Gidgegannup Small Farm Field Day: Keen sense of curiosity key to finding backyard fungi

Award-winning WA gardener and fungi enthusiast Faye Arcaro has been on a journey of discovery for “quite a while”, identifying 76 fungi and 33 slime mould species on her 1.6ha Jandakot property. Mrs Arcaro is well known in the world of WA gardening and an avid content provider to iNaturalist, a US non-profit organisation dedicated to connecting people to nature and advancing biodiversity science and conservation. She presented at this year’s Gidgegannup Small Farm Field Day, saying it was her interest in photography and gardening that started her journey into discovering the world of fungi on her own doorstep. “The more we look, the more we see,” Mrs Arcaro said. “What we see is often just the fruiting bodies of fungi. They are only a small part of what is going on, the mycelium is the big part. “I encourage everyone to get outside and see what is happening, especially after rain. “Look anywhere in the bush or your garden, squat down on the ground and often you will get a different view.” Mrs Arcaro said the world of slow release photography could open up one’s understanding of these “beautiful species”. Ghost fungi on the base of tree trunks was a favourite of photographers who enjoyed the challenge of capturing the luminous green of the species, she said. “Everyone needs to know about fungi,” Mrs Arcaro said. “Fungi can be food for many things, it has an important role in our ecosystem. “Nature is amazing and photography creates the ability to capture something so small.” Mrs Arcaro promotes respectful photography and said she liked to leave things where they were in bushland. “Instead of tipping mushrooms over to look at, get a compact mirror and use this to identify them where they stand,” she said. Mrs Arcaro said her passion was about observation and wanting to learn about the world around her all the time. She said the more than 1000 species she had found on her property had been identified on iNaturalist, and she was keeping records. Mrs Arcaro’s photography can be seen on her Facebook page, Botanic Obsession.