Monday's meander

A hardy bunch of seven braved a pretty bad forecast to enjoy a two hour walk in Mt Worth State Park – what else would you do on a cold and wet day but visit a rainforest? Actually, we timed it just right for the walk and got through to ‘brunch’ back at the shelter just before the hailstorm!

Still smilin'

After donning the rain gear – to protect us from the drips from the trees – we set off on the Giants Circuit accompanied by the glorious serenade of several Lyrebirds. Great start to the day.

We paused several times to get a few shots of the beautiful Kangaroo Fern with their sori packs on the under-leaf and some sturdy shelf-bracket Ganodermas.

Kangaroo Fern – a common rainforest epiphyte in our district. Ganoderma – there’s about 80 species of this wood-decaying fungi. The extract from some Ganoderma species are used for medicinal purposes.

Apart from the Lyrebirds, the avifauna was remarkably quiet, probably due to the conditions. We think we saw a pair of Brown Gerygones but being so wet there were not very many binoculars between us.

Once we got into the patch of Soft Tree Ferns, we found some epiphytic Fieldia and fortunately we even found a couple of flowerheads.

Fieldia – a small, native epiphytic plant that can sometimes be locally common in rainforest gullies.

Some nice examples Strap Water Fern was next.

Strap Waterfern – a Blechnum species that likes to inhabit more fertile and wetter locations in the rainforest.

We passed under some leaves of the Blanket Leaf tree (Bushman’s D…y Paper) and came across a nice colony of Split Gill on the end of a log.

Split Gill – a cosmopolitan mushroom identifiable by the way the gills are longitudinally divided.

Just before getting back to the car park, we encountered the whistling call of the Olive Whistler – a great rainforest species. As usual, this fairly shy bird didn’t show itself. Also found a couple of tree trunks nicely decorated with some Whitewash Lichen.

Whitewash Lichen – A crustose lichen (or is it a fungus or ‘lichenised fungus’?) that looks like spilled paint.

A couple of us decided to engage in a ‘smoking ceremony’ in a vain attempt to get a fire going while we had lunch. Ultimately we could only warm up with our ‘cuppas’.

"Cough, cough".

Still, ‘brunch’ became entertaining when a Bassian Thrush came out into the open to seek its own tasty morsel – or perhaps it was smoke from our failed attempt to start a fire that enticed the bird to approach us. Either way, always nice to see one.

Bassian Thrush - a secretive. cryptic bird that inhabits the leaf litter in damp, densely forested areas

Despite the weather, I think the consensus was it was an enjoyable day – it was nice though to get into the cars and switch the heaters on for the run back home.

 

 

It's fungi time!

Noticed a few fungi in the parks and gardens lately? Fungi tend to wait for the dry and heat of summer to be over before they spread their spores for reproduction (fungi do not have seeds like plants). Autumn and early winter rain is usually the signal for the fungi to produce their fruiting bodies containing the spore.

Armillaria sp - Uralla Trafalgar

The array of size, shape and colours of fungi never ceases to amaze. It is almost certain that in any patch of bushland the number of species of fungi is far greater than the number of plant species. It’s worth remembering too that probably 90% of plants rely on fungi for their survival.

Clavaria sp - Rokeby

Because fungi do not use photosynthesis for making nutrients, they don’t rely on sunshine for their growth. As a result, fungi are often found growing in dark places such as under shrubs and logs.

Tremella sp - Nangara Jindivick

In our district, we have some great nearby locations for seeing these remarkable organisms – Thornell’s Reserve Longwarry Nth, Labertouche Bushland Reserve, Nangara Reserve Jindivick, Rokeby-Crossover Rail Trail, Mount Worth State Park, etc. Some interesting fungi can often be found just on roadsides. Horse-dung Fungi, Pisolithus arhizus, is often found in the middle of walking tracks and bush roads.

Pisolithus sp - Labertouche

Fungi are essential for a healthy environment. We should appreciate and conserve the presence of fungi in the environment just as we do the plants and animals.

 

Winter-flowering natives

One of the nicest things about living in our corner of the planet is the change in seasons. While we might bemoan the sudden chill in the air at this time of year, many native trees and shrubs welcome the lower temperatures and have adapted to survive and even bloom during the colder months.

There are many forms of the beautiful Correa.

Indeed, many of our natives actually come into flower at this time of year – correas, epacris, hakeas, lechenaultias, various eucalypts, acacias, banksias, grevilleas and others, can all put on a great floral display during autumn and winter. Who doesn’t enjoy the wonderful sight of the beautiful scarlet, pink or white Common Heath (epacris), in our forests at this time of year?

Common Heath is Victoria's floral emblem

Many native insects, mammals and birds benefit from a nectar and protein source during winter and many plants and animals have evolved to be mutually beneficial to one another at this time of year – the animals have a food source and the plants are pollinated.

Tetratheca or Pink Bells is often seen flowering on roadsides in the bush in winter

Winter flowering plants will often form seed earlier than plants that flower later in the year. In this way, the winter-flowerers get a head start on the others when it comes to germination as the temperature rises and any young seedlings have less competition as they grow.

Many of our Hakea species are happy to bloom profusely at this time of year

Winter flowering eucalypts are vital for the survival of one of Australia’s rarest birds, the critically endangered Swift Parrot. Swift Parrots breed in Tasmania in spring and in late summer they fly to Victoria and parts of SA and NSW to spend winter feeding on blossom, nectar and insects in our flowering eucs.

'Swifties' rely on winter-flowering eucs for their survival

There’s a lot going on in our bush at this time of year.