Here’s the latest rainfall figures for Paluma from the BOM recording site at the Village Green, courtesy of Barry Smith (weekday recorder) and Peter Cooke (weekend recorder). Ponder this….
561 mm of rain for the month of February
23 days of rain in the month of February
A total of 1,166.6 mm of rain since 1 January
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.
Photo by Rosie Gillespie, text by Jamie Oliver
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!
Text & Photos by Michele Bird
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 …
or a display of images from the Hubble or Webb telescope.
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!
Text and Photos by Jamie Oliver
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.
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.
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 Artomyces sp 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.
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.
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:
Text by Peter Cooke, photo by Jay Deagon
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.
Text and Photos by Jamie Oliver
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.
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).