Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 5th November.

We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay.

Last week the weather was a little drier after some days with both wind and rain and we headed first  for the Stromberg Falls near Davie Bay to see if they were putting on a display for us.  There was lots of water and more than enough  to have two of the three distint sections almost full.   Then we drove on towards Shingle Beach and parked to give us a fair distance for exercise.  Just before reaching the park entrance we spotted a new trail that looked to be worth exploring and were lucky to find we could get to a grassy bluff overlooking the sea, just nice for our lunch spot.

My photo this week was taken on a recent hike to Mt Pocahontas.  This is a beautiful but poisonous species of mushroom that has several different colour forms that range from bright red as in this specimen through yellow and grey to almost white.  In each case the distinctive warty lumps are usually present and help with identification.  The species name, muscaria, is latin for fly and the connection to this insect is due to the fact that the flesh was used to kill flies that are attracted to it.

JD.

Fly Agaric, Amanita muscaria, must be the most striking mushroom you may find in our forests.