Do you know your jelly ears from your inkcaps? Can you spot a collared earthstar, pick out a puffball and steer clear of a stinkhorn?

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s annual fungi festival is back for a third year on 10th and 11th October, with a wild events programme spanning across Potteric Carr nature reserve in Doncaster. The reserve is famous for its huge range of fungus species, from fly agarics and jelly ears to witches hats and wood blewits – but its rarest is known only by its scientific name. Allopsalliota geesterani, and is found on just one other site in the UK.

Fly Agaric at Raw Nook NR Photo: Kat Woolley©

Visitors to Potteric Carr nature reserve in Doncaster that weekend can enjoy:
Guided walks to explore the very best of the reserve’s fungi magic;
Grow-your-own workshops with MycoManchester;
Mushroom cooking classes for kids with Cookstars;
Mushroom craft sessions – from botanical drawing classes and making fired glass mushrooms to cardboard mushroom hats and more;
A talk with Sally Coulthard, author of ‘Fungi Lore’;
A mushroom marketplace with independent craftspeople – see what fungi-themed gifts you can pick up for the mushroom mad in your life;
A poetry takeaway truck;
And a Mushroom costume parade – whether you’re pretty in purple as an amethyst deceiver or feeling whimsical as a fly agaric, we’ve got space for you!

Autumn is in full swing so join us for a woodland wander through bronzed trees reveals little fungi jewels popping their heads through the leaf litter. I always enjoy a foray with the family to see what weird fungi we can spot – it’s such a brilliant way for us to spend some time in nature, and no great wildlife knowledge is needed.

Fungi love damp sites like Potteric Carr – as does a huge range of our other native wildlife. Being able to hold water in the landscape helps us to meet the challenges drought and floods bring for wildlife and nearby communities, but increasingly unpredictable hot and dry weather is making looking after wild spaces like these more challenging. High temperatures aren’t great for fungi, wildlife or our wetlands, so we are very grateful for the support of our visitors in helping us to keep looking after spaces like Potteric Carr in the face of our changing climate.

Our events programme at Fungi Festival this year is our biggest yet, and we are delighted that so many groups, crafters and organisations are joining us in our celebration of the spookily magical world of mushrooms.

Potteric Carr nature reserve sits nestled just on the edge of Doncaster near the iPort. It is a 10-minute walk from B&Q and the bus stop there, or there is free parking on-site. The reserve is fully accessible for mobility aids and pushchairs, and there are toilets and a café in the main Discovery Centre. There is plenty to see on-site after exhausting all the fungi fun, with miles of surfaced paths winding their way through reedbed and woodlands – particularly lovely at this time of year with the autumn colours, and filled with wildlife from kingfishers and roe deer to wading birds.

Fungi Fest Guided walk looking closely at fungi Photo: Sarah Gant 5 years©

Admission to the Festival and reserve is £6 for adults, free for children and members of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, and includes ID guides, children’s craft activities, and the mushroom market. Walks, talks and some creative workshops carry an additional charge. To find out more about the festival and plan your visit, go to ywt.org.uk/fungi-festivalywt.org.uk/fungi-festival/plan-your-trip.