Wolli Creek – Fungi Walk – 30 May 2015

I went for a walk today along the bushland area of Wolli Creek to see what fungi may be out. I started from Bexley North Station and walked down the Twin Valleys Track all the way to the junction with the Cooks River, then caught the train home from Tempe Station.

It was a pleasant ramble. Last year, I usually found the most fungi in the upper part of the creek – between Bexley North and Bardwell Park. This visit – most of that section was lacking in fungi. Nor could I find any Hygrocybe austropratenis growing in a site near Girrahween Park that I and seen on previous visits. But lower down the creek, things improved.

A lot of Cortinarius seem to be out at this time of the year.

Cortinarius archeri

I spotted a small Mycena growing on a log, a knew straight away what it was – the very distinctive Mycena nargans. I had not seen this species before.

Mycena nargans

My last find, and perhaps the most interesting were a small cluster of red fungi growing on a moist bank. I can’t recall seeing red hygrocybes in the Wolli Creek area on my previous visits, and that is what I thought they were initially, but I now think they are perhaps Mycena viscidocruenta.

On my walk, I heard lots of birds, and saw quite a few, but I did not see or hear any of the flying foxes that normally sleep in the trees near Turella.

More photos of the fungi can be found on my website here.