The toadstool pictured is one of relatively few green species. While it's not rich grass-green in colour, it certainly has a strong tinge of olive-green, set off nicely by the golden gills beneath the cap, and the similarly golden stem.
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Green skinheads is its common name now, but for many years it was known as green goblins.
Whatever the reason for the change, common names for fungi are desirable if non-experts are going to take a positive interest in them.
This is a common fungus from May to July, in natural bushland or grassy places nearby.
It grows to 80mm across but is often smaller. The colour of the cap, gills and stem seems to become duller with age. The cap changes shape too, from domed to flat. All this happens within 10 days or less.
While it can appear singly, it is more often found in small groups of a few stems close together.
Green skinheads is one of the large group of fungi known as cortinars. The group includes all colours, pale-blue, purple, orange and more. Many have the botanical name of Cortinarius, with green skinheads usually being named Cortinarius austrovenetus.
It is a toadstool that I am always glad to find each year, because its unusual cap colour makes it easily recognised, it is not found in large numbers, and because of the attractive colour contrast between the cap and the stem and gills.
SHELDUCKS ADOPTING HOLLOWS
Hollows for nesting birds are always in short supply, whether for small birds such as pardalotes and tree martins, or larger species such as cockatoos and ducks.
This was demonstrated at Miners Rest recently, where three pairs of Australian shelducks (mountain ducks) appeared to be staking claim to an isolated old gum tree in a paddock. The tree contained a visible hollow.
While there was no apparent aggression between the three pairs, it was evident that each was after the hollow to use as a nesting place in the weeks ahead. At the time of observation, the three pairs were separate, but close to each other and close to the tree.
Australian shelducks are large handsome birds, always attracting attention when observed from a roadside. Like wood ducks, they make their nests in tree hollows.
While no nests of swans are known at Lake Wendouree at present, a pair on a farm dam at Learmonth have produced a family of cygnets. These appear to be already three or four weeks old.
Farm dams in the district often produce cygnets before Lake Wendouree's first broods appear.
NATURE QUERIES ANSWERED
We often have corellas flying around our place before dark. Sometimes they land in our tallest trees but they don't seem to roost here for the night. Where do they roost? K.&N.P., Miners Rest.
Corellas are not particularly fussy where they roost, although their preferred sites seem to be large trees near water. They often fly around in small or large numbers at or after sunset, circling and twisting rapidly through the air and in between trees, chuckling and screeching. Although they often settle at dark, they can all take off for no apparent reason and travel in the dark to another spot, presumably one they know well.
Restless birds, they leave their roosting sites early, often before the sun rises. On cold mornings they sometimes gather in a dead tree to take advantage of the warmth of the early sun.