Searching for fungi near log at Nanga Bushcamp
Twenty one Naturalists converged on the area on Friday 15 June. The weather had been fairly wet for the previous week. Our journey down to Nanga through a swathe of toppled branches and damaged forest trees showed us just how severe the previous week’s storms had been. These storms had caused massive power failures throughout Perth and the southwest including the Nanga area. Fortunately after 5 days without mains power at Nanga Bushcamp, (they do have generator backup) the power was restored on Friday afternoon just before we arrived.
We quickly settled into the lovely wooden building with sleeping areas and bedrooms upstairs on the mezzanine floor. There was a fireman’s pole in each upstairs far corner for speedy descent in case of fire, or for fun as Ellie demonstrated with glee. The sun sets fairly early at this time of year so dinner and a cosy time around the fire set the scene for the evening.
We woke to a misty, moisty morning with good promise for fungi. We divided into groups, one led by Neale and Jolanda and the other by Roz and Julie and set off to hunt for fungi in opposite areas of lovely jarrah forest in the extensive private bush area. Both groups found large numbers of the lovely Amanita xanthocephala, which was prolific in the area this weekend. A list of the fungi found is available.
In the afternoon Patricia Gurry organized us all outside for a group photo which was a challenging exercise, rather like nailing jelly to a tree! Thanks for your persistence Patricia as we have ended up with a lovely record of the event. Once reassembled inside, we examined some of the more interesting and challenging-to-identify fungi, followed by a presentation by Neale Bougher about the fungi family Inocybeaceae, the Fibrecaps, that he is currently studying, informing us what features and pointers to take notice of. Elaine and Peter Davison did their usual slime mould patrol and were kept busy examining their treasures down the microscope.
Rumours of fresh beef steak fungi lured a group out in the late afternoon and were true, in fact we found several really good examples of this unusual fungus, Fistulina hepatica, that many had never seen before. Later, Elle, Roz and Julie spent a very enjoyable microscopic evening while the others lounged around the campfire, fascinatedly watching Alan Keeble dehusking a large bucketful of macadamias he had to pick from the Keeble family macadamia tree before the hungry local white tailed black cockatoos devoured the lot. There’s a lot of tannin in these husks, his fingers turned an amazing colour!
After a fair fall of rain overnight we woke to the promise of a sunny morning and ventured out again in search of fungi near the Murray River, still walking within the bushcamp property. We found another interesting selection of fungi, one of which was a newie for most of us, Lentinellus pulvinulus, spotted on the bark of a Eucalypt by the river. This shell fungus has very jagged sawtooth-edged gills, as you can see in the photo.
After a quick lunch and cleanup, most of us headed off back to Perth via the new much shorter route by the Forrest highway.
Roz Hart