As the wet season rain continues to soak the forest around Paluma, new and interesting mushrooms just keep appearing! Rosie Gillespie recently found this striking white and warty mushroom on the range road and its distinctive ornamentation certainly makes it worth sharing. This particular mushroom proved relatively easy to identify. It is Amanita pyramidifera – or the Pyramid Builder Lepidella. It is found in eastern Australia in moist sites associated with eucalyptus forests or rainforest.
If you see any more interesting mushrooms that you would like to share or identify please feel free to send them to me.
Inspired by Jamie’s recent post on ‘Wet Season Mushrooms’ (9 February 2023) I kept my eyes peeled last weekend for interesting specimens whilst walking around the village. I didn’t have far to go to find an array of amazing fungi after the recent rain. Right there in my own garden was a rotting log flushed with small, delicate creamy-brown mushrooms in large numbers. I haven’t attempted to identify these as yet, but someone with more knowledge of tropical fungi may be able to do so quite readily? I did check at night for fluorescence and fairies under the mushroom caps, but neither were found!
A couple of weeks ago, Juanita and I decided to go out for a quick night walk around Lennox Cr. The rain put a bit of a dampener on our plans, so we just walked around the house shining our UV torches. We weren’t expecting to see much wildlife but the visual display just from shining torches on our house walls and doors was still amazing. Here’s a sample that looks like it could be on display in a museum of abstract art …
The black squiggly lines on both images are the feeding trails of our Paluma semi-slug which love eating the algae and lichen off our wall.
or a display of images from the Hubble or Webb telescope.
Spider webs add an extra dimension to these images.
After rounding the corner to the other side of the house, we encountered a house gecko, which would normally not be much to get excited about. But the combination of this lizard’s nearly transparent skin, and the fact that bones fluoresce under UV meant that we were treated to an eerie but fascinating x-ray view.
Never a dull moment in Paluma at night if you have a UV torch!
After several seasons of reporting (by various authors) on interesting mushrooms that pop up around Paluma each season, I would have thought there would be fewer new varieties to report on this year, but so far my mushrooming efforts have not suffered the fate of diminishing returns.
Here is a selection of some of my new finds this year.
Hygrocybe cf miniata
Every year with out fail one of the more common mushrooms along the rainforest tracks is the small Vermillion waxcaps (Hygrocybe sp – possibly H. miniata). I have published pictures of these before. But there are other beautiful red species that can be found if you look carefully. One of my favourites is the tiny Redbonnet, with a delicate shiny viscous cap and slender stem. Often overlooked because of its size, it is common in many gardens as well as along the tracks.
Top:Ruby Bonnet (Crentomycena viscidocruenta). Bottom Blackening Waxcap (Hygrocybe astatogala). Bottom right photo by Ray Palmer on Flickr
Another less common but striking red mushroom is the Blackening waxcap (Hygrocybe astatogala). It gets its common name from the fact that it turns increasingly black with age. The bottom left hand photo is a fairly fresh specimen found by Juanita at McClelland’s lookout, with a stem showing faint black streaks. After a few days it can turn entirely jet black as shown in the adjacent image by Ray Palmer from a specimen near Cairns. Both phases are strikingly beautiful.
Some other classic gilled mushrooms (Agarics) I’ve found in the last few weeks are shown below. The orange Gymnopilis was growing on a log in my garden, while the unusual burnt yellow mushroom (Oudemansiella flavo-olivacea) was growing on the roadside next to the High Ropes Course. The last mushroom in this group is an Amanita found in the Banksi/Casuarina forest near Witts Lookout.
The last two fungi for this article both share the common name coral fungi based on their shape, which is similar to some corals, but they are not in any way related. The large white bushy specimen is Artomycessp growing on a log behind Potters Park. It belongs to the order Russulales along with the very different False Turkey tail (Stereum ostrea) that I have previously written about in the 5 easy species series. The red club-shaped fungi is Clavulinopsis sp (probably the sulcata group) which is in the family Clavariaceae in the order Agaricales, which is the group that contains mostly gilled fungi.
Two very different and totally unrelated coral fungi. Left: Artomyces sp. Right Clavulinopsis sp (probably in the sucata group); photo by Juanita Poletto.
If you come across any interesting Fungi that you would like to identify I would be happy to give it a try, or refer it back to some of the facebook experts that have helped me for this article. Just take a picture from the top and side, as well as one of the underside of the cap. I am sure that there are dozens more spectacular fungi to be found around Paluma and it would be great to share them with others through this website.
Text and photos (unless indicated) by Jamie Oliver
Paluma after dark is a riot of colour if you go rambling with a black light (UV) torch.
Fungi and lichen on a letter box and a clump of palms at the start of Lennox Crescent light up like a coral reef under black light and there’s plenty more to be seen (animal and vegetable) along the walking tracks.
Under the blacklight at #56 this week this scorpion from damp lumber in the front yard lit up brilliantly for the camera of Jay Deagon, Jan Cooke’s niece.
Photo by Jay Deagon. (Canon EOSR7, with RF100 Macro, lighting from a Lumenshooter UV torch)
Jamie Oliver went online and found two possible species locally — Lychas variatus a species of marbled scorpions or another rainforest scorpion, perhaps Hormurus waigiensis.
Jay’s image seems to be the Lychas, much more gracile than the Hormurus.
Google tells us that all scorpions fluoresce under black light or even under strong natural moonlight. and no one is quite sure why.
“The blue-green glow comes from a substance found in the hyaline layer, a very thin but super tough coating in a part of the scorpion’s exoskeleton called the cuticle.
“Scientists have noticed that, right after a scorpion molts, or sheds its shell, it doesn’t glow until the new cuticle hardens. …
“Whatever its source, the glowing property is surprisingly long-lasting. When scorpions are preserved in alcohol, the liquid itself sometimes glows under UV light. And the hyaline layer is amazingly durable: It can survive millions of years … even fossilized hyaline fluoresces.
“Still, scientists don’t know what purpose the fluorescence serves. Some theories:
Last year, Michele published an article on a spectacular bluish purple mushroom popping up on the village green.
Earlier this week I noticed that the same purple mushroom was now growing as a fairy ring over 5m in diameter out in the open area of the village green. A semi-circle of large light mauve mushrooms was quite a sight.
After a misidentification by me last year, the correct name Lepista sublilacina was provided by Barry and Jenn Muir from Cairns. It has been called the Australian Blewit. A closely related species (or possibly the same species as) is the Lilac Blewit (L. sordida) which is a common edible northern hemisphere species that is known to form fairy rings. Both species are recognised by the Atlas of Living Australia and have been recorded in Queensland but the characters used to distinguish the two species are not readily available from a web search. They are commonly found on lawns and gardens.
There are at least two websites in Australia that suggest the Lepistra sublilacina/sordida is edible but my recommendation would be not to try to eat them until you have conducted your own investigation on this.
This species is just one of many that have been popping up all around Paluma. I will dedicate a separate post to these in the near future.
Following on from our previous post on 9th December regarding the Shrike-Thrush chicks at Lynda’s place. At about 7 to 8 days of age, the chicks are thriving in the nest. They are growing steadily and just look at those wing feathers!
Some exciting news from Lynda Radbone’s garden in the central sector of Paluma Village. A few weeks ago a pair of Shrike Thrush birds started nesting in Lynda’s fig tree. After some frenetic nest building, some eggs appeared in the nest to be closely cosseted by Mum and Dad Shrike Thrush. Earlier this week, the eggs hatched and there are three splendid and very hungry chicks in the nest. Lynda continues to monitor the nest to guard the chicks from hungry Catbirds, with the help of Miss Molly the dog. Lynda has kindly shared these photos of the progress of this little feathered family.
1. Sitting on eggs in the nest nestled amongst the fig tree branches.
Here’s a rainfall update from Barry Smith for November and the year to date….
We have had 145 mm of rain for November 2022 with 18 days of rain this month.
For 2022, we have cracked the 2 metre mark with 2,080.4 mm so far to 29 November. Judging from the forecast, it looks like plenty more rain to come before the year is out.
Paluma’s rainfall recorders are a dedicated bunch, never missing a day in checking the gauge and recording the rainfall figures.
Special thanks go to all the volunteers for their great work in 2022, including Barry Smith for recording the week day rainfall, with back-up assistance when required from Tracy Cooper and Rick Roveda. Peter Cooke and Michele Bird do the recording on the weekend. Other keen volunteers step in from time to time when called upon. Great work everyone in keeping these important records for our little village in the mist (and rain).
‘The Passage of Seasons’ Book Launch took place last Friday evening (18 November) at the Drill Hall Studio in North Ward, Townsville. Colwyn Campbell was joined by family and friends from all over North Queensland and beyond to celebrate the launch. Peter Cooke provided a splendid introduction and opening speech which is reproduced in full below (with permission).
We’re here tonight to launch a book in which long time friends Colwyn Campbell and Di Lucas generously share with us their experiences and thoughts generated by their deeply shared passion for the natural world.
Through the pages of “The Passage of the Seasons” we are privileged to join the life journeys of Di in the savannah of the NT’s Top End and Colwyn in the cloud forest of Paluma.
This is a book of many parts. It is a nature book, but a very special nature book in which people, particularly the authors’ families and friends, are centrally placed in the landscapes which inspire their conversations.
Alongside scientific observations and descriptions are embedded the feelings and experiences of the observers as the seasons turn month by month ….. whether against the background of wild nature or in the cultivated nature of their home gardens.
The letter-writing form of the book is also special and increasingly rare in the digital age. The inventor of email, Shiva Ayadurai, observes that texting, SMS, chat or Twitter have destroyed letter writing. In this not-so-brave new world, wise and elegant wordsmithing has been largely replaced by the five-second video grab headline or 140-characterd micro-blogging.
The establishment of a postal service in England in 1606 allowed anyone with price of a stamp to communicate with anyone with an address.
Women were quick to take advantage of the improved logistic advantages and the creation of a private space for two people to converse across slow time and far distant space.
Linguists credit women writers of the 17th and 18th centuries with inventing a more personal, private and introspective form of letter writing, using informal styles that were conversational and spontaneous, more like speech and just as lively, vibrant and at times as playful as speech, while addressing subjects from the mundane to the profound.
Di and Colwyn have built on that tradition of style and The Passage of Seasons confirms it still works just fine in the 21stcentury.
Another ancestral influence and inspiration for Passage of the Seasons was the emergence of the genre of nature diaries, a genre not exclusively female but one which continues to resonate strongly amongst biophile women writers and their audiences.
Both Colwyn and Di acknowledge the strong inspiration and influence of the English woman writer Edith Blackwell Holden, who fashioned her Nature Notes for 1906 as a model for her students’ work while teaching art at the Solihull School for girls in England.
Edith Holden’s collection of seasonal observations, poetry, and pictures of birds, plants, and insects wasn’t even considered for publication when it was composed and it wasn’t until 1977 that her nature notes were finally published and became a world best seller under the title The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.
Other seminal sources of inspiration acknowledged by Di and Colwyn include
Earth, fire, air and water, an exchange of letters between two women artists Anne Dangars and Grace Crowley, edited by Helen Topliss.
Densey Cline’s formidable catalogue of nature books, especially the Garden Jungle
Jackie French’s ‘Seasons of content‘
’The 3,000 Mile Garden’, conversations between Leslie Land and Roger Phillips focused on their gardens on different continents
And finally ‘A Gardener’s Log’ and other books by Edna Walling which Di’s mother passed to her.
As well as these shared European influences, Di brings to The Passage of Seasons perspectives on nature and human relationships drawn from decades of interactions and friendships with the indigenous people of Western Arnhem Land.
For Colwyn, Pen Pal friendships with contemporaries in the US and the UK helped make her into a self-confessed life-long compulsive letter writer.
In the mid-20th century school children were encouraged to engage with pen friends in other countries.
Some of these formally encouraged pen-friendships were very long lasting.
In 2018 the record for a pen friendship was between Ruth Magee from Canada and Beryl Richmond in the UK who at that time had corresponded for 78 years and 160 days. They did manage to meet but only twice and only briefly.
For Di, going off to boarding school at 10 going on 11 ramped up a regular pattern of letter writing. Di and her dad exchanged letters on a weekly basis. Mum, she says, was just too busy in her garden and keeping house.
The conception and gestation of Seasons began back in Darwin some years after Colwyn and Di were introduced in Darwin in 2001 by a mutual friend, Leonie Norrington, at the launch of Leonie’s Tropical Food Gardens”, a book which Colwyn illustrated.
They found they shared lifelong interests in gardening, writing and art. They got to know one another better as Diane often called in at Colwyn’s husband’s book exchange in rural Darwin. Diane at that time was part-time teaching and already writing books for children.
Colwyn says: “I was rapt when Diane told me about a book that was germinating in her mind and asked if I would illustrate it.”
And so began their collaboration with Waterlilies, their first book together and self-published in 2007.
It was a great learning curve, says Colwyn and they were thrilled when Waterlilies received a “Notable Book” award. It has since had four reprints. This book, along with three others, are on the recommended reading list for Indigenous literacy and they have three other books in the pipeline, also for children.
So began five or six years of letter writing that has culminated in our being here tonight to launch The Passage of Seasons — a literary journey during which personal nature diaries have been folded in with intimate stories of family and friends, initally in private correspondence between Di and Colwyn across a great distance.
What the authors are sharing now is a sensory feast for all, from Colwyn’s lovingly created and charming illustrations to their mutual keen written observations and commentary on the sights, sounds, tastes, smells and touches of nature that await those who open their hearts and minds to the call of the wild.
As Colwyn says “what we hoped to achieve was something that would take the reader away from everyday worries to a peaceful mindset, not too taxing, requiring no serious level of concentration but rather to be conducive to contemplation of the natural world around us all”.
The Passage of Seasons achieves all those goals and is a magnificent celebration of nature, of friendship and lives well lived. Enjoy and share.
Text by Peter Cooke. Photos by Michele Bird and Juanita Poletto.
