Ghostly Fungi

While some say they have seen better years for fungi, there are still a lot to see. Here are some Ghost Fungi from near Mt Egerton. They would be impressive if I took these photos at night, because they glow, but that is not going to happen.

Afternoon light on Canadian Regional Park

panorama of the regeneration area north of Recreation Road

Yesterday afternoon we had a quick visit  into Canadian Regional Park and the common heath is looking beautiful. Don’t forget if you are interested in the latest on what is happening in our newest park come along to the meeting at the Earth Ed Centre, Olympic Ave Mt Clear  at 7pm on Wednesday night. FoCC Woowookarung Regional Park forum

eucalypt canopy

sunlight through the trees

grass tree

fungi

Epacris impressa

moss

Scented Sundew

afternoon light

Epacris impressa – Common Heath

Blackwood Fungi Excursion

As the fungi season approaches we look forward to where we will be led on an excursion. This year it was back to Blackwood and some of the tracks accessed from the carpark near the Garden of St Erth. Here are a few of the many fungi observed on the day. We thank Carol for this selection.

Bisporella citrina

Crepidotus nephrodes

Mycena epipterygia

Trametes versicolour

Trametes versicolour

Mt Doran Recreation Reserve

The last site on the May excursion for most of us, was the old Mt Doran Recreation Reserve, which is a BEN (Ballarat Environment Network) Reserve. While is very good condition we did notice several mature sugar gums on the back fence and someone has been removing fallen timber. A member with access to a handsaw took the opportunity to fell an environmental weed, Sallow Wattle, Acacia longifolia. Mt Doran Recreation Reserve Flora

back of fallen tree

close up of lichen

Hexagonia sp.

Horse Dung Fungus

inside a horse dung fungus

open grass area in the reserve

possibly part of the cricket pitch

tree that has split and fallen over

Three of us continued on to the Mt Doran Scenic Reserve and undertook some weed control on cape broom and bluebell creeper.

Mount Doran the hill without a view

In Lal Lal State Forest off Flagstaff Hill Road and up a short steep track, is Mt Doran. Before you get too excited there is no view from this mount. It is quite a rocky site and a keen eye noticed a parson’s band orchid.There were also large patches of Pultenaea pedunculata so this site would be worth visiting in the spring. Mt Doran flora list

Monotoca

track up to Mt Doran

Pultenaea daphnoides

no view from Mt Doran

lichen on rocks

bolete

large patch of Pultenaea pedunculata

Lal Lal State Forest

The May excursion lunch stop was beside a lovely small dam on Flagstaff Hill Road in the Lal Lal Forest.  There were many orchid leaves and Emily spotted the first flowers of Tiny Greenhood Pterostylis and then a Red-tipped Tiny Greenhood. The native heath was abundant in shades of pink and we spotted the red leaves of sundews. There were quite a few fungi including ghost fungi. Flagstaff Hill Road Flora list

Strolling around the dam through the bracken

Tiny Greenhood

Scented Sundew leaves

roadside dam

Curry Punk

Ghost fungus

moss

Red-tipped Tiny Greenhood

Common Heath

Pound Springs Bushland Reserve

The next site on the May excursion was off to the well-appointed facilities and sheltered gazebo at the Navigators Hall, for morning tea. While driving between the sites were experienced the only shower of rain for the day. After a short break and a look at the new, much publicized bird book, it was onto the , in Pound Creek Road near Yendon No 1 road.

Banksia marginata flowers

tree guards past time for being removed

sign

landcare planting

sedgy watercourse

remnant

remnant bushland

large old tree with hollow

rain guage

This reserve managed by Parks Victoria, has a sedgy vegetation community, listed as endangered.  Over twenty years ago, the Lal Lal Catchment Landcare Group planted more indigenous trees as part of a project and we completed their project by removing the plastic bags, which were almost to the stage of strangling the trucks. Banksia marginata was flowering, a yellow robin was observed and we think we heard a Bibron’s Toadlet, described as sounding like marbles in a glass.

We also spotted a dead frog in a large puddle, so after the hearing the talk by Ray Draper about frogs and chytrid fungus on the Friday night, we made sure to  disinfect our boots before we moved on. Pound Springs Reserve Flora list.

Grass-trees in Canadian Regional Park

Two grass-trees grow in Canadian Regional Park. Austral Grass-tree Xanthorhoea austalis is wide spread in the park with Small Grass-tree Xanthorhoea minor in a few areas. In some areas these two species grow in close proximity.

Austral Grass-trees develop a trunk as they grow where as the Small Grass-tree stem is mainly below ground level.

Other differences

Feature	Austral Grass-tree	Small Grass-tree
Flower spike	Flowering section longer than stem.	Flowering section shorter than stem.
Leaf cross-section	Diamond shape.	Triangular shape.
Leaf colour	Blue-green with whitish bloom.	Green.
Form	Trunk may branch.	Several tufts of leaves at ground level.

Austral Grass-tree on left with skirt of dead leaves covering trunk. Small Grass-tree on right with several tufts of leaves.

 

May Excursion – Pryor’s Park

The next few articles will cover several different sites of interest to Field Naturalists. The May excursion was to some areas that are less regularly visited by our group. Seven Field Nats began at Pryor’s Park, at the top end of Eureka Street in Ballarat. This reserve managed by City of Ballarat and includes an area revegetated by the local friends group, after some pines and conifers were harvested.

The other section is still pine plantation but has more indigenous understorey than you would expect to see under pines.  Part of the official reserve boundary is taken up with the golf course and the management there is supposed to contribute funds to the upkeep of the reserve.

Amanita muscaria – Fly Agaric

Amanita

Cherry Ballart with conifers

Pine Plantation

Pines with native understory

planted trees

top of Amanita

view to Mt Warrenheip

Grass Tree

It didn’t take long to see several types of fungi including the Fly Agaric. Years ago when this reserve was visited by the club it was possible to see glimpses of the city of Ballarat, especially if you stood on the seat but the revegetation has now increased in height blocking the view. On the way out of the reserve, Emily spotted a clump of dried seed heads of the African Weed Orchid,  so if you visit in the spring take precautions not to spread this invasive species. Pryor Park flora list.

A walk in the sunshine

About thirty people turned up for the walk in the northern end of Canadian Forest today. We enjoyed a stroll through the bush looking at various sites related to the Cremorne Rifle Range and then onto the site with the tree ferns. There were a few fungi to see but not many flowers. We finished the walk which was led by the Friends of the Canadian Corridor, with a cup of tea and some fruit cake. We noticed the colourful heath on the way out of the park.

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