Recommended foraging books
Table of Contents
A good selection of field guides and reference books are invaluable to the forager. I’ll be adding separate reviews of the many I own when I get the time, but for now, here is my list if I were to start from scratch.
Most of these books can be had second-hand for a song—I added it up and for less than £20 you can get some of the best books out there to get you started!
Usually, a mix of field guides (ones you can put in a bag and easily reference) and reference books (ones that are just too impractical for field use) are recommended. I have a bit of a loathing for mobile phones, usually keeping mine on silent/airplane mode for most of the time and only really grabbing it to take photographs or send a quick message to my wife with my ETA.
Starting Out - General Foraging Guides
If you’re only tentatively dipping your toes into foraging, then the first book on my list, coupled with a few good foraging sites with excellent images/reference material you can access from your phone, is all you need.
The Forager’s Calendar - John Wright
This book was a recent addition that I picked up on a whim, and I’m really pleased I did. If there’s one book I’d heartily recommend to anyone with even a hint of an interest in foraging, it would be this one. It covers a good selection of plants, fungi and seaweeds and is written in John’s very warm approachable style. Couple this with a good wildflower field guide and you’d be all set.
Starting Out - Wild Flower Guidebook
Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Britain - Readers Digest
There are several books I’ve bought over the years based on Mark’s recommendation over at Galloway Wild Foods, and this one is an excellent recommendation indeed.
Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe - David Sutton
I picked this up in a second hand bookshop ‘just because’ and I’m really impressed. It’s not extensive but covers a good 850 species with good illustrations and illustrated close-ups of key identification features. Smaller than the above, so this makes it a bit easier to carry.
Wild Flowers of Britain and Ireland - Marjorie Blamey, Richard Fitter & Alastair Fitter
Extensive coverage of Wild Flowers, including trees, leaf shape and ferns which is very useful. This has been my field guide for a decade.
Starting Out - Fungi Foraging Guides
Mushrooms - River Cottage Handbook No. 1 by John Wright
I really rate John’s writing style. This fungi foraging guide nails it. It’s hardback, portable, and covers most good common edible species with enough ID information and clear images to be very useful. There’s also good coverage of the less agreeable species in sufficient detail to keep you safe. An excellent fungi guide specifically for the forager.
Getting Serious - Plants
The Forager Handbook by Miles Irving
Getting Serious - Fungi
Mushrooms of Britain and Europe (Black’s Nature Guides)
A really excellent fungi field guide covering some 360 species of fungi in Britain and Ireland. One of the reasons this guide is so useful to the forager is that it does contain edibility information and some well thought out layouts to help you begin the identification process in the field.
Mushrooms and Other Fungi of Great Britain and Europe - Roger Phillips
This is one of my favourite fungi reference books. I’ll leaf through it just for the sake of looking at cool pictures of fungi. There is a new edition available through Collins, but mine is the original published in 1981 that came to me from one of my older relatives when I was a teenager, and but for some updates on naming and other information, I like this one the best. The images are big, clear, and plentiful. The species covered are vast, and the information for each is short and succinct.