A plant walk in the Eastern Tinderries

Following a very successful  January 2010 birding expedition to a property in the Eastern foothills of the Tinderry Range The ACT branch of ANPS visited the site on 3 November. 

The brief trip report says
"We saw some lovely plants.  We explored 2  areas - mainly Eucalyptus pauciflora woodland with an interesting understorey, recording many species. Flowering were a number of orchids - many Diuris chryseopsis, Arachnorchis atrovespa, Stegostyla cucullata, Stegostyla moschata and some Thelymitra in bud - Craspedia variabilis, Ajuga australis, Ranunculus lappaceus (heaps), a heath we have yet to ID, Bossiaea buxifolia, B. foliosa, Pomaderris eriocephala, Phebalium squamulosum ssp. ozothamnoides, Brachyscome spathulata and many more which escape me at the moment.  Some made it down to a lovely stretch of the Queanbeyan River.  After kind hospitality back at the farm, some continued on the loop up and over the Tinderries checking out the regeneration after last year's fire."  Some of the identified species are shown below.

We got a couple of nice reptiles:

Jacky Lizard, sunning on a rock before disappearing under a (parked) car-

and a little later a lurking Blotched Blue-tongued Lizard

Getting back to plants here is (I think) a Stegostyla cuculatta showing the large amount of purple on the labellum.

The next plant snapped was a new (for me, they are common in the Tinderries) Bossiaea: B foliosa.  This covered a large area and made a most impressive showing.

We went down to the river which was in good flow.  The son of the owners - a skilled all-round naturalist - commented that he had seen 5 platypuses in this short stretch of river. We didn't see any 'puses but a good-sized trout did generate a few ripples so the stream should be in good nick.  The first image is a close-up of the cascade visible in the second.

While down in this area I took photos of the Phebalium mentioned above and Grevillea lanigera.

The birds were a bit quiet in the E pauciflora (ie Snow Gum) but diversity increased a lot back at the homestead.  All up I recorded 34 species for the day which is a pretty good haul considering the amount of time I spent looking at the plants (and talking to folk)!  The highlights were the Scarlet and Flame Robins, the Diamond Firetail and the to raptors (Nankeen Kestrel and Black-shouldered Kite).

The trip report also mentions the journey home over the Tinderries "It is still very bleak but there were good patches of flowers in spots, including Stypandra glauca, Derwentia perfoliata, Tetratheca sp., Ranunuculus lappaceus, Brachyscome spathulata, Craspedia variabilis and more."

What is 'bleak'?  This is bleak:

In fairness this was on the highest point of the road where the fire would have been at its most extreme (and the soil at its thinnest).  The regrowth was better on the lower slopes.