My name is Melissa Waddingham and I am a truffle hunter and wild mushroom picker. In the spring and autumn months I run mushroom forays, truffle hunts, talks, courses and throughout the year I provide truffle hound training days for your truffle hound to be.I also manage woodlands for the sustainable production of truffle. For more information rega...

I provide days out foraging for mushrooms and the occasional truffle hunt for a small amount of people that I am happy to share my truffle and mushroom knowledge with. I will take you to places where I look myself with every chance of finding, because the soil, trees and environment is right, a special place! These places are always close to person...

I'm back after a long three months of exploring many truffle grounds abroad...what a trip! The dogs are glad to be home! So the season is here and the dogs will have to work yet again but in cooler temps of which they will be grateful I'm sure; me too foraging so early or late to escape the sun was exhausting.... I have learnt new techniques to add...

There is very little scientific evidence for either argument, lets face it. I would like to see more and it is down to foragers like myself and others to put management practices in place which, in hand, become research projects within their own right to combat the wild accusations flying around, once and for all. I believe the obvious, hence I'm m...

It saddens me to have to put up my prices but to keep up with current licence costs which have gone up considerably, in some cases doubled and general running costs I am obliged to do this otherwise I will not be able to carry on with these courses.I have altered my course costs on the bottom of the foray page but if you book between now and the 10...

So nice to get feed back from events, especially one like this:"Hey Melissa!Yeah it was absolutely brilliant, felt like I seen the gardens in a whole new perspective and everyone really enjoyed themselves and learned a lot, so thanks so much. "From Maya, seed collections assistant at Wakehurst PlaceNice, thank you

Come and see me this weekend at Wakehurst Place I will be doing a fungi talks an' walks.https://www.kew.org/visit-wakehurst/whats-on/bountiful-botanics-2016

Proud to present my new logo! A big thank you to Tess Smith and Emma Clifford for the ideas and finished product; it's amazing I love it and says it all!

Sedgwick House Mushroom Foray, Clathrus archeri I believe, shame some got mowed over by the gardener but he won't be doing it again he has promised :-) Best find of the day, a first for me!

I have a little extra Sussex summer truffle for sale if anyone is interested...?  Get in touch.

I'm making plans to have a litter of pups with Ela, probably by early next year. I will be truffle hound training them for twelve months and then they will be ready for sale and rehoming to special interested individuals. If anyone would like to know more please contact me to discuss. Only apply if your a serious ethical forager working within good...

I'm looking to connect with British ex pats in the next month or two that live in France, Spain or Portugal that have truffle plantations or wild truffle orchards that need help at harvest time or for those that would like to consider woodland management for the sustainable harvest of T aestivum and T melansporum. If you are and you are not sure if...

Choiromyces meandriformes, often smooth yellow/white and brown however sometimes cracked and variable resembling warts! However with these tubular like ornamentations on the spores and large ascos it could not be anything else :-)It smells like a pear drop a very chemically one, not considered good to eat as it can cause gastro irritations but comm...

2 hrs and 39 min in: BBC RADIO MERSEYSIDE. Myself and Sophie Birrell from Lilly's Kitchen and Houndsounds.co.uk.BBC Link

My all time personal best, it was one truffle so tightly wrapped round an old stump I had to break it to get it out , 418g nearly half a kilo, sadly immature even at this size, gutted but still good for aroma infusions and training all my dogs this week. This picture isn't of the actual truffle, this was a smaller one at 141g.

A gentle reminder to all my fellow foragers, to remain above the law can I remind you as responsible foragers it is our sole responsibility to investigate the land and its restrictions before harvesting as many woodlands, countryside and beaches have areas of SSSI's (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) and local bylaws sometimes protecting the re...

Well what a fantastic fungi year it was last season. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my new clients that joined me last year and some reappearing from the year before and this year too, thank you all very much. It was a great year, abundant with all sorts of mushrooms and truffles. They were around till January maybe even Februar...

I now offer a service managing large areas of woodlands in suitable areas for the sustainable production of wild truffle, a new concept for this country and abroad so I am told. An idea that I have been studying for some time now and with my forestry background coupled with my knowledge of truffle it proves to be a concept which could be very inter...

A note of caution to all truffle hunters and their dogs. LUNG WORM can be transmitted via unwashed truffles to your truffle hounds because slugs are particularly partial to truffle too funnily enough, then leaving behind their contaminated slime. If your dogs are like mine and like feasting on unwashed half eaten/whole truffles whilst running round...

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