Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Recent trip to the Robbo forest






Recently Denis and I took a trip to the Robertson Nature Reserve to photograph the fungi.


While we were there we came across a group of retired employees of the old waterboard that were getting better acquainted with the variety of rare flora cared for in this area.


Denis didn't miss the opportunity to discuss some of the finer points of environmental conservation and it was generally agreed that much had changed in attitudes towards development versus environment.


We were told that all the engineers worth their salt from the Waterboard, now the SCA, were retired. Many of them were on this tour. It was generally agreed that things had changed there also.




Some of the interesting forms we encountered that day are pictured below.
This stalactite like formation with Denis giving an idea of scale, was most unusual.



































A bracket type fungi with a closeup showing the porous nature of the organism.





































Robertson Nature Reserve, although interesting enough with its larger forms such as the canopy trees like Coachwood and Sassafras, is a domain ruled by the microcosm of smaller forms that attach themselves to these trees or inhabit the litter on the forest floor.