Food from the wild:

Pick It.....Catch It....or Shoot It. This section is all about how and where to get what some call "nature's harvest."

What is Wild Food?:

Wild food is anything you have not grown yourself but you have to have the skills to find it, identify it, catch it or shoot it. In this section the one thing what we will not tell you is the section on mushrooms and fungi and we will just give links to other places for that information for obvious reasons.

Before you embark on getting food from the wild in Ireland, remember that someone owns the land in Ireland so if you are looking for wild food on land then you will have to get the owners permission to pick, trap and shoot and also comply with all other legal requirements.

If you are fishing on rivers then you will require the relevant permission as someone may own the fishing rights to that stretch of river. If you are fishing a lake depending what's in the lake may depend whether you need permission or not. The seashore at this present time is the only place where you can fish without permission, bearing that in mind, you would still need permission to access the shore line if you have to cross somebody's land and this also applies to rivers and lakes.

What Food Can We Get From The Wild?:

If you have obtained the relevant permissions the food available to you is trout and all sea fish including shellfish. Some of these may have regulations attached for example lobsters and there could be seasons applied as well.

On land your meat products are rabbit, pheasant, pigeon, woodcock, snipe, wild duck, venison and even wild goat. It is worth noting that certain animals may have been bred by other people and if you shoot these animals even though they may be on land that you have permission, you could still be upsetting somebody somewhere and even worse they could be someone's pet. Also and very important just because you have permission to access a river/lough or shoot on land, it doesn't mean you legally can as the sporting rights may be owned by others and there are regulations on what can and cant be hunted and fished......so check out the legal stuff before you embark on these ventures.

As regards plant life we are mostly talking hedgerow fruit and nuts which will include, hazelnuts, chestnuts, blackberries, rowan berries, elder flower and elderberry, rose hips and basically any other plant which is useful for either food or to be used in preserving, i.e. jam, wine etc.

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