Toothed Jelly

After a week of heavy rain Valda and I headed down the coast to one of our favourite spots, Blanket Leaf Picnic Ground north of Lorne. Our goal? Fungi.

The Great Otway National Park and other reserves in the Otway Ranges protect an astonishing suite of fungi, ferns and flora but it can be hard to find them because of inaccessibility. Especially if you are 'of a certain age'. Blanket Leaf PG appeals because there is a path through a wet forest of treeferns, eucalypts (and Blanket Leaf Bedfordia arborescens) leading to Cora Lynn Cascades and beyond, and the forest floor is thick with lovely wet mulch, mosses and lichens, fallen timber and smaller ferns and plants.

We found lots of fungi and we're still trying to identify most of them. Fungi can be frustrating, but they are mighty interesting. I do enjoy the process but inevitably find that we've failed to take note of or photograph the crucial identifying feature!!

But this is one I can identify and it's a beauty. It's a Toothed Jelly Pseudohydnum gelatinosum. I'd never seen one before. Unfortunately I had to resort to using the flash because in the gloom I couldn't tweak the camera settings to get a decent depth of field or decent shutter speed so the colours here are a little blown out but you can see how beautiful it is. And also unfortunately, the entry in Fungi Down Under states that it 'is very jelly-like and shivers when touched' and I never touched it!

Now... on to the other 25 species. Where's my Fuhrer?

Urban lakelands

The suburb Lara Lakes didn't exist a generation ago, and neither did Lara Lakelands but they now fill a natural valley and filter stormwater before it drains into Hovells Creek.

This morning the Mid-week Bird Group checked out the lakes that are surrounded by residential housing. A surprising number of birds find the shallow water, muddy edges, reed beds and open grasslands suit their needs. Today we found about fifty species including Cape Barren Geese, Buff-banded Rails, Black-fronted Dotterels, several hundred Galahs, Red-rumped Parrots and Spotted Pardalotes.

It's a hidden gem.

You have mail

The wind has picked up quite a lot since this morning. Actually it's blowing a gale. And when I ventured outside to check for mail I found this moth clinging on to my letter box, waving about in the strong breeze.

I think it's an Oxycanus dirempta but am happy to be corrected.

Precious saltmarsh

As you drive to Geelong from Melbourne on the Princes Freeway you cross over Hovells Creek near Lara. Look to the east and you see a path that follows the creek to the estuary in Limeburners Bay, Corio.

Today we explored sections of the creek, including the boardwalk into the mangroves. We concentrated on the precious saltmarsh areas.

Saltmarsh at Limeburners Bay, Corio. You Yangs in the background.

Beaded Glasswort Sarcocornia quinqueflora

 Shrubby Glasswort Tecticornia arbuscula (Syn. Sclerostegia ) and a Garden Mantis

Nardoo Marsilea sp.

Rounded Noon-flower Disphyma crassifolium subsp. clavellatum