Beaumont Common is a small urban park in Burnside Council, the park has a remanent Grey Box and SA Blue Gum with one original Native Pine. The Common has recently had native vegetation re-established creating a refuge for native birds and insects, a place worth exploring for the nature enthusiast. Interestingly I conducted one of my first Citizen Science engagement events at Beaumont Common and although I had often driven past the park, I was a little sceptical. How wrong I was, I continue to be. I made one of my favourite observations in this park of all time was one of my first, the Rutilia spp. . what an awesome species I am still unclear what species it is, so anyone who knows please help out! Unfortunately, I did not see another fly like this, this trip, but there was still plenty to see including many Fungi including several very small fungi and several skinks
Nargan's Bonnet Mycena nargan observed by Michelle (AKA @mj_taylor )
One of the highlights was some Nargan's Bonnet fungi, these were very small fungi, yet to expand, the combination of a dark pileus (cap) with white scales, and some similar scales on the stipe (stem) is apparently characteristic of this species.
At the time of writing, we managed to increase the number of observations taken within the Beaumont Common iNaturalist project over that day increased from 350 to 508, with an increase in the number of species observed in the park from 122 to 151 species with many of the new species recorded being fungi. This is to be expected as this was the first time we conducted a winter bioblitz in the park, leading to many species observed that were not observed in summer or autumn. The cool weather also allowed the observation of a number of small skinks, identified as Three-toed Earless Skink Hemiergis decresiensis which we found hidden under logs.
Three-toed Earless Skink Hemiergis decresiensis observed by Stephen Fricker hiding under a log.
Unfortunately, we did not see either a Koala or an Echidna which was disappointing, the abundance of Fungi and skinks more than made up for this. Fresh out of lockdown the group managed to maintain social distancing, although this was difficult with so much exciting biodiversity that we found. Check out all our observations that we added to the Beaumont Common iNaturalist project
