We’ve had a busy few weeks here in West Sweden. Just before we came the temperature had been up to 30 degrees and rainfall was sparse. Ideal summer holiday weather you might say, and you would be right. Naturally as we arrived the rain began to fall and the temperature dropped. At times the amount of rainfall was almost biblical! We had done a bit of mushroom recceing in the woods close to our home on the island of Orust and not spotted a lot, but a trip a little further north a few days later turned up trumps. This time it was the quantities of porcini that were biblical! The warm weather followed by masses of rain has caused a growth explosion and we have never seen so many ceps, growing all over the place including fields and lawns, and in excellent condition – the quick growth means larvae have less time to make a home in the mushroom. It’s been an absolute bonanza and up to now we have picked around 185 kg of boletus edulis (porcini, Penny Bun or Karl Johan) and other ceps, including right from our own garden! A boom like this could be a once in a lifetime event so we’re exceedingly happy to have experienced it. We’ve been seeing photos on Twitter of ceps and porcini in the UK so wherever you live, now is the time to get out in the woods. Happy hunting!

NB: The photo galleries on the website have a glitch and aren’t working. We’ll try to fix that when we are back in the UK next week.