Fungi at Homerton

There wasn't a lot of fungi in our bush at Homerton, but I ended up finding quite a few different species. My local friends tell me that I should have been there a few weeks earlier. (The story of my life.) But it's lovely to find something tucked away under bracken or on a log, and these are photos of just a few.

These little orange discs were growing on kangaroo dung. Each disc has eyelashes but you'd need a magnifying glass to see them. (Or you can click on the photo here to enlarge.)

Natural gardens

A week's holiday, seven days to explore our bush block near Heywood. Sounds like heaven doesn't it? Well, it rained! A lot. I haven't seen mud for a while, and I'd forgotten how, well, muddy it is. And I managed to get the little ATV bogged as well, and they're hard to bog.
So in effect I had a day and a half of lovely weather to search for fungi (more on those later) and other goodies, and then I was inside next to the lovely fire sewing, reading, drinking coffee, watching TV, adding tags to my photos so I can find them - so relaxing and welcome but not what I'd planned.
This little moss garden was growing on top of a stump. Fungi, moss, lichen and possibly a hornwort all growing in their own tiny ecosystem. Nature is truly marvellous. It's not very many weeks ago that this bit of bush was so parched and crackly you'd think it impossible that such a thing was possible. Just add water.

The only orchid I found flowering was the Nodding Greenhood, a common species but beautiful all the same. The leaves of a number of other species were evident, and if I was there next week the Tall Greenhoods would be flowering. I think the Tall Greenhoods are being split so I'm not sure which one grows in our bush. The only other plant flowering was the Epacris impressa.

Standing at attention

This is a new one for me. These little caterpillars were on a gum leaf, tails up (or down depending on which side of the leaf you're on), and they seem to have globules at both ends. While I was watching they didn't move at all. I've no ideas for an ID. Maybe they're not even caterpillars.

Feral residents

When we visited Sydney last week I didn't even get my binoculars out of my backpack, but I did see a few birds, mainly feral. A grassed area at Darling Harbour was well covered by pigeons - maybe it had recently been reseeded.