Hedgehogs

Well I never! With the forest still on the dry side of arid, I'd not expected to come across these today and not in such quantities; though the woods were kind to me. Here we have the Hedgehog mushroom (Hydnum repandum). If we lived on the continent we'd see these beauties regularly for sale, prized for their taste and the fact there are no poisonous lookilikes. Hedgehogs are one of my particular favourites. An sub rounded, uneven cap, apricot, to salmon pink to light golden retriever in colour, unlike any other group Hydnums have spines not gills or pores, they grow often in linear groups, will frequently reappear in roughly the same locations year on year and are found in both coniferous and deciduous woodlands. I picked a good quantity, about 450g; some for a risotto, some for breakfast, some for drying and I can tell you there were many many more about. Get looking, they're so worth collecting.