With the fungi season drawing to a close, this was probably my last walk for a while along the Two Valleys Track looking for and photographing the fungi. This time, I was joined by Digi Dave. This trip we walked from Bexley North Station to just past Turrella Reserve.
Cantharellus lilacinus
We had a good start to the trip, spotting a rather large Blue Tongue Lizard lazing in the sun. The lizard stayed long enough for us to get a few photos. Nice.
I was keen to look at an area closet the track along the upper part (between Bexley North and Bardwell Park) that had a large cluster of green-yellow-orange waxcaps. Superficially, the looked a bit like some of the colour changing waxcaps that I had recently seen at Ferndale Park. I wondered if these ones would change colour too. Four days later, they had caged a bit. A lot of them had rotted away, and those that were left had not changed. I now think they are likely to be Hygrocybe aurantipes.
I finished photographing them, and while waiting for Digi Dave to complete his photos, I looked around a bit further out. I was lucky I did! I spotted a rather large cluster of Hygrocybe austropratensis. Some of them were quite large with caps perhaps 8 cm across. There would have been around 20 of them. The more I looked, the more I spotted! I went back to get my camera and tripod.
Hygrocybe austropratensis
While I was taking photos of them I always cast my eyes around to see if any other fungi are nearby. This time I spotted another large cluster waxcaps. These were lilac coloured. A slightly yellow base of their steps meant they were what is now called Cantharellus lilacinus (their old name was Humidicutis cheelii).
We continued on, having lunch at Girrahween Park. A little further on we saw a group of four Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos squawking away in the trees next to the track.
Then, more fungi near the rock climbing crag.
Lower down, we stopped to try and photograph the flying foxes.
Nearby, there is still a huge number of greenhood orchids out.
And then a bit more fungi photography –
This was a very pleasant day out enjoying Nature. More photographs are online on my website here.