How to Identify Amanitas

The Amanita Family

The Amanita Family is certainly one of the most interesting for foragers, and definitely one that any novice forager should quickly familiarise themselves with.

The Amanita family contains roughly 24 species in Britain and some are among the most deadly poisonous mushrooms in the world.

Of the 24 at least 6 are listed as deadly among the books I own. Those are The Death Cap, The Destroying Angel, The Gemmed Amanita, The Panther Cap, The Spring Amanita and The Fools Mushroom. Not all of those are pictured here.

Some Amanitas are edible but not mushrooms we consider safe for the novice forager. The most important thing for any novice forager to learn is how to recognise the Amanitas and what edibles they can look like.

Before even considering eating any of the edible members of this family, or picking any mushroom that can look similar to them, it is worth noting that there is no known cure for the combination of toxins found in some Amanitas. 

A slow death is likely if you ingest these mushrooms, accompanied by terrible pain and extreme gastric problems as they destroy your internal organs.

Identifying all the Amanitas can be tricky but there are some key characteristics most share that you should look out for.

How to Identify the Amanitas.

1. All have white gills and white spores. 

2, All normally have a bulbous base, so when identifying mushrooms you don't know; it is important to get to the very base of the stem or stipe to see what's there. This can often be buried under the forest detritus or even the mud itself.

3, Many grow from an egg sack like structure called a volva. The volva can closely resemble other young mushrooms such as puffballs or stinkhorn eggs or even young Agarics (field mushroom types), so this should be taken into consideration when harvesting any of those edible mushrooms.

4, The remains of the volva can often be seen on the top of the cap of the mushroom, particularly the death cap, which often has the white remains of the volva left.

5, Most have a skirt, and the skirts can either be smooth or striated. Look closely at the skirt characteristics when you start to try to identify the individual species within the family. 

The Grisettes; a subspecies of the Amanitas generally do not have skirts.  Be aware that the skirt on a mushroom can sometimes come off due to weathering or by being brushed or blown off.

6. Many have speckles or spots on the top as with the archetypal gnome seat, The Fly Agaric or Amanita muscaria pictured on the right. This is a very interesting mushroom, and though it is used recreationally it falls into the deadly mushroom category as it has been known to cause deaths. 

Each Fly Agaric mushroom has an unknown quantity of the poison muscarine in it which can have fatal effects.

Different members of the family have slightly different types of speckles, some are scales left from when the mushroom broke through its egg, some seem to be flaky and some are much more like a calcite build up on top of the cap. 

All of these different types of 'speckles' can be washed off by the rain, and some of the most deadly members of the family often have no speckles at all.

Mushrooms that can be confused with Amanitas

Puffballs; small white puffballs can resemble Amanita eggs, always cut your puffballs in half and make sure there isn't a little mushroom inside to be sure you don't have an Amanita.

Young Field Mushrooms or other Agarics; If you pick a young Agaric before the cap has opened then you are running the risk of it being an Amanita. Check the colour of the gills, as with the Amanitas they will always be white and with young Agarics, they will always be off-white to pink.

Russulas; The Gemmed Amanita on the right can look like the common yellow Russula if all of the speckles have been washed off the top. Check the shape and texture of the stem. The Russula stem will be straight and white like a stick of chalk and have no skirt. The Amanita stem will be bulbous at the base and probably have a skirt.

Parasols; there are a number of superficial similarities between the Parasol and the Amanita family. Check the cap of your Parasol to make sure it is actually scaly rather than having scales you can brush off.

Edible Amanitas; the most likely mistake to make is when picking other edible members of the Amanita family, so if you are going to try experimenting with edible Amanitas extreme caution is required. Never eat any mushroom from this family unless you are 100% sure of what it is and that it is edible. Never eat any members of this family raw.

How to make a wood whistle

Take my word for it, carving a whistle from elder is an empowering activity, one that traces the handiwork of our ancestors and resounds in you long after the note has disappeared into the autumn air. And it’s dead simple. All you need is a penknife and a pair of eyes.

Elder is extremely common and easy to identify. Look around roadside verges, parks, woods, wastelands and railway lines for a bush-like, shrubby tree. It has oval-shaped, serrated leaves that grow in opposite pairs and a cracked, corky bark that's grey-brown in colour. The telltale squishy removable pith, which makes it such an ideal whistle making material, runs through its core.

Use a straight branch a bit thicker than your index finger and around ten centimetres long. At this width the pith inside should be at its widest, taking up most of the cross-section. The ratio is important; the tube needs to be hollow enough to create a decent whistle, but not so thin that it splits during its creation. Ideally, the wood will be two or three millimetres thick.

With a penknife, shave away the outer bark and use a sharpened stick to push out the pith in the middle to leave a clear, wooden tube. Now cut the ‘voicing mouth’ two centimetres in from one end by slicing vertically down onto the tube at 90º and meeting this line with a 45º cut. Repeat until the hole resembles a smile that exposes the hollow tube within.

Next, find a round stick that is a touch wider than the end of the whistle and strip away the outer bark until it fits in the tube all the way up to edge of the voicing mouth. Then slice it a flat top with one or two decisive strokes and push it snugly into place. Cover the other end and blow. The flat surface allows the air to hit the voicing mouth cleanly, whereupon it splits to produce the whistle noise.

Regardless of where you source your elder, make a patch of woodland your workshop. Carving is one of the most therapeutic pastimes possible. It is psycho- and physiotherapy, pulling us out of our everyday worries and stresses with gentle focus. The level of concentration required also renders the work delightfully silent labour, leaving our ears open to the sounds of nature all around.

Part of the thrill of British woodland is the stark relief it gives us from our everyday existence, imparting a non-human otherness. Watching the industry of animals in autumn, even one so common as the grey squirrel or ground beetle reminds us of the mind-bogglingly varied contemporaries we share our planet with.

The elder tree has long been thought to be the favourite dwelling place of other, more mystical creatures. Faeries were once said to love the music from flutes made of this wood above all others. After some adjustments, the whistle should work wonderfully, sending sylvan notes through the trees. An elder whistle produces an organic, woody note, closer to that of a birdcall than anything else. Far from scaring away the wildlife, it is as if you’ve found the language of the forest itself.

Making and playing a whistle allows us to bottle something of the joy of the wood even when you return home. For a moment at least, when you take the whistle from a shelf and blow it, the walls and furniture of the room fade away you are back in the trees.

Guest Post - How to Carry Your Pack

I see many people packing and carrying their bag wrong. Many will see it has in important, but it is very important and why I am able at 49 to carry a large pack for a long distance with next to no issues.

Many will understand that the weight needs to be distributed to the top of the bag and yet important things need to be accessible in case of requirement. This is very true. But not many know why.

Your spine is shaped in such a way as to carry its self and a bearing load in a specific manner. There are synovial joints (liquid filled capsules) between each vertebra all the way down the spine and also muscles between and supporting each spinal section, front side and back (agonist, antagonist and synergist) These synovial joints are filled with synovial fluid which offers lubrication to the joint like the oil in a car ball joint, It protects the articular cartilage from rubbing and wearing away. The lining of the capsule is called the synovial lining which secretes the liquid into the capsule. These capsules are designed to protect the joints in a particular way so as to ensure damage is avoided over time.

If the spinal alignment is out of it's correct and desired line of pressure absorption it will cause the vertebrae to be compressed in the wrong direction. This will also stop the muscles around the spine (the local core muscles) from performing within their range of movement. This over time will cause spine alignment issues and short term back pain and aching during a hike or bag carry.

There is also a connective tissue in the lower back called the thoracolumbar fascia which assists in support and protection of the lower thoracic and lumbar spinal area. This fascia connects lower muscle groups to upper muscle groups and shares the load between the two. A badly carried bag or weight distribution will cause the pivot point to lower and will to a degree bypass the fascia creating too much emphasis into the sacroiliac joint at the centre of the upper hip girdle.

This will create pain to or even in some cases damage to the lower lumbar region and can cause sciatic nerve compression issues. This is why there are some nay options with newer rucksacks. The waist belt is well padded and designed to share weight bearing into the hip girdle rather than just the centre lower back and the shoulder straps allow for good bag alignment down through the spine from the atlas - cervical spine - thoracic - to the lumber and finally into the coccyx area.

Many military designed Bergen's may not have as much support in the lumbar region. This in many cases is because they are designed in the most part to be used with a webbing belt. This allows the Bergen to sit on top of the kidney pouches. These are mainly the older Bergen's as the newer options now have good lumbar support and a generous waste belt. Packing the weight to the top of the bag again ensures the bag removes emphasis from the lumber pivot point and allows the weight to be directed down through the spinal correctly, NOT so the shoulders can take the weight. Too much weight into the cervical spine and shoulder area will cause upper nerve issues and can leave you with nerve impingements and ulnar nerve compression issues which in many cases will show as pain in the shoulder or elbow region due to nerve feedback looping going on... these impingements can be painful and difficult repair.

So DO NOT tighten your shoulder straps up to take the weight of your pack! Allow an even distribution of weight from the shoulder through to the hip girdle.

Some of the old army bags do not allow for a correct distribution without a webbing belt so just ensure you do not overload these bags or carry them for extended distances.

I hope this helps someone?

Please feel free to comment

How to Purify Drinking Water

In our everyday lives, we don’t often give the purity of our drinking water a second thought. We just blindly assume the water from the tap is safe, and we have even more confidence in the bottled water we buy from the store.

But in an emergency situation like a natural disaster, or being out in the woods without access to pure water, the cleanliness of our drinking water takes on a heightened importance. As ingesting water from a source that harbors dangerous pathogens and/or heavy chemicals can bring on rapid sickness that can lead to death, knowing how to purify water is an absolutely essential skill that everyone should have.

Methods for Purifying Water

So if you’re on a hike or lost outdoors, or in an urban environment where flooding/water main break has contaminated the water supply, you shouldn’t trust any water source that wasn’t already prepackaged. But you’ll only survive a few days at most without water, so you’ll have to drink eventually. In the meantime, here are several ways you can purify your drinking water.

1. Boiling – This is by far the safest way to ensure the water you’re drinking is free of harmful bacteria. Although water reaches a boil at 212 degrees, it’s been said that you can kill any bacteria at just 158 degrees. To be safe, bring the water source to a boil and let boil roll for at least 2-3 minutes. There may still be sediment or particulates in the water depending on the source, but at least you’ll know it’s free of potentially deadly pathogens. Use a cup, canteen, bottle, or any container you have around for the task. It also helps to have some sort of fire-starting implement on hand to speed up the boiling process.
2. Purification via pumps and/or filters – You can find all kinds of pumps and filters at sporting goods and camping stores. So if you happen to have a store-bought filter with you, you’re in luck. These work by forcing the non-potable (undrinkable) water through filters of either charcoal or ceramic, and also treating the water with chemicals. Even if you don’t have a ready–made filter, you can use some of the key elements to partially purify your water in a pinch. Filtering water through regular charcoal, for example, is excellent for removing particulates. A regular coffee filter works well also. But you’ll still need to boil the water to ensure no bacteria is present.
3. Purification drops/tablets – This method uses chemicals such as iodine 2% and potassium permanganate added to the water in drops or tablets to purify it. After treating the water this way, be sure to give the chemical at least 20 minutes to work. Yes, the water will taste bad, but it will be safe to drink.
4. Evaporation – What you’re trying to do here is get the water source to evaporate, which leaves the bad stuff behind, and then capture the evaporated drops somehow. One way to do it is to wrap plastic around a branch or living greenery and then collect and drink the condensation. Or you could create a still and capture a few evaporated drops, but either way, the amount is really insignificant. So employ this method only in the direst emergencies.
5. UV Light – Did you know that UV light can kill bacteria? If you have a clear, plastic bottle on hand, fill it up with water and set it out in the sun for about five hours, double that time if it’s cloudy or overcast that day. It’s not the most optimal method, but it’ll work when you can’t boil the water.

Lastly, whatever you do, don’t drink your own urine or any salt-water like that found in an ocean or lake. The salt will bring on dehydration much faster than if you weren’t drinking anything at all, and it will kill you in short order. And if you absolutely must drink untreated water, try to locate a clear, running stream to sip from until an alternative source can be found.

Can Bushcraft Save The Planet?

I think there is one particular outdoor activity which might be more effective at helping people learn to care for the environment than any other. Could bushcraft be that activity?   

Environmental Education (EE) as it exists now is a relatively new field, developed as a result of growing concern that the environment was suffering from pollution, deforestation, desertification etc. as a result of human activity. Although the  Schools Councils 1974 Project Environment discussed the difference between education  ABOUT, FROM and FOR the environment, EE was not addressed on a global scale until the Tbilisi conference in 1977. Organised by UNESCO the conference brought together delegates from  66 nations and representatives from UN agencies and NGOs to participate in the world's first intergovernmental conference on environmental education. 

As a result of this conference, a declaration was adopted, after a unanimous agreement that EE had an important role in the preservation and improvement of the global environment. This declaration included the following goals; 

• to foster clear awareness of, and concern about, economic, social, political, and ecological interdependence in urban and rural areas;
• to provide every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, commitment, and skills needed to protect and improve the environment;
• to create new patterns of behaviour of individuals, groups, and society as a whole towards the environment.

Traditionally Outdoor Education has included EE among its aims and objectives, although it could be argued that actually most outdoor education does not directly meet the goals of EE instead focusing on the acquisition of technical skills, team building or confidence. But I think there is one particular outdoor activity which might be more effective at delivering the goals of EE than any other. 

 BUSHCRAFT AS A TOOL IN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Bushcraft is one of those activities which takes place out of doors which I think has the most potential to allow for the delivery or inclusion of EE. In my opinion, the most important aspect of bushcraft is gaining the knowledge that allows you to practice whether as a hobby or a professional instructor. This knowledge is far more important than the kit you own - whether your knife is a £300 and custom made or a cheaper £15 model. 

Practising bushcraft pulls you right into the environment, it can't be carried out in an artificial setting, it can't be separated from the environment and in fact, you could say it is symbiotic with it. Think of the skills that you use to sustainably harvest resources from the woods, coppicing for example. Coppicing has been carried out in the British Isles for hundreds, if not thousands of years and maintains many broadleaved woodlands which exist in the state we see them in today. 

If you are coppicing for shelter poles, material for

construction projects, walking sticks, stocks of firewood to be dried for later in the year or material for carving and whittling you are using your knowledge of when to cut to encourage regrowth, how to cut to prevent or reduce the chance of disease, which species are suitable for coppicing and for your desired use. Also, whether or not you realise it or not, you are actually creating a niche habitat in a woodland.  You are demonstrating a greater understanding of your local environment than most people (as long as you are carrying out your bushcrafting responsibly and sensitively in places where you have permission). But I also feel strongly that although involvement with the natural environment, outdoors, can promote an appreciation of the environment, this is by no means automatic nor, if it does occur, does it always extend to the environment as a whole but possibly only to a very limited area where a person feels they have responsibility or a vested interest. So as a bushcrafter do you only have a vested interest in that small piece of the 'environment' where you have permission to practice? 

I would argue that as bushcraft is such a broad topic which draws on the knowledge and skills of first nations and traditional skills from all over the globe, bushcrafters are in an excellent position to broaden our own minds and the minds of those we teach as to issues beyond our normal stomping grounds. In fact, the following quote sums up a lot of my reasoning as to why bushcraft could be so valuable in EE;

“Within the context of their own lifestyles indigenous peoples have been practising ‘environmental education’ for thousands of years.” (S. Sterling, Sustainable Education,  2001).

So much of what we practice is based on these skills because quite simply indigenous people relied ENTIRELY on their environment for their subsistence and over-hunting, over-fishing, pollution of water sources, the decimation of woodlands or other habitats due to fire, natural disaster or exploitation could literally cost them their lives. However they chose to teach the next generation to respect their environment, it was effective. The Tukano Indians of South America believed in a 'Master of Animals' who would punish them for over hunting. The Australian Aboriginal cultures tell stories of 'Dreamtime' or the creation which teaches lessons about how to live. Every other culture has its unique traditions and beliefs which govern how they live and how they interact with their environments. As bushcrafters, we have a responsibility, and a better opportunity than many to deliver engaging activities outdoors which bring people into direct contact with the environment on a level which means they have to think about how to care for that environment. 

We need to rekindle that indigenous knowledge and pass it on as there aren’t many people now who seek as close a relationship with the natural environment as we enjoy.