It's a 'shroom boom! Seven amazing mushrooms to spot this autumn

There will be record mushroom sightings this autumn, predict experts at the Royal Horticultural Society.

The gardening charity say this is because there has been warmer weather than usual this year and lots of rain.

While this could be a great opportunity to go out looking for all kinds of mushrooms in the wild, Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) expert Dr Jassy Drakulic warns against using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify any unknown fungi.

"AI is incredibly poor and unreliable at identifying fungi," she told Newsround. "Do not rely on it to tell you what a fungus is."

This is because finding out what kind of mushroom you're looking at doesn't just rely on one photo.

Discovering a mushroom's identity needs a lot more information, something that mycologists (mushroom and fungi experts) spend years studying.

The RHS's Senior Plant Pathologist Dr Jassy Drakulic talked to Newsround about some common UK mushrooms we can spot on our autumn walks this year.

When you think of a mushroom, this might be the one that springs to mind.

It has a bright red or orange cap, covered in textured white spots.

It can be found in woodland and heathland across the UK.

Dr Jassy says: "It lives with a tree as a partner, and it helps pass nutrients it finds in the soil onto the tree, and the tree gives it sugars in return. It's also got a such a big fleshy fruit body that can be food for small mammals like voles or red squirrels."

This mushroom can be poisonous, particularly for children, so look but leave it alone.

It might sound like a pen lid that's rolled under the sofa, but it's so much more than that.

This mushroom's cap is covered in furry tufts of fibres and can be found in lawns, in parks and even near roads.

These mushrooms can be hard to tell apart from toxic varieties, so look but don't touch!

Dr Jassy said: "Just observing how they change is fascinating – they grow very quickly and within days they dissolve their own caps into black sticky ink. It goes from bright white to glossy black."

"They're usually recycling litter, leaf litter or grass litter and thatch."

Found growing on tree trunks – particularly on oak trees – these bright yellow, fleshy shelf-like fungus can be found across the UK.

The Woodland Trust say the mushroom is very important to wildlife like the hairy fungus beetle. Delightful!

This mushroom can cause a serious allergic reaction or may have absorbed poisons if growing on a toxic tree - leave it where it is.

Dr Jassy says: "They create hollows in big old trees, and those hollows become homes for owls and woodpeckers. These big cavities make great habitats, turning tree trunks into a hotel for wildlife."

These mushrooms have a large cap that can grow up to 30 centimetres in length. A popular edible mushroom, you can usually find them in your local supermarket.

They are also a rare example of a carnivorous plant, known to feast on small insects, called nematodes.

Dr Jassy says: "This mushroom looks a bit like an oyster shell. They can be found on fallen dead wood and high up on a tree trunk. You will see them sprout up in colder weather until things warm up again in springtime."

Don't eat these if you see them in the wild - many mushrooms can be mistaken for poisonous varieties.

This mushroom's cap is covered in beautiful stripes fanning out, just like the tail of a turkey!

It is found on dead hardwood tree trunks like beech or oak, and is very common in the UK.

Dr Jassy says: "They are delightful in how unique every banding pattern is, it's like their own little barcode but with different colours. They just love cut logs, or any bits of dead wood you have around your garden, it could even be fence posts. They're a really good sign of a healthy garden."

Though this is sometimes used in medicines, do not eat it if you find it - it can cause dangerous allergies particularly in children.

Jelly ear is a rubbery kind of fungus, growing in cups on dead wood. They can be found on elder trees.

Like its name, it can look a lot like a human ear!

Dr Jassy says: "It loves a dead branch. It can completely dehydrate (lose all its water and moisture) and rehydrate and survive. So it's quite resilient."

As with all the mushrooms in this guide, do not eat or touch those you may find in the wild to stay safe.

This fascinating fungus is shaped just like a bird's nest, with flat egg-like discs.

It can be found in gardens and woods where it's damp. They might not be as easy to spot as they're usually closer to the ground, so you'll need to keep your eyes peeled!

Dr Jassy says: "They literally look like teeny, tiny bird nests fit for a doll's house. The white discs inside are filled with spores, which get flung out by the force of falling raindrops."

These are tough, leathery and inedible - so don't touch or try to eat them!

Mushrooms are the fruit of an organism called a fungus and there are thought to be over 15,000 species of fungi in the UK.

Fungi aren't a plant or an animal - they belong to their own kingdom.

A fungus is made up of lots of tiny threads, called a mycelium.

We often can't see most of a fungus as it typically grows beneath soil, or leaf litter or inside other organic material.

Fungi are essential to plant and human-life. Here are just some of the very important things fungi do:

It can be exciting to spot a mushroom, particularly as they come in so many shapes, colours and sizes.

And while some mushrooms are edible, others are poisonous and dangerous to humans.

So it's important that you never eat a mushroom you find out in the wild.

We asked Ed Pyne, Senior Conservation Adviser at nature charity the Woodland Trust, about how to stay safe.

"A very small minority of them are actually harmful," he told Newsround.

"If you're around any fungi, be careful not to put them in your mouth. If you touch them make sure you wash your hands afterwards."

Mushrooms and fungi are very important to our ecosystem.

"Ninety percent of land plants need fungi to survive," Ed told Newsround.

"So they're like the undercover superheroes of the ecosystem, making sure everything runs properly."

Both Dr Jassy and Ed say it's best to not pick mushrooms, and leave them where you found them.

"While the mushroom might only be a short-lived part of a fungus, that mushroom helps the fungus reproduce and helps it find new places to live and new food sources," says Dr Jassy.

Ed agrees: "They provide foods to all kind of animals in the forest, from squirrels to mice, but also creepy crawlies and slugs.

"They all make their homes in these mushrooms and they all need to feed on them to survive."

Here are some top tips to keep mushrooms safe: