The Lure Of The Red Mushroom

Was drawn back to Mt. Wilson to try yet again to capture the beauty of the red mushrooms with white spots. I was also hoping that there may have been some deeper colour in what was left of the leaves after the recent deluge which hit parts of NSW.  These large red mushrooms have intrigued me since being introduced to them in childhood fictional tales such as "Noddy and Big Ears".  Perhaps their greatest fascination stems from having lived in an imaginary world fuelled by  bedtime stories read by my mum, where these mushrooms sheltered wee folk.

  Wikipedia describes the mushrooms:

Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita, is a mushroom and psychoactive basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Amanita, generally as a symbiont with pine and birch plantations, associating with various deciduous and coniferous trees. The quintessential toadstool, it is a large white-gilled, white-spotted, usually red mushroom, one of the most recognisable and widely encountered in popular culture. Although classified as poisonous, reports of human deaths resulting from its ingestion are extremely rare.

  This year the mushrooms could even be seen along the roadside and beneath the trees in Cathedral Reserve.

We knew however to return to Breenhold Private Gardens . 

 I felt I would have guaranteed success for my hunt beneath the gigantic chestnut tree in Breenhold and I wasn't disappointed. The tree is located in a sheltered corner near the front fence.

 Sadly all of the chestnuts had fallen and deteriorated and the colour had passed its peak but it is still indeed a magnificent tree and I doubt any photo could do it justice.