I had another wander along the two Valleys Track, this time from Bardwell Park to just below Turrella, looking at the fungi.
Not a lot of fungi was evident unless you looked carefully, and even then, only in certain places. But what I did find was quite nice and colourful and this included a fair number of waxcaps. Continue reading
This was an interesting walk with Bob to a place neither of us had visited – Taffys Rock in Ku-ring-gai National Park. Our route was along the Great North Walk to a point overlooking Jerusalem Bay and then along a side track that goes all the way to Taffys Rock.
Lion Island from Taffys Rock
We caught the train to Brooklyn and then left the hamlet and climbed up a steep road that is the Great North Walk. We soon arrived at Brooklyn Dam, a large body of water that use to be the water supply for steam trains. There is now a campsite there for walkers. Continue reading
This was my next fungi walk along Sassafras Gully at Springwood to investigate the changing fungi there. I was hopeful that more fungi had come out, in particular I was hoping to see a lot more waxcaps out. On the trip, I did see a fair range of waxcaps out, but no where like the quantity of them I had seen last year.
As usual I entered the gully via the track at the end of Sassafras Gully Road and exited via Mandala Creek and Fairy Dell. Continue reading
Brian had invited me to join him on a walk he had organised at last minute for the National Parks Association to Wises Track at Royal National Park.
The main ideas was to look out for and photograph some birds in the heath as we walked, but it was quite cold and windy, and the birds were a bit shy, so bird photography was difficult. But it was still a nice walk. Continue reading
I went back to Chatswood to have a better look at two areas that had visited not long before – Bluegum Reserve and Ferndale Park. On the earlier trip I had done a longer loop walk down from Chatswood, down Blue Gum Creek to the Lane Cove River and then back up Swaines Creek, through Ferndale Park back to Chatswood. On this trip, I hope to check out both the creeks again and then walk up the Lane Cove River to Macquarie Park. But I found enough fungi out in the creeks that that was where I spent my time.
I started out in Blue Gum Reserve. I entered from Dulwich Road and walked along the track to the scout hall, without finding too much out. Then I continued downstream. Continue reading
This was an activity organised by the Sydney Fungal Studies Group Inc together with the Wolli Creek Preservation Society. After we met at Girrahween Park – we divide into two groups to look for fungi.
Hygrocybe collucera
I was in a small group with Joanna and we later met Rowan and we checked out a location near Turrella. This was a spot that Joanna and Gregg had found about a year ago. It is well off the Two Valleys Track and a bit difficult to get to. But getting there is well worthwhile as a lot of very nice fungi seems to spring up there. It seems to be especially good for waxcaps. Continue reading
This was a pleasant daywalk in the northern suburbs. The weather forecast was not good and Bob and myself decided on a walk that was relatively sheltered. As it turned out, the weather was not too bad while we were walking.
Waratah Bay
We started from Berowra Station, and walked down the track to Waratah Bay on Cowan Creek. This track seems to follow an old road formation that was probably used a long time ago for access to the bay for boating. At the bay, is the wreck of an old houseboat. Continue reading
At present, Bola Creek in Royal National Park seems to be the best place in the Sydney area to look for fungi.
During the month of June the closest weather station (Audley) recorded a lot more rainfall than other areas such as Sassafras Gully at Springwood (about 420 mm and 220 mm respectively) – s0 that has probably been the main factor making it better. The colourful waxcaps that I like to photograph also need cool weather to appear – and that is why they are often abundant at the end of the fungi season – during June and July.
On this trip I did find quite few species of waxcap out. Here are some examples – Continue reading
I completed another walk along Wolli Creek along the Two Valleys Track – from Bexley North to Tempe. Again, I was checking the fungi that was out but I also looked for orchids.
There was not much fungi out along the first section from Bexley North to Bardwell Park. Things improved in the next section down to Turrella Reserve, and were a lot better in the last section. And a lot of what I found were colourful waxcaps. But still poor when compared to last year. Continue reading
This was a cold but pleasant day at the Waterfall Reserve at Mt Wilson to look for fungi. It was an activity organised by the Sydney Fungal Studies Group Inc.
The Waterfall Reserve is generally regarded as one of he better places to find fungi in the greater Sydney region, but recently it has been quite dry in that part of the Blue Mountains so we did not find a real lot of fungi. Continue reading
