Next hike.

The next hike will be on Saturday, 10th September, 2016.

We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay at 10:00am

Last week we drove up to the Masyk Farm turnoff and parked at the roadside gravel pit.  It was pleasant walking along the road towards Pocahontas Bay and then turning off on the next logging road on the right and walking south to the start of the Black Mountain Trail.  Sometimes there are mushrooms in the woods on both sides of the roads and in the forest on the slopes of the mountain, but for whatever reason there were none to be seen this day.  I guess we need more rain and cooler weather to encouage them to appear.

My photo from a recent hike shows some Funnel Spider webs that were crowded together on the roadside near Mt. Grant.  I understand this type of spider is mainly nocturnal and I did not see any about.  The female waits in the funnel for an insect to land or fall on the web and then she rushes out and catches the prey before it gets away.  I think I have seen this type of web now and then in the past, but the unusual thing about these webs was that there were so many that they almost covered a small area of the roadside vegetation.

JD.

Funnel Spider webs on a roadside.