How one man tracked down 'sea sparkles' on the NSW south coast

“A few weeks before I took the photo, my partner was enjoying a wine at a neighbour's wharf and raced home to tell me there was some ‘glowing stuff’ in the water” explains Samson.

Having seen photos of algal bioluminescence before, the cop-come-shutterbug suspected his partner had witnessed a bloom of Noctiluca scintillans, a tiny plankton which can glow when disturbed by waves or currents.

The quick-acting amateur photographer immediately grabbed his camera, but by the time he got back to the water’s edge, the glow had dissipated.

But this setback didn’t stop our determined cop, who kept close watch on the water the following days.

According to Samson, “one way to detect the presence of the plankton is to look for a pink-coloured slick on the water by day”. However, the rigours of shift work prevented our curious cop from doing this, so instead he resorted to Plan B.

“You can throw rocks in and look for sparkles, if the water starts to twinkle like stars, you’ve hit the jackpot.

“The night I took the photo there were a couple of young kids down at the wharf having a smoke and carrying on a bit and when they saw me throwing the rocks out, they shouted ‘What are you doing?'.

“But when the sea startled to sparkle, they all stood up for a closer look and if their colourful language was anything to go by, they were suitably impressed”.

While it’s the first time Samson has photographed algal bioluminescence, also called "sea sparkle", Jervis Bay and surrounds is a hot spot for it.

“Some local fisherman say it lights up all around them as their boats chug through it,” says Samson. “A colleague at work even confesses to swimming in it nude when she was younger.”

According to Samson, “the plankton is even more surreal when it washes up on the sand where you can you scoop it up in handfuls like fairy dust … they kids love it.”

While it’s hard to predict when the blooms might appear, Samson says you don’t need an expensive camera to capture the dazzling display.

“Although a digital SLR is preferred (with long exposure and low ISO), you can also get a half-decent photograph on a smart phone,” he says.

“Most phones these days have cameras with at least a 10-second exposure, so use that, and if you don’t have a tripod, stabilise your phone on somewhere like a brick or rock,” he advises.

Samson, who admits he now “has the bioluminescence bug”, is already planning a trip to Tasmania where the phenomena is much more prevalent and where he is also hoping to photograph another, even more spectacular natural light show, the southern lights (aurora australis).

“Who knows, I might even be lucky enough to capture both sea sparkle and the aurora in the one shot,” he says.

Wow, I’d like to see that.

If you go: Michael Samson captured his photo of the sparkling sea at the Boat Ramp at Basin View, near Jervis Bay, a three-hour drive from Canberra.

Did You Know: Professor Gustaaf Hallegraeff, an aquatic biologist at the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, reports algal bioluminescence has expanded a great deal since first reported in Sydney Harbour in 1860. “In the 2000s we saw it really move southwards and now it's permanently in Tasmania,” reports Hallegraeff. “We have some evidence that ocean currents and the warming of the oceans have contributed to it — it’s definitely a species that is showing a spectacular range expansion, especially in the last 20 years.”

Sparkling seas aren’t the only natural phenomena currently captivating visitors to Jervis Bay.

Recent rainfall has finally triggered the ‘‘annual glowing of the mushrooms’’ in Booderee National Park, albeit a couple of months later than usual.

“They [ghost mushrooms (Omphalotus nidiformis)] usually glow in mid-autumn when cooler temperatures and rain tempts the fungi to sprout into mushrooms, but the dry start to the year meant they were delayed this year,” reports nature photographer Maree Clout, who, since first stumbling on a colony of the mushrooms five years ago, has returned to the coastal park every autumn to witness the spectacle.

“It’s weird, some years you’ll find a beautiful big colony of them and the following year they won’t grow there at all,” reveals Clout who “still gets excited every time she finds a new cluster”.

“By day, with their creamy white and purple colours, the mushrooms are photogenic in their own right, but it’s after dark when they truly come to life,” reports Clout, who after discovering a colony near Cave Beach, captured a stunning series of shots last week.

“It’s easy to see why the first European settlers were spooked by them,” says Clout. “I’ve been amongst thick bushland and I’ve turned the torch off and as your eyes adjust there’s these little lights popping up all over the place, it’s a really bizarre experience.”

However, just like algal bioluminescence, the glowing ghost mushrooms can also be quite tricky to photograph.

“To the naked eye the light emitted is quite dim and blueish-white, with only occasionally a green tint,” says Clout, who regularly posts nature photos on her ‘Jervis Bay Through My Eyes’ Facebook page.

“To appreciate the light emitted over a longer period, you’ll need to have a tripod and a camera capable of taking long-exposure photos, like a digital SLR.

“The hardest part is focusing on the mushroom in the dark,” says Clout who recommends using a torchlight to focus manually.

However, Clout’s biggest tip for those wanting to photograph or just witness the glowing mushrooms is to locate them in the day first.

“It’s much easier to find them in the daytime rather than stumbling around in the dark,” she says. “In Booderee, they prefer to grow around the base of dead Banksia trees or stumps.”

However, those after their own photos of a glowing ghost mushroom may not need to head to Jervis Bay for although more common in coastal areas, they also occur around Canberra. The Atlas of Living Australia reports sighting in the Aranda bushland, Australian National Botanic Gardens and Tidbinbilla.

If you go: Maree Clout photographed these ghost mushrooms near Cave Beach in Booderee National Park, about a three-hour drive from Canberra.

Warning: Although Omphalotus nidiformis can be handled, like many mushrooms they are poisonous to eat it.

Beware: While last searching for mushrooms, Clout and her friends saw four red-bellied black snakes hunting frogs. Isn’t it time they hibernated?

Did You Know? The glow in the mushrooms, caused by an enzyme called luciferase, attracts insects that feed on the fungi and in turn spread its spores, allowing them to reproduce.

Spook factor: In 1895, Mordecai Cooke, an English botanist and mycologist, reported on the so-called ‘‘supernatural’’ qualities of bioluminescent fungi. “The effect produced by it upon the traveller, when on a dark night he comes suddenly upon it glowing in the woods, is startling; for to a person unacquainted with this phenomenon the pale, livid, and deadly light emanating from it conveys to him an impression of something supernatural, and often causes no little degree of terror in weak minds or in those willing to believe in supernatural agencies”. Not surprisingly, ghost mushrooms also feature in several indigenous Australian stories, where they either hold a special power or are portrayed as a fearful spirit.

Last week’s exposé on the Squatters Arms (Bailed-Up at Bunyan) flushed out several former residents of the historic Monaro highway landmark, including Stephen Honeyman, who lived there from the mid 1960s until around 1973.

“My mother and step-father bought it along with eight acres of land to start a small farm,” reveals Honeyman, now of Fisher.

Honeyman especially holds fond memories of the cellar, which he explains was inaccessible until his step-father “cut a panel out of the veranda and put in a large trap door”.

“My mother once made a large batch of elderflower cordial which, due to a low consumption rate, turned into elderflower wine,” recalls Honeyman.

“More of a champagne, it fizzed nicely when opened,” says Honeyman. “The down side was that it had a tendency to explode and, as the cellar was directly under the lounge room, the occasional muffled explosion reminded us to not play in there.”

Meanwhile, according to Honeyman, the old coach house at the back of the Bunyan property and visible to passing motorists on the way to Cooma and beyond, “was used at various times as a hay shed, pig pen, milking pen for cows and goats and a playground”.

As to the prospect of buried treasure, Honeyman confesses he “did find a gold half sovereign” but hastens to add “it was from a field behind the old petrol station across the road”.

Where in Canberra?

Clue: Now an art precinct.
Degree of difficulty: Medium.

Last week: Congratulations to Brigitte Tabuteau of Bruce who was the first reader to correctly identify last week’s photo, submitted by David Osmond, as an underground storage area near Dairy Farmers Lookout at the National Arboretum Canberra.

Tabuteau, who just beat Phil Carter of Holder and Robin Brown of Yarralumla to the prize, explains the reason for the larger doors to the bunker. “It’s used for the storage of equipment, including vehicles, used to maintain the arboretum,” she says.

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to timtheyowieman@bigpond.com. The first email sent after 10am, Saturday June 16, 2018 will win a double pass to Dendy.

Contact Tim: Email: timtheyowieman@bigpond.com or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, 9 Pirie St, Fyshwick.