The damp and miserable August was a big disappointment to sun worshippers, but good news for lovers of fungi.

The warm, wet weather has sparked into life a bumper crop of mushrooms, which fungi followers believe could be one of the best.

Already people are reporting seeing more than usual, carpeting fields and woodlands and popping up in gardens.

Roadside verges, rough land and the sides of footpaths and busy roads are just as likely to sprout examples.

Those who know their mushrooms, especially people with mid and eastern European backgrounds, are having a field day.

It is a traditional late summer and autumn pastime to get out into the woods and pick large field mushrooms, bring them home in bulging carrier bags and set about drying and picking.

A popular destination over the years has been Buck Wood, at Thackley, where a recent survey by the Friends of Buck Wood has identified at least 100 different types of fungi, both edible and poisonous.

Chairman Dr Christine Alvin and her husband Norman, the wood's conservation and wildlife officer, believe there are still more.

"It does appear there are a lot more mushrooms this year, that's the early indication," said Dr Alvin. "It looks like it is going to be a good year. There are plenty to see if people look. They can crop up in many places - people just need to look in their gardens in warm, damp patches."

The wood is popular with people who pick them to eat, but she warned that it was vital to know what to take, as some fungi can prove deadly.

"To be honest, I prefer to get my mushrooms from the supermarket. I wouldn't trust my own judgement," she said.

Her warning was mirrored by Archie McAdam, a retired Airedale Hospital surgeon, who is chairman of the Mid Yorkshire Fungus Group.

"The problem is there are very subtle differences which can make it particularly difficult to identify without lots of experience," he said.

"I would never recommend anyone to identify a fungus just from a picture and then eat it. Some can be tremendously poisonous. Problems can range from just an upset tummy to such severity that even the best medical treatment won't save you."

To people like the Poles, picking mushrooms is a tradition brought to the UK from their homeland.

Supply teacher Richard Pedryc, of Bradford, recalls regular trips made by his parents in the autumn to Thackley woods.

He said: "The Polish people have a lot of knowledge about what can be eaten and what can't. Mushrooms are a traditional delicacy.

"My parents would go with friends to places like Thackley woods and it would be a social occasion as well."

One back home the mushrooms would be pickled or dried.

To find out more about Buck Wood, visit www.lhi.org.uk and go to the A Breath of Fresh Aire site.

e-mail: clive.white@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

FUNGI FACTS

To the uninitiated they are just toadstools or mushrooms, but for those in the know they have fantastically evocative names.

These include oyster mushroom, chicken of the woods, velvet shark, stinkhorn, Jew's ear, dead man's fingers and brown roll-rims.

The edible Chanterelle is possibly the best-known. But beware the red mushroom with white spots, often seen in fairy stories with a pixie sitting on top. It is the lethal fly agaric.