Foraging Guide to St. Andrews by Noe

From Biodiversity Literacy to Foraging 

I joined the Biodiversity Literacy VIP because I was looking for a way to connect more meaningfully with St. Andrews. Like many students, I arrived expecting to experience a new country, but quickly found myself living within a small, familiar routine. I wanted something that would help me understand St. Andrews and feel genuinely connected to it. 

The Biodiversity Literacy VIP offered exactly that. The project aims to increase people’s ability to identify plants and animals, contribute to a long-term citizen science project monitoring biodiversity across the university, and ultimately shift how biodiversity is valued so that its protection and enhancement become a priority. This VIP includes weekly bird walks, visits to the Botanic Garden to set moth traps, and time outside recording species of birds, plants, and insects. Through these class activities, my ability to identify the living things around St Andrews grew quickly. Slowly, things that once blended together started to stand out. I learned to recognise birds by their calls and distinguish between plants I had walked past hundreds of times without noticing. 

This shift in perception is where biodiversity literacy does its most important work. It transforms the environment from something passive into something legible. This growing ability to identify species has led me to a new way of interacting with the St. Andrews landscape: foraging. 

Why Forage?  

Foraging builds directly on biodiversity literacy. Once you can identify species, a new possibility emerges: you can use them. In this sense, foraging is a continuation of the same process that began with species recording. Recording teaches you what is there. Foraging asks you to engage. 

It changes your relationship to place. St Andrews can feel small, but foraging reveals a different layer of the town. The same paths you walk every day contain edible and useful plants. Most importantly, foraging fosters care. When you recognize plants as part of a system you interact with, you begin to value that system differently. Awareness becomes investment, and investment can lead to responsibility. 

Foraging Responsibly  

Foraging should always be approached with care. The goal is not to take, but to participate in a living system. 

A few simple principles guide responsible foraging: 

• Only pick plants you can confidently identify 

• Harvest carefully, avoiding damage to roots so plants can regrow 

• Take small amounts, leaving plenty for wildlife and regeneration 

• Choose abundant species and avoid harvesting anything rare or vulnerable 

A 20-Minute Walk Down Lade Braes  

The Lade Braes path is one of the easiest places in St Andrews to begin foraging. On a walk there, I realised how many plants I could now recognise, and it made me curious how many of those familiar species were actually edible. I started looking them up as I went and was absolutely shocked to find how many of these plants growing in abundance were edible. These plants were all found in large quantities during a quick 20-minute stroll down Lade Braes in April, and each one can be used in food.  

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) 

Dandelions are native to the UK. They are a great way to begin foraging because they are easily identifiable. Their bright yellow flowers and jagged, tooth-like leaves grow in a basal rosette close to the ground. They can grow both in the shade and in direct sunlight, thriving in lawns, gardens, parks, meadows, pastures, and disturbed areas. The Lade Braes path is absolutely full of them in the spring. 

Every part of the plant is edible. The leaves can be added to salads or sautéed like spinach, the roots can be roasted as a coffee substitute, and the flowers can be used in teas or syrups. Rich in vitamins A, C, and K, dandelions are as nutritious as they are abundant. 

A cluster of dandelions found along Lade Braes

Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

Garlic mustard is also native to the UK. It can be identified by its straight stems, large toothy heart-shaped leaves, and small, white cross-shaped flowers. They typically grow in deciduous woodland, cultivated land, hedgerows, or wasteland, and they are scattered all along Lade Braes.

All parts of the plant can be used as food. The leaves have a garlic flavour when crushed, the root has a wasabi-like flavour, and the seeds can be used as a pepper substitute. This plant can be used as an antiseptic herb for treating bruises, sores, coughs, and colds.

Garlic mustard plant along Lade Braes

Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata)

Ribwort plantain is a native species with long, narrow leaves marked by strong parallel veins. It grows almost everywhere, including lawns, paths, and compacted soils, making it one of the most accessible plants in St Andrews.

The flower buds have a mushroom-like taste. They can be picked once brown and used to make mushroom stock. The rest of the plant has medicinal purposes. It can be used as an antihistamine or made into a tea that acts as a cough medicine.

Ribwort plantain found on Lade Braes

Bramble (Rubus fruticosus)

Bramble is one of the most familiar native plants, recognised by its thorny stems, prickly leaves, and blackberries. It is commonly found in hedgerows, roadsides, and waysides. In St. Andrews, it can be found in hedgerows all over town and in patches along Lade Braes.

It is one of the most used wild edibles. The fruits can be harvested from August to October, and they can be eaten raw or used to make jam, wine, or pie fillings. The stems can also be used for weaving, and the roots can be used for black, orange, and green natural dyes.

Bramble found on Lade Braes Path

Wild Strawberry (Fragaria Vesca)

Wild Strawberry can be identified by its three lobed leaves with serrated edges and small white flowers with visible leaf bracts between them. The fruit looks like a small strawberry: red in colour and adorned with tiny seeds. It thrives in mixed woodland or hedgerows, usually in partial shade. It can be found in small patches along Lade Braes.

The fruits can be harvested during late spring and early summer. The young leaves also possess mild astringent properties and can be used in herbal teas. Because wild strawberries are relatively scarce, it’s best to harvest from larger patches and avoid taking from smaller ones.

Wild strawberry found on Lade Braes

Red Dead-Nettle (Lamium purpureum)

Red dead-nettle is easily distinguished, with its pinkish-purple flowers and heart-shaped, hairy, green and purple leaves. It grows along roadsides, woodland edges, damp pastures, gardens, and hedgerows.

This edible wild plant has a mild, slightly sweet flavour. Both its leaves and flowers can be used in a range of dishes, from salads and soups to pesto and herbal teas. It is also nutritionally rich, containing vitamins A and C along with important minerals like iron and calcium. Traditionally, it has been used for its anti-inflammatory and soothing properties.

Red dead-nettle found on Lade Braes

Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)

This thistle (known as bull thistle, common thistle, or spear thistle) is native to the UK and famously serves as the emblem of Scotland. It thrives in open, sunny habitats, such as meadows, pastures, grasslands, clearings, and field margins. It can be found all along the Lade Braes Path. It can be identified by its spiny-edged leaves and rough, hairy surface. Each lobe ends in a sharp spine, and the leaves form a basal rosette. The flowers appear in the summer as large purple heads.

Although harvesting this spiky plant can be tricky, the stems, roots, flowers, and seeds are all edible. The young inner stems, when harvested in spring or early summer, can be eaten raw or lightly cooked when peeled carefully. The young roots can be roasted or boiled in autumn or early spring, and the flower bases can be eaten once spines are removed from July to September.

Thistle found on Lade Braes

Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris)

Cow parsley has fern-like leaves and small umbrella-like clusters of white flowers. It prefers shaded areas and can be found in hedgerows and woodland edges all around the UK and is widespread along Lade Braes.

Although edible, it must be identified with caution due to toxic lookalikes. When correctly identified, its leaves can be used as a peppery garnish.

A patch of Cow Parsley found along Lade Braes

Learning to See St. Andrews Differently

The plants described here are not rare or hidden; they are common and abundant across the landscape of St Andrews. The difference between my walks through Lade Braes first year and now lies in perception, and that shift came from the Biodiversity Literacy VIP. Biodiversity literacy begins with recording. It develops through noticing. Foraging builds on that foundation, transforming awareness into interaction. It changes how you move through a place, how you understand it, and how you value it.