IVN Nature Excursion: Mushrooms

Date: Sunday, October 18, and Friday, October 23, 2026
Time: 2:00–4:00 p.m.
Starting location: parking lot near the Randenbroek dahlia garden on Gasthuislaan
Registration: not required
Dogs: No dogs allowed, except for service dogs
Wheelchairs: Not accessible
Public transportation: Bus line 9, Corderiuscollege stop
Parking: free in the parking lot across from the soccer club CJVV

This fall, IVN is once again organizing a mushroom excursion, this time in park Randenbroek. In previous years, we often went to Nimmerdor. But the dead wood in that forest has gradually decomposed and no longer provides much nourishment for various mushrooms. park Randenbroek also has dead wood where where we can find mushrooms. And, of course, there are also mushrooms that don’t depend on dead wood; we hope to see those as well.
Although we can find mushrooms in the produce section of the supermarket, they are not plants. Nor are they animals. A mushroom is the fruiting body of a fungus—the “flower” with seeds, so to speak! For much of the year, that fungus lives invisibly underground or under tree bark. The network of fungal hyphae produces above-ground shoots— where , the mushrooms grow—and that’s what we see, usually in the fall. A mushroom is comparable to the blossom of an apple tree. These “blossoms”—and, when mature, their seeds (the spores)—sprout from the ground as mushrooms during damp weather in late summer and fall. How many we’ll find depends, among other things, on the humidity and temperature.
Would you like to join us? If so, please bring a small mirror so you can examine the underside of the mushrooms. Children ages 7 and up are welcome!
This excursion does not cover edible mushrooms.
Tip: Come by bike if possible; you can park it at the dahlia garden. If you’re coming by car, please note that the parking lot at the dahlia garden is now a paid lot, but the lot diagonally across the street, opposite VV CJVV, is (still) free.

All information can also be found on our website, https://www.ivn.nl/afdeling/amersfoort/, under the “Activities” tab. If you have any questions, please email natuurexcursies@ivnamersfoort.nl

Title: Parasol Mushroom
Photo: Johanneke Maris