This was a very pleasant walk – around a loop along the Lane Cove River and then an exit from the valley all the way up Blue Gum Creek to Chatswood.
Gliophorus pssitacinus var. pssitacinus
I started from Macquarie Park Station and walked to the Deburgh Bridge and then followed the Riverside Track downstream to Fullers Bridge. On the way I spent a fair bit of time near Porters Creek looking for fungi.
Hygrocybe austropratensis
On two previous trips I had found some very interesting green hygrocybes in a small area near the creek. These fungi were noteworthy for being particularly viscid. Also – they did not seem to fit in with any of the wax caps found in the Sydney area. Nearby was a very viscid strange orange-green fungus that I also could not identify. Another fungi photographer, Ken Beath, had seen and photographed both these orange and green fungi a few times since 2009. He thought that they were the same species, and as it ages it changes from green to orange. He also thought that it was most likely to be Hygrocybe pssitacina. The only trouble was that this species has only been recorded once before in Australia (in Victoria – in the variant – Hygrocybe psittacina var. perplexa). I think my recent photos and observations support Ken’s conjecture regarding the fungi’s identity. It seems to be what is now called Gliophorus pssitacinus var. pssitacinus (formerly Hygrocybe psittacina var. psittacina). This has not been recorded in Australia before.
Gliophorus pssitacinus var. pssitacinus
Gliophorus pssitacinus var. pssitacinus
Continuing along the Riverside Track, it was pleasant walking down to Fullers Bridge, but not a lot of fungi was out along this section of the river. I then continued along the same side of the river, first along some roads, and then along a track to Fairyland – and old pleasure park on the river. A little past it – the track goes through a damp area under a cliff – and I did find a few Hygrocybe aurantiopallens out here.
Hygrocybe aurantiopallens
At the Epping Road Bridge, I crossed the river and then walked back upstream through Mowbray Park back to Fullers Bridge. This was all on a nice track close to the river, some of it on a boardwalk through wetlands and then through a golf course.
For the last part of the walk I went up Blue Gum Creek, but instead of following the track out to Greville St, I continued up on the north side of the creek right up through Bluegum Reserve. Most of this going was on a rough track and then through open rainforest. On the way I did find some nice clusters of fungi out – mostly old and dried out. I will have to return earlier in the fungi season next year for a good look. I then followed a track to a scout hall, and from there I could follow a good track to Dulwich St in Chatswood (and then a short walk to Chatswood Station).
Fungi of Bluegum Reserve –
Porpolomopsis lewelliniae
Hygrocybe anomola var. ianthinmarginata
Hygrocybe stevensoniae
Hygrocybe stevensoniae
Hygrocybe reesiae
More photos, of fungi, are on my website here.