'Ghosties' light up forest near Seven Mile Beach after big wet

Ashley Sykes came across clusters of the poisonous ghost fungus Omphalotus nidiformis in bushland near Seven Mile Beach during an evening forage.

The 35-year-old - who goes by @ausmashmash on Instagram and is well known for his drone footage of migrating whales frolicking off the Illawarra coast - described the "ghosties" as a magical sight.

Mr Sykes said the best time to look for them is in autumn, after heavy rainfall and some warm evenings.

"They grow, and then die, quickly, so each bunch only has a day or two of bright glowing before they fade," he said.

"My preferred technique for finding them is to simply head down after sunset in the pitch black, and walk through the forest looking for a very faint glow.

"You need to let your eyes adjust to the dark, and then stop and look around."

Mr Sykes, formerly of the UK, captured his images using "one to two-minute exposures with a wide aperture and high ISO to get the best out of them".

Thankfully, they also glow brightly to the naked eye.

Professor Brett Summerell, chief scientist of the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, spent much of last autumn exploring forests and tracking down various species of mushrooms.

His top tip for finding ghost mushrooms: scout your location during the day, take down lots of information, and then return at night with your camera.

A bonus tip - don't eat the ghosties.

While the ghost mushrooms do look similar to the popular oyster mushrooms, Prof Summerell stressed the fact ghost mushrooms are toxic.

In September, Prof Summerell offered some insight on the prevalence of the fluorescent mushrooms in NSW forests.

He said while they grow year-round, the La Nina weather pattern of recent years has created a boom in mushroom growth.

"It's a combination of the fact we've had our La Nina, and it's also cooled off pretty quickly and sharply in terms of the weather conditions," he said.

"Mushrooms are a decay fungus ... you often see them in rainforests and wet eucalyptus forests and the like, breaking down timber and recycling it, basically.

"So they've really liked the last couple of years."

As for why the mushrooms glow?

Prof Summerell said scientists know which chemicals in the plant make the green glow happen - but there's no definitive answer on the purpose.

"It's not really well known why they do it at all," he said.

"It's presumed that it's a way in which the mushrooms can attract insects and other types of organisms that might spread their spores - like a pollinator scenario."

Meantime, two stunning images of fungi taken on the Far South Coast were deemed too good to split in the Fungi Feastival photography competition's first round.

"The top two images used very different techniques, they are of equally high quality, resulting in a tie for first place," judge Rob Evans said.

The equal first place winners of the first round were Jeanette Robben and Bega District News editor Ben Smyth.

Jeanette's winning mushroom image was taken near Batemans Bay and was likely the common ink cap Coprinopsis atramentaria.

Ben's image taken near Merimbula was of the ghost fungus Omphalotus nidiformis.

Special mention also went to photographers Allison Aitken and Ashley Smart whose images were also highly commended.

The two first place winners will receive copies of fungi ecologist, writer and photographer Alison Pouliot's fungi books.

Entries were already coming in for the second round of the competition, which closes on June 10.

Following the second round an overall winner will be selected. Prizes include fungi books, mushroom growing kits and truffle hunts.

For details on how to enter the fungi photo competition, click here.

- With Jorja McDonnell