There is something special about heading out into the woods on a crisp autumn day, basket in hand, foraging among the golden leaves for mushrooms.

But for inexperienced mushroom hunters this comes with a catalogue of risks.

Even John Wright, one of the UK's leading authorities on fungi, is always a little nervous when feasting on the fruits of his forays.

Mr Wright's annual outings always attract interest but this year they have proved very popular. Perhaps it's another sign of the credit crunch.

As the River Cottage mushroom expert in Dorset, Mr Wright recently produced a book on how to identify the scores of fungi which line our woodland floors and more importantly, how to distinguish between the edible and the poisonous.

September, the start of the mushroom hunting season, got off to a pretty grim start with one woman dying or two other people suffering serious poisoning from eating fungi.

"Mushroom poisoning isn't very nice. Some types make you excrete liquid from every pore. Very unpleasant. Ultimately, it can lead to organ failure; liver and kidney failure," said Mr Wright.

But undeterred, Mr Wright added: "I love finding death caps. It's a cool toadstool."

At Holton Lee near Wareham in Dorset, all eyes and ears were on Mr Wright from the enthusiastic amateur mushroom hunters enrolled on the day's foray.

Mr Wright told the group of a previous foray which he carried out in a wetsuit after heading there straight from a seaweed foray in Dorset.

Thankfully, this time he was wearing trousers, a jumper, walking boots and the mushroom-picker's hat. It was clear we all had a thing or two to learn from Mr Wright.

"Fungi come up when they want to come up," he said. "They tend to come in patches. The wet summer and dry autumn spoils things so this is not particularly a foodie forage, more a scientific forage."

Within seconds of stepping out of the door we had our first find, a collection of small white mushrooms. Non-edible according to Mr Wright.

Minutes later we had collected three more species of mushroom, including the Japanese umbrella and the snowy wax cap. Things were looking good.

"This is my favourite of all places to go mushroom hunting, even better than the New Forest.

"In a very small area we have varied habitats and because of that we get a variety of fungus. It's one of the best lawns for wax caps in the country. The first day here we found 85 species and there were even more I did not find." said Mr Wright.

Perhaps the most difficult mushroom to identify is the deceiver. The clue is in the name. Mr Wright said: "This looks different every time you see it. After 30 years of familiarity with this species, I am still sometimes deceived."

One species which was not difficult to spot was a bright pink mushroom, 'the sickener', as with the deceiver, the clue is in the name. Nevertheless, Mr Wright challenged me to nibble the top. What followed was the most intense burning sensation.

"It's not deadly poisonous like the death cap or the funeral bell, but it will give you a very unpleasant few days," he said.

"Thankfully, there are not many people who could stomach more than a nibble of this mushroom."

After collecting a basket of almost 50 different species, we returned to the kitchen to sort through our find and cook up a treat of puffballs, chanterelle and brittlegills.

However Mr Wright decided retain the find of the day, a perfectly formed purple wood blewit, which he claims is the tastiest mushroom of them all, apparently best served on toast with cream.

Autumn forays take place across the region but Mr Wright's are recognised as some of the best.