The mushroom season has started earlier than usual this year. In Southwest Finland, funnel chanterelles are already appearing, when they normally only emerge in September and October.
The warm, rainy summer has been good for mushrooms: they need moisture and the warm weather stimulates growth.
Matti Kyröläinen, chair of the Vaasa Mushroom Association, expects the harvest season to be normal but long. However, it is overall difficult to predict.
"The harvest season depends on how the underground fungi population has fared and on the weather during the harvest season," he says.
Warm weather and heavy rainfall bode well for a good harvest, but the summer rains have been very localised and could affect different areas differently.
To find chanterelles, look up
Anu Reuna, an experienced mushroom picker from Kuortane, says soon she'll head into the woods to find chanterelles and offers a surprising bit of advice.
If you want to find mushrooms below, look up in the trees first.
"It's worth looking if there are pine trees and birch trees, then quite often you'll find chantarelles around it," says Reuna.
"Good mushroom country is blueberry-type woodlands. Mature, thriving forests are a good mushroom habitat. Don't go into young stands or thickets," says Kyröläinen.
Mushrooms thrive in a wide range of terrains. A good mushroom patch can be in a nearby forest or even a local park. Parks are a good place to find, for example, the bare-toothed russula, which is an excellent edible mushroom.
"It's not a good idea to pick mushrooms along busy roads, as anything that comes off a car tyre or the street can land on the mushrooms," says Kyröläinen.
At the moment, it's worth going to the forests of Ostrobothnia to look for the russulas and chanterelles. There are plenty of different species of russulas to look out for, but be sure to know which ones are edible.
The next mushrooms to appear should be milkcaps and forest lambs.
Pick only what you recognise
According to the University of Helsinki, around 8,000 species of fungi are currently known in Finland, but the actual number could be double that.
When picking mushrooms, the most important rule is to pick only those you can identify with certainty. Start with chanterelles, as they do not have a poisonous lookalike.
Another good beginner's mushroom is the wood hedgehog, which can be identified by the 'spines' growing under the cap.
Take a mushroom knife to clean up most debris in the forest and a sturdy basket or bucket — not a plastic bag. Wear rubber boots and take a good local mushroom book with photos of different species of mushrooms.
Also check how to prepare your mushrooms, some need to be cooked before they are able to be eaten.
"For beginners, it would be a good idea to have an experienced mushroom picker with you on your first foraging trip," says Kyröläinen.
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