We had fantastic turn-out for our Young Naturalists’ Fungi Foray in June, when over 30 children, along with parents and grandparents, spent a beautifully sunny Sunday afternoon at Bold Park.

Melissa Mykytiuk, from the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority (BGPA), who manage Perth’s two largest A-class reserves, Kings Park and Bold Park, gave us a short introduction to Bold Park. Neale Bougher then gave a short talk to the children about fungi, before we split into two groups and headed off hunting under the expert guidance of Neale and Roz Hart.

Young Naturalists’ and families enjoying the fungi at Bold Park

Over 350 species of fungi have been recorded at Bold Park, and our teams found many interesting species during the afternoon. We found several groups of Ghost Fungus, Omphalotus nidformis, which we learnt are so called because they glow in the dark. Our male young naturalists were particularly delighted to find several examples of Dog Poo Fungus, Pisolthus. The children learned about the importance of fungi as protein-rich food for insects and mammal, as a decomposer of dead material and recycler of nutrients, and also of the important mycorrhizal relationships that fungi have with many native plants including Wattles and Eucalypts.

Many of the children were keen to photograph everything we found, so we should expect quite a few entries for the Fungi Photo Competition this year.

Both Neale and Roz were excellent leaders, and really got the children excited about fungi. Several of the parents who attended have told me what a great time they had, and how they would be downloading Neale’s amazing fungi field guide and arranging their our family fungi hunts in future.

Steve Page