This was a walk down Waitara Creek near Hornsby from near its source to where it joins Berowra Creek. I wanted to check out the valley for fungi.
Hygrocybe aurantipes
I started as high in the valley as I could – by entering from a track at Hammond Avenue at Normanhurst. This track was rough and a bit overgrown but had fresh footprints along it – so other walkers do use it.
The track down the creek closely follows a sewerage pipe – and all the way along it was a bit smelly. In one place, the creek drops over a small waterfall and I had to scramble down the side. A small section of rope in place showed that others had been down here too. Despite the smell and quite a few weeds, there was also some nice rainforest, but I found very few fungi.
Greenhood Orchid
I soon arrived at the Westleigh – Hornsby Firetrail. I followed this for a short distance in the Westleigh direction, passing some nice green hood orchids, and then left it where another sewerage pipe crosses Dog Pound Creek. This leads to another fire trail which in turn links to the Ginger Meggs Trail which I followed to a walking track that descended to the Great North Walk.
Clavulinopsis sp
Clavulinopsis amoena
Hygrocybe anomola var. anomola
Gliophorus graminicolor, Hygrocybe collucera and Clavulinopsis amoena
Gliophorus graminicolor
After lunch, I descended down along the Great North Walk track to Waitara Creek. The track crosses the creek at an interesting feature known as “The Spa”, that I have photographed in high water on an earlier walk. I left the track here and followed up Waitara Creek for a few hundred metres on both sides of the creek. This was easy going through open rainforest, and it was here that I did find lots of fungi. Good clusters of colourful hygrocybes and some coral fungi. Unfortunately most of the fungi was old and a bit dried out – but it did reveal the areas potential. This is one place that I will return to in future fungi seasons.
After my fungi observations, I returned to the Spa and spent some time photographing both Waitara Creek and Berowra Creek before walking out to Hornsby via the Blue Gum Track.
The Spa – Waitara Creek
Waitara Creek
Berowra Creek
More photos are on my website here.
Blue Gums