This was a long and interesting day looking for and photographing fungi and slime moulds at Springwood. It was quite rewarding – I found a fair bit of fungi out. If anything my trip was a bit ambitious. I walked from Springwood down Fairy Dell and Magdala Creek to Glenbrook Creek and then walked up Sassafras Gully to Sassafras Gully Road. It would have been better concentrate in one part – eg Magdala Creek or just Sassafras Gull down to Glenbrook Creek. Those options would have allowed me to search more thoroughly. I would have spent more time looking and photographing rather than the time spent walking that I had to do to complete the distance. However its a nice walk and this did give me a good overview of what is currently out.
A few weeks earlier, I had been on a trip to Sassafras Gully with Liz. That trip had to be cut short due to a big storm that hit us on the day. But we also found a lot of flood damage along Sassafras Gully. This made walking along the track difficult. I had to traverse the same section this walk – and I was pleased to find a lot of the fallen tress and been cleared. Nice. However, there was an awful lot of very bad storm damage along Glenbrook Creek and the lower part of Magdala Creek. Glenbrook Creek just upstream from the Magdala Creek junction is particularly hard hit.
Here is a selection of the fungi that I found along Magdala Creek –
I was particularly on the lookout for Waxcaps. I found quite a few clusters along the track. Higher up, I found some Hygrocybe miniata –
Further downstream I found a nice small cluster of these –
I am not sure what they are. They seem too yellow/orange to be species that I know.
The next cluster was quite large, and some of the waxcaps were themselves large in size – with caps about 5 cm across.
These seem to start of red, with a yellow tinge around the cap margin. As they grow, the camp seems to flatten and become yellower. Perhaps Hygrocybe xanthopoda.
Lower down the creek, I found more Hygrocybe miniata –
I also found a number of slime moulds along Magdala Creek –
I didn’t find too much out along the section of Glenbrook Creek that I visited. Here is some nice coral fungi –
I had lunch at the junction of Glenbrook Creek and Sassafras Gully Creek. Along the track back to Springwood, I found a fair bit of fungi out.
There was really a lot more out than I could photograph. As well as waxcaps, I was looking for the light blue Entoloma viriscens. I found it in two locations. Both places had very tiny ones. The first spot had two, the second one.
Along the first part of the creek, I found quite a few clusters of Hygrocybe miniata. Here are some –
I was glad to see one spot that had been completely covered by fallen tress on the last trip had been cleared. I was what I refer to as a “Waxcap Hotspot”. And it certainly delivered this visit –
There were probably several dozen growing in that small area. Its one spot that always seems to be good for red waxcaps early in the fungi season. Here are some from along the track –
The last one may have tow much orange in the stipe to be H miniata.
At one location, I found a small clatter of these large orange waxcaps –
There was also a lot of slime moulds out along this section. Here are some from lower down nearer to Glenbrook Creek –
Further along the track, one log was was particularly rich in slime moulds. These are all from that one log –
And to finish some strange observations.
I think this first one may be a type of Cordyceps. Perhaps Cordyceps takeomontana.
I am not sure what is in the photo below. Its not a slime mould. Perhaps an “imperfect fungi” (Deuteromycota) –
