Saturday 14th October 2006 will be remembered as a beautiful sunny autumn day, but sadly three weeks after the zenith of the mushroom season. Despite the timing, a good time was had by 70 fungi gatherers let loose on the south end of Coed y Brenin.

This event was organised by the Meirionnydd branch of the North Wales Wildlife Trust and featured Charles Aron, the mycology expert from Anglesey who recently published a book on the fungi of North Wales.

After a short briefing in the car park at Ganllwyd just north of Dolgellau, the hunters set off with their baskets, if they had them, and carrier bags if not. My first thought was how on earth would we find some space? Surely we would all be chasing the same specimen? But as we crossed the river into the forest it was a matter of moments before we had more space than we knew how to cope with. In fact it was not long before the peace and quiet turned to a quiet panic as you scoured through the trees to find a fellow human.

The pickings were not great. Not because someone had beaten you to it. Not because we'd started too late in the day. Just because the season had peaked in September. But what a season! A summer of drought followed by heavy rain and warm temperatures produced a bumper crop which has continued late into autumn due to the hottest October since records began.

Returning to the village hall we were told to deposit our collections on the stage which had been covered with old newspapers. The strong advice was to wash your hands thoroughly before sitting down to tea and cakes, but I think this was a bit of a belt and braces approach to hygiene and self-preservation - mushrooms can be lethal, but surely not just a smidgeon on your fingers?

There was a fair amount of comparing specimens and sizes amongst the group as the fungi were laid out to display their best side. Charles Aron, the grand master, took to the stage and made a few pre-speech mental notes. Alas he seems to have overlooked my Witches Egg, the precursor to a stinkhorn, but maybe he sees those every day.

At last he was ready to speak and the assembled crowd fell silent. Yes it's been a wonderful and a long season and the contents of the stage are testament to the variety to be found. But what are they? Charles promised not to go through them all.

A huge Fleecy Milk Cap was lifted high for everyone to marvel at. It's called a milkcap because if you scratch its underside a milky substance dribbles out from its gills. We were told this is a mycorrhizal fungi i.e. one which has a symbiotic relationship with a tree. The fungi provides the tree with minerals and in return the tree provides the fungi with sugar and together they flourish.

A large bracket fungus was paraded to the delight of the audience. This is a Razorstrop i.e. a fungus which when really dry and crusted can be used to sharpen a razor blade!

A type of Cordyceps was then held up, a pronged fungi which lives off the fruit of a truffle. Careful excavation and the truffle (Hearts Truffle) is extracted from the earth below, but alas not something that chefs pay a fortune for, this is inedible to anything but maggots. Charles referred to another parasitic, the Scarlet Caterpillar Fungus, so called because if you dig down to its roots you'll find it growing out of the body of a caterpillar!

Then we had strange-shaped fungi called Hellvellas, the sporeshooters. Instead of letting the spores (seeds) drop they help them on their way by shooting them into the air where they can be picked up by any breeze.

Even for an expert identification can be challenging so Charles took several samples home for analysis under the microscope and compiled a species list of what was found on this fine sunny day.

For more information on similar events in Meirionnydd visit www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/northwales .

Charles Aron's book, Fungi of Northwest Wales, is available from www.gwales.com the online shop for the Welsh Book Council.

More fungus facts.