Rediscovering wild medicines and food with The Nottingham Forager

It’s a briskly chilly day in March and we’re exploring the woodlands and fields of Broxtowe Country Park. Led by Lucy Buckle, our group of a dozen includes everyone from toddlers to elders – some carrying baskets for collecting finds  – and bags are passed around for picking litter along the way. Lucy leads the way in a bright rainbow jacket which cuts through the grey of the day, stopping at intervals to share her knowledge in identifying fungi and edible plants, explaining lookalikes and how to notice dangerous or inedible varieties, and what to do with the more tasty discoveries.

Growing up rural in Derbyshire, Lucy credits her first foray into foraging to her grandparents, who passed on their knowledge of local plant life, from brambles to fungi. When she went to study a degree in Business Management at Nottingham Trent University, she thought the urban environment around her halls of residence would curtail her foraging excursions, but was happily proved wrong.

“I went for a walk at the Arboretum and found field mushrooms. So I was like, oh actually you don't need to be in the countryside, you could just be in the middle of the city.”

Most of the group have never been foraging before, but curiosity is certainly piqued as to what treasures we might discover. Lucy eases us in gently, pointing out that at one time or another, we’ve probably all picked blackberries and most people have a knowledge of what to look for, when to harvest, and how to use them. Identifying other plants in this way, she says, is a slow and steady process of observing and learning as the seasons change.

Along with a greenery such as wild garlic and three-cornered leek, today we’re on the lookout for a few of the more sturdy fungi that emerge during the colder months; jelly ears, scarlet elf cups, turkey tails and perhaps, if they’re early, St George’s mushrooms. Knowing the habitat and conditions in which certain fungi grow, Lucy is instrumental as our guide, but it is factors such as weather, timing and watchfulness that will decide whether we come across any.

At various points throughout the session people call out ‘mushroom!’ and the group gathers excitedly to see what has been discovered. Our first find is a King Alfred’s Cake – a hard, charcoal coloured fungi that grows on decaying wood. Not something you’d want to eat, these useful little chaps are also known as tinder bracket and were used for thousands of years as portable fire lighting material, safely carrying embers across distances.

Next up, Lucy points out bunches of heart shaped leaves nestled in grass off of the path. Rather non-descript, but they are Jack By The Hedge, or garlic mustard. Rich in Vitamin A and C, it can be added to salads and pestos to add a slight bitter flavour. We all take a nibble, as Lucy gives us a brief history lesson: “During Elizabethan times it was kept as a pot herb, and people swore by it. If you had something wrong with you, you’d chew some of that,” she says. “Over time we just sort of lost track and stopped using it, but it’s everywhere.”

It turns out that many of the edible plants around us are densely rich in nutrients; wild garlic is said to have anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidant effects, aiding in digestive and cardiovascular health, while the often-spurned nettle contains a multitude of vitamins and is said to reduce inflammation, hay fever symptoms, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. While Lucy is happy to share this information, she advises people to do their own research, reminding us, “I’m no doctor, just a lady in a rainbow jacket.”

The more we explore and learn about these unassuming plants, the more it comes to mind how much our connection to our land and food has been severed over time. Here in the woods, away from the concrete urbanity, our reliance on supermarkets, factory farming, and shiny packaged foods seems starkly unnatural.

“People are genuinely scared of picking mushrooms and plants,” Lucy explains. “That fear has been built up from various sources, but a lot of that is feeling like we shouldn't be getting hands on with nature. People think they're going to get their hand slapped for foraging.” 

As we walk, we come across a deep green sea of wild garlic coating the woodland floor, several bright scarlet elf cups hiding amongst mossy fallen branches, and an abundance of turkey tails covering a log. This fan-shaped polypore is too tough to eat, but as one of the most scientifically researched fungi in the world, it is reported to have great effect in bolstering immune function and aiding in cancer treatment. In 2025, the turkey tail was reclassified in the UK as a ‘novel food’ and taken off sale in the UK.

“It’s maybe a problem in Western thinking. The laws will eventually catch up,” says Lucy. “But turkey tails are everywhere in England, and as it stands we are still allowed to forage them.”

Indeed, between legal issues around foraging on private land, the dangers of deadly plants, and conversations around conservation, foraging has occasionally been given a bad reputation, which Lucy believes is unjust. “They're not destroying things or stealing,” she says. “Actually foragers are, most of the time, the most sustainable and environmentally conscious people that I know.”

For Lucy, this means working with smaller groups and educating on which plants and fungi can be sustainably picked. A general rule foragers go by is the ‘1-3 rule’ – no more than a third of any plant or patch should be taken, the rest left for regeneration or wildlife. She also presses that proper identification should be taken seriously before ingesting anything you’ve picked.

By the end of our walk most of us have a small bag or basket of finds, but the true bounty of the day has been both the knowledge of, and mindful connection to, the local plant life which we’ve today looked at more closely.

I ask Lucy if she has any final tips for budding foragers: “I would encourage people to explore their local spaces – you don’t have to go far,” she says. “If you head out once, you’re just getting a snapshot, but getting to know them throughout the seasons is how you understand what plants look like from start to finish and where the good mushroom patches are. You’ll eventually build a map in your head.”

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