Pelorus Bridge Mushroom Hunting
Exploring mushrooms on the edge of camp: a photo-heavy journal from New Zealand’s Pelorus Bridge.
About a month back, I spent a week camping at Pelorus Bridge, a well-known mushrooming spot in the Marlborough Region, just below Rai Valley and not far west of Havelock. The forecast called for sun and mostly delivered, except on the final evening when we had to pack everything up in a rush, tent and all, under a surprise downpour. This routine of a soggy scramble followed by a day of drying gear is becoming familiar, unfortunately.
Still, the trip was a good way to kick off the start of the fungi season. And I didn’t have to wander far to find things worth photographing, often just a few steps from the tent. It’s a luxury to find mushrooms that close to camp, I can save my back and sit in a chair with warm coffee in reach.
Two of the more common finds were Austroboletus novae-zelandiae and A. niveus. The first reminds me of crème brûlée, the second like a white marshmallow. Both have those distinctive reticulated stipes that make the genus stand out.
I took a few walks along the Tawa Trail, heading past the unpowered sites. Ran into a few hikers and photographers. One woman and I ended up chatting about Entolomas and how unique they are here. She mentioned she’d never seen the blue one from the fifty-dollar banknote. We said our goodbyes, and not five minutes later I spotted a cluster of Entoloma hochstetteri at the base of a fern. Light blue against the green moss.
Later, I found more of them near camp. One growing right beside an A. niveus was a highlight.
Dark velvety purple Cortinarius and viscid light purples like Cortinarius taylorianus.
Lying across a stream, bright yellow-stemmed Mycena subviscosa (an endemic bonnet) covered the log. Some confuse them with M. epipterygia, which can glow faintly in the mycelium under the right conditions. These didn’t.
For bioluminescence, you'd want Mycena roseoflava, but no luck. Maybe it was just too cold.
On my final walk, I followed the trail toward the waterfalls and saw something unusual growing on stick. For a second, I thought I was looking at Trichaleurina javanica, the so-called Elephant’s Foot from Malaysia. But it turned out to be Sarcosoma orientale, a rare find with only about 16 sightings on iNaturalist so far.
Some other notable finds were blue Cortinarius with what looked like an egg-yolk on the apex of the cap.
A fuzzy, wrinkly Lycoperdon sp.
Something in Clavulinaceae that looked like someone’s chewed-up gum.
Blackening waxcaps.
And toxic Galerina patagonica.
Totally awesome.
That roseoflava is incredible - it looks like a tiny jellyfish.