The ideal portable companion, the world-renowned Collins Gem series returns with a fresh new look and updated material.

This is the perfect pocket guide for aspiring foragers. Over 100 edible plants are listed, fully illustrated and described, together with recipes and other fascinating details on their use throughout the ages.

Practical advice on how to pick along with information on countryside laws and regulations on picking wild plants helps you to plan your foray with a feast in mind.

This is the ideal book for both nature lovers and cooks keen to enjoy what the countryside has to offer.

"I can safely say that if I hadn't picked up this book some twenty years ago I wouldn't have eaten as well, or even lived as well, as I have. It inspired me then and it inspires me now" Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstal

Wild food is all around us, growing in our hedgerows and fields, along river banks and seashores, even on inhospitable moorland. In Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix's Wild Food, hundreds of these plants are clearly identified, with colour photography and a detailed description. This definitive guide also gives us fascinating information on how our ancestors would have used the plant as well as including over 100 more modern recipes for delicious food and drinks. From berries, herbs and mushrooms to wild vegetables, salad leaves, seaweed and even bark, this book will inspire you to start cooking with nature's free bounty.

Learn how to harvest a bounty of wild edible foods with this comprehensive introduction to foraging!

• Edible wild plants
• Popular wayside kitchen herbs
• Wild fruits
• Wild nuts
• Mushrooms, truffles, and other edible fungi
• Seaweeds
• Shellfish

Foraging for wild food is growing more and more popular as people become increasingly interested in eating not only organic food, but also local fresh food uncontaminated by chemicals—free!

You'd be surprised at the bounty of wild foods you can find practically on your doorstep: Some native plants, some escapees from ancient gardens, and all delicious.

Most of these foods are within easy reach—however, you've got to know what you're looking for, where to go, and when. Enter Self-Sufficiency: Foraging for Wild Foods!

Arranged in a directory of categories divided into wild plants, herbs, fruits, nuts, mushrooms, seaweeds and shellfish, this book has all the information you need to help you identify a wholesome and natural food store right outside your back door. Alongside clear illustrations, you'll also find hints on how to gather, store, prepare and eat your foraged bounty, plus advice on seasonality.

Author David Squire has a lifetime's experience with plants. He studied botany and gardening at Hertfordshire College of Horticulture and at the Royal Horticultural Society's garden at Wisley, Surrey. Throughout his gardening and journalistic career, David has written more than 80 books on plants and gardening. He also has a passionate interest in the uses of native plants, whether for eating and survival, or for their historical roles in medicine, folklore and customs.

'A really excellent introduction to foraging—the perfect beginner's book providing enough ID, background and general foraging information to get anyone started.' GALLOWAY WILD FOODS

Discover the edible seasonal delights of the UK's countryside with this handy, practical field guide: aromatic wild garlic in the spring, luscious bilberries in late summer, flavoursome blewit mushrooms in the depths of winter, and much more.

Perfect for the beginner and an invaluable reference for the more experienced forager, this book covers more than 120 species of trees, plants and mushrooms. Guided by the clear, concise text and over 500 photos, anyone can learn to identify the tastiest edible species - and recognise the most important poisonous ones to avoid. The Wild Food UK Foraging Pocket Guide has 345 pages covering over 120 different species of tree, plant and mushroom that grow wild in the UK.

Authors Marlow Renton and Eric Biggane are co-founders of Wild Food UK, which operates nationwide foraging courses throughout the year. Since they began in 2012 they have taught more than 10,000 people how to forage safely and with confidence. Features: Paperback, 352 pages, quick lookup index, handy pocket size (approx. 185x120x24mm) allows you take it out with you while foraging, weighs approx. 520g

Ray Mears has travelled the world discovering how native people manage to live on just what nature provides. Whats always frustrated him is not knowing how our own ancestors fed themselves and what we could learn about our own diet.

We know they were hunter-gatherers, but no-one has been able to tell what they ate day to day. How did they find their calories, week in week out throughout the year? What were their staple foods? Where did they get their vitamins? How did they ensure their bodies received enough variety?

In this book he travels back ten thousand years to a time before farming to learn how our ancestors found, prepared and cooked their food.

This extraordinary journey reveals many new possibilities many of the same food sources are still there for us if only we know where to look. Through Ray Mears' knowledge of the countryside and the research conducted specially for this book with archaeo-botanist Gordon Hillman, we learn many new, useful and often surprising things about the amazingly rich natural larder that still surrounds us.

INCLUDES A FREE DOWNLOADABLE PHOTO IDENTIFICATION GUIDE

As an extra bonus, you receive a free copy of The Eatweeds Photo Identification Guide (as a PDF download). It includes numerous photos of each plant and a simple, easy to understand botanical profile. Details on how to get your copy are inside the book.

BECOME A SAFE, CONFIDENT FORAGER

For over fifteen years I have experimented and explored the world of wild plants. Uncovering how our ancestors used plants to nourish and heal themselves. I’ve spent thousands of hours digging through scientific papers, read hundreds of books. Even gone so far as to be nomadic for over a year. During this time I followed the seasons and plants around the highways and byways of these isles.

I have written this book to help you rediscover our forgotten plant heritage. To learn how to use wild plants as food and medicine. Knowledge that was once common to everyone.

NICE THINGS PEOPLE HAVE PREVIOUSLY SAID

Robin’s infectious encyclopaedic enthusiasm is borne from complete commitment to his chosen field. - Michael Kusz

You transported us to a whole new level of awareness of not only the plants we got to see, smell and taste, but also the relationship that is possible with our natural environment that most of us have lost over just a single generation. - Richard & Debbie Stansfield

My love of the plants and my interaction with them was given a massive boost by your knowledge. - Pip Martin

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robin Harford is a plant-based forager, ethnobotanical researcher and wild food educator. He has published over 50 foraging guide books. He established his wild food foraging school in 2008, and his foraging courses were recently voted #1 in the country by BBC Countryfile. Robin is the creator of eatweeds.co.uk, which is listed in The Times Top 50 websites for food and drink.

He has travelled extensively documenting and recording the traditional and local uses of wild food plants in indigenous cultures, and his work has taken him to Africa, India, SE Asia, Europe and the USA. Robin regularly appears on national and local radio and television. He has been recommended in BBC Good Food magazine, Sainsbury’s magazine as well as in The Guardian, The Times, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph etc.

Fraser Christian runs the UK's only specialist Coastal Survival School. He is a fully qualified chef who has led courses for the famous River Cottage and now regularly forages for some of the UK’s top Michelin restaurants. In this book he shares his expertise on safety, particularly with regard to weather and tides, techniques for fishing from the shore, finding, identifying and cooking sea plants (including seaweed) and shellfish, and takes the reader step by step through the process of building a clam oven for the ultimate beach feast.

Essential reading for anyone likely to be wild camping by the seashore, or who wants to be equipped for any survival situation (the Coastal Survival School was formed in response to requests from those who found themselves in just such a situation after the 2004 tsunami). The seashore is a rich source of food: this book teaches anyone how to collect it, catch it, prepare it, cook it and enjoy it.

For the forager, the seashore holds surprising culinary potential. In this authoritative, witty book John Wright takes us on a trip to the seaside. But before introducing us to the various species to be harvested, he touches on such practicalities as conservation and the ethics of foraging; safety from tides, rocks and food poisoning; the law and access to the shore, our right to fish, landing sizes and seasons; and equipment such as nets, pots and hooks. Next comes the nitty-gritty: all the main British seashore species that one might be tempted to eat. The conservation status, taste and texture, availability, seasonality, habitat, collecting technique and biology of each species is covered; there are also quite a few gratuitous but fascinating diversions. The species covered include crustacea (brown shrimp, common crab, lobster, prawn, shore crab, spider crab, squat lobster, velvet swimming crab); molluscs (clams, cockle, dog whelk, limpet, mussel, oyster, razor clam, winkle); mushrooms; plants (alexanders, babbington's orache, fennel, frosted orache, marsh samphire, perennial wall rocket, rock samphire, sea beet, sea buckthorn, sea holly, sea kale, sea purslane, sea rocket, spear-leaved orache, wild cabbage, wild thyme); and seaweed (carragheen, dulse, gut weed, laver, pepper dulse, sea lettuce, sugar kelp, kelp). Finally, there are thirty brilliant recipes. Introduced by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Edible Seashore is destined to join the other handbooks in the series as an indispensable household reference.

The first cookbook from outdoors legend Ray Mears, Wilderness Chef shows you how to cook delicious, flavoursome food in the open air for a summer where it is more important than ever.

Ray Mears has spent his life travelling the world, living with and learning from trackers, adventurers and indigenous peoples in the desert, the rainforests and the Arctic north. In this book he shares a delicious array of his most popular recipes, tried-and-tested for all levels of skill and in all conditions whether in the garden or the wild, from quick and tasty meals to opulent gourmet feasts.

Opening with advice on setting up your outdoor kitchen, Ray shows how to light a fire, cook in ashes and leaves, steam, smoke, and build a simple ground oven.

He then shares his fabulous and enjoyable recipes, including:
- easy ideas that children and grownups can try (campfire s'mores, wilderness hot dog, egg on a stick)
- gourmet meals (Italian hunter's rabbit, succulent split-stick roasted salmon)
- recipes learned from bushmen and indigenous peoples (potjiekos, canoe country pancakes, fragrant and intense Gurkha curry)

Woven throughout are colourful stories of Ray's cooking around the world, from baking a birthday cake using ingredients sourced in the rainforest, to pulling a giant Emu leg drumstick out of a ground oven built by a Pitjantjatjara elder in the Central Australian desert.

Gather round an open fire. Share delicious food inspired by the outdoors and infused with age-old wisdom. This is living. This is the way of the wilderness chef.

'This book is SO good! Anybody going camping this summer, staying local, this is an absolute MUST!' Zoe Ball, Radio 2

'I LOVE THIS BOOK' Chris Evans, Virgin Radio Breakfast Show

'This cookbook should be your top summer pick for flavoursome food in the open air' METRO

'Packed with ideas and simple, tasty and largely healthy [food]' i newspaper

'Ingenious ways to conjure a feast whether you're out camping, on a long hike or enjoying a day at the beach' The Sun

This book is a compilation of the simplest traps i could think of. There are many much more complicated traps that can be made but each require time, effort and skill to make, hopefully these traps will be easy enough for even a novice to practice making .

In a survival situation trapping will be the most efficient method of getting meat . simply because once made the trap will do its work while you can do other things or even just rest.

With expert Jay McCullough behind it, the Trapper's Bible is a one-stop-shop for all a trapper's wants and needs.This compilation brings tactics from over fifty years and puts them in this one book. Whether it's Big Game, Whitetail Deer, or Waterfowl, this book has it all. This invaluable collection will fill the needs for every hunter looking for a book on how to trap, where to trap, and various hints and points for sportsmen and women alike.

A comprehensive small-game hunting guide, perfect for hunters ranging from first-time novices to seasoned experts, with photography by renowned outdoor photographer John Hafner

Steven Rinella was raised in a hunting family and has been pursuing wild game his entire life. In this first-ever complete guide to hunting--from hunting wild game to butchering and cooking it--the host of the popular hunting show MeatEater shares his own expertise with us, and imparts strategies and tactics from many of the most experienced hunters in the United States as well.

This invaluable book includes:

• recommendations on what equipment you will need--and what you can do without--from footwear to cutlery to camping gear to weapons
• basic and advanced hunting strategies for all North American small game, including drive techniques, solo and group hunting, ambush hunting, the use of hunting dogs, and techniques for decoying and calling
• how to find hunting locations, on both public and private land; how to locate areas that other hunters aren't using; and how to make competition work in your favour
• detailed sections on furred small game, upland birds, and waterfowl, covering the biology and best hunting methods for a total of thirty small game species
• comprehensive information about hunting wild turkeys in both the spring and fall seasons
• how to master the arts of wingshooting and rifle marksmanship, and detailed information about shot placement, ammunition selection, and field maintenance of firearms and archery equipment
• instructions on how to field dress and butcher your own small game animals for a variety of preparations
• techniques and recipes for both indoor and outdoor wild game cooking

A comprehensive big-game hunting guide, perfect for hunters ranging from first-time novices to seasoned experts, with more than 400 full-color photographs, including work by renowned outdoor photographer John Hafner

Steven Rinella was raised in a hunting family and has been pursuing wild game his entire life. In this first-ever complete guide to hunting--from hunting an animal to butchering and cooking it--the host of the popular hunting show MeatEater shares his own expertise with us, and imparts strategies and tactics from many of the most experienced hunters in the United States as well.

This invaluable book includes
- recommendations on what equipment you will need--and what you can do without--from clothing to cutlery to camping gear to weapons
- basic and advanced hunting strategies, including spot-and-stalk hunting, ambush hunting, still hunting, drive hunting, and backpack hunting
- how to effectively use decoys and calling for big game
- how to find hunting locations, on both public and private land, and how to locate areas that other hunters aren't using
- how and when to scout hunting locations for maximum effectiveness
- basic information on procuring hunting tags, including limited-entry "draw" tags
- a species-by-species description of fourteen big-game animals, from their mating rituals and preferred habitats to the best hunting techniques--both firearm and archery--for each species
- how to plan and pack for backcountry hunts
- instructions on how to break down any big-game animal and transport it from your hunting site
- how to butcher your own big-game animals and select the proper cuts for sausages, roasts, and steaks, and how to utilize underappreciated cuts such as ribs and shanks
- cooking techniques and recipes, for both outdoor and indoor preparation of wild game

What to eat, where to find it, and how to cook it!

Renowned outdoors expert and New York Times bestselling author Dave Canterbury provides you with all you need to know about packing, trapping, and preparing food for your treks and wilderness travels. Whether you're headed out for a day hike or a weeklong expedition, you'll find everything you need to survive--and eat well--out in the wild.

Canterbury makes certain you're set by not only teaching you how to hunt and gather, but also giving you recipes to make while on the trail. Complete with illustrations to accompany his instructions and a full-color photo guide of plants to forage and those to avoid, this is the go-to reference to keep in your pack.

The Bushcraft Field Guide to Trapping, Gathering, and Cooking in the Wild helps you achieve the full outdoor experience. With it, you'll be prepared to set off on your trip and enjoy living off the land.

With so many well stocked commercial carp fisheries available these days, rivers, especially small streams and the tributaries of larger rivers, see far fewer coarse anglers if any at all, than was the case 20 or more years ago.

It's true that small rivers and streams don't offer easy fishing with the prospect of several plump 5lb to 10lb carp hooked and banked at the end of the day, but with light tackle, a chub or perch of a few pounds or a roach pushing the pound mark can put up just as exciting a fight.

Even the smallest streams can contain surprisingly large coarse fish in the deeper pools, while rivers that are almost narrow enough to jump across with a depth of a just a few feet can hold large shoals of fish.

In this fully illustrated colour guide the author draws on over 40 years of coarse fishing experience to explain the tackle, tactics and bait needed to catch a variety of fish including barbel, chub, dace, roach and pike from small rivers and streams.

You don't need a lot of expensive tackle to start small river coarse fishing, if you're already an angler you probably have most of what you need already, so why not give it a try? It will add variety and another dimension to your sport and might just become your favourite style of fishing.

From "Field & Stream" magazine's bow-hunting experts and the authors of the "Total Deer Hunter Manual," comes the book that demystifies everything about bowhunting. From crossbows to high-tech compound bows to an old-fashioned recurve find it all, accompanied by tactics for every animal that can be bow-hunted, in The Total Bowhunting Manual.

America's best hunting guides bring you 261 field-tested tips, tricks and skills from decades of experience:

SHOOT BETTER With detailed exercises and advice for every kind of bow, this book takes you out on the archery range, into the woods, and onto the water with specialized drills and exercises.

GET THE GEAR Bowhunting is a gear-heavy sport, and improvements are being made almost every day, but you need to find the right type, size and fit. Whether you want to hunt like Robin Hood or Katniss with historic gear or take to the trees with a high-tech, carbon fiber compound bow with all the accessories, these authors detail what you need.

BRING HOME A TROPHY When people think "bow hunting" they think of deer but any animal that you can hunt, can be hunted with a bow. Find tips for taking down alligators, moose, birds, bears, caribou, turkey, fish and more; all the expert advice you need to go home with a trophy, not an excuse. Whether you're preparing for trip of a lifetime or just want to extend your season and improve your technique, this is the book you need.