Climate change-related droughts are on the horizon, will this affect the foraging calendar?

From extreme drought to freak rains, climate change is an added concern for foragers

Multiple new studies have suggested that climate change in the Northern Hemisphere is affecting foragers’ chances of finding food in the wild.

Researchers at the University of Bristol’s Faculty of Engineering released a study last week showing a link between declining snowfall and changing seasonal patterns of streamflow (the volume of snow moving from mountains to rivers below) throughout the Northern Hemisphere. This will likely boost the chances of water shortages in the summer. 

Analysing climate and river flow data for more than 3000 river basins across the Northern Hemisphere from 1950-2020, the team found areas that are usually snowy in the Rocky Mountains of North America, the European Alps and northern Europe, are thawing prematurely as the earth warms.

Lead author of the study, Dr Ross Woods, explained the impact this would have on food resources: “Streamflow seasonality affects the temporal distribution of water resources and has wide-ranging implications for ecosystem functioning, food security, and natural hazard management.”

On the ground, urban foragers like Christian Amys in Brighton, say they have noticed a change in climate affected timings and availability of foragable foods too.

“We’ve been really affected by climate change, so everything grows at random times at the minute,” he says.

He said that the UK had a particularly wet summer last year which had caused mushrooms to appear earlier than normal: “mushroom season was all over the shop last year, we had mushrooms in the summer because it was raining in August. Truffles are on the flip side, getting better [because of the change]. In England, we are actually becoming one of the best places to grow them, because we are warming up. We have had crazy amounts of mushrooms because of the rain.”  

While this abundance in mushrooms was a reason for foragers to celebrate, it shows how the number and types of foragable foods can be affected by dramatic changes in weather.

Researchers at Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, confirm these links and have found evidence that climate factors could affect mushroom foraging in central Europe. 

The results from the study show that when the precipitation change was increased by one unit, the change in the number of foraged mushrooms went up by twenty-seven tons, while the factor of temperature was found to be statistically insignificant. This suggests that with a decline in precipitation, possibly due to climate change, there will be a decline in the number of wild mushrooms able to be foraged in previously abundant areas.

A Nottingham park banned foraging last year. What does it mean for this year’s haul?

People were taking trolleys full of bags of mushrooms and chestnuts from Wollaton Hall and Deer Park, which caused a complete shut down for local foragers

People are being urged to forage sustainably this summer after widespread bans at popular hotspots last autumn.

Each year, the warmer months offer a great new bounty to those who enjoy finding their feasts in nature, but they are increasingly having to tread carefully.

Last October, Wollaton Hall and Deer Park in Nottingham made headlines as the park’s bosses implemented a foraging ban. 

This action was in response to the threat of over-foraging depleting the flora and fauna of the park.

People were seen arriving at the park with trolleys full of bags to pick mushrooms and chestnuts. Not only that, they were breaking the law by using the foraged goods not just for personal use, but to sell for financial gain. 

As people were foraging for commercial reasons, which is against the law in the UK, the park took swift action.

This has sparked a conversation about how to forage sustainably this season, as trees become abundant with berries. 

The Woodland Trust has provided some sustainable foraging guidelines to follow. They suggest you try to minimise damage, take only small amounts and leave plenty behind. 

They also stress you should first check the permissions of a site, as some areas are covered by conservation regulations. The advice states: “On some of our sites we prefer you not to forage, even for small amounts of fungi or other species. This is on sites that are important for conservation, are habitats for rare or vulnerable species or where there are problems with over-picking. These sites can be identified through signage on site, but please always check before setting off.”

It is actually illegal to dig up or move wild plants under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) without the landowner’s or occupier’s permission, although this is very rarely enforced in public parks and woodland.

Nottingham-based forager, Lucy Buckle, told BBC Radio Nottingham that while people should not be foraging for business use, she felt a complete ban last year was “quite extreme”. 

“For me finding the balance with foraging means looking at the area you’re in and seeing what you can forage sustainably,” she told BBC Radio Nottingham.

“Sometimes that means leaving absolutely everything behind, but sometimes that means you can fill your basket with stuff for yourself.

“I think putting an outright ban on somewhere like Wollaton Hall, what that results in is all the responsible, sensible foragers will go elsewhere and everybody who was willing to break the law previously by foraging commercially will continue to do so.”