.

The Conservators say rarer species are at risk too. The tiered tooth fungus, which is on the UK conservation red list, grows on the forest, and its exact location is kept secret to protect it.

This is not the first appeal. In November 2024 the Conservators called for more prosecutions of illegal commercial foragers, saying the same parts of the forest were targeted year after year.

The rules if you visit

The coverage has focused on commercial picking, but the forest's own rules go further. Its guidance says foraging for personal use is prohibited as well, and fungi may only be collected under licence for scientific or educational work. A basket of mushrooms for your own pan is off limits.

The byelaws matter if you are planning a camping trip near the forest. Camping is not allowed anywhere on Ashdown Forest, whether in a tent, a campervan, a caravan, a car or a sleeping bag, and nobody may park a vehicle on the forest between midnight and 6am without written permission. Fires and stoves are banned as well, apart from picnic stoves used in the car parks between July and December.

So if you want to spend a weekend walking the forest this autumn, book a campsite off the forest rather than planning to stop overnight in one of its car parks, and leave the fungi where they grow.

How to help

The Conservators are asking visitors who see suspicious activity, such as people filling bags or vans with fungi, to report it to them. Their contact details are on the Conservators' website.

Sources

1. Fungi foraging a threat to protected landscape BBC News
2. Foraging on Ashdown Forest The Conservators of Ashdown Forest
3. Byelaws The Conservators of Ashdown Forest
4. Calls to protect rare fungi on Ashdown Forest (1 November 2024) Unknown Kent & Sussex Magazine