ANPS monitors the Cypress Pines track

Or alternatively "Monitor pines for ANPS?"  In this case a Rosenberg's Monitor - to my knowledge the first I have ever seen!  The first image is included mainly to show how close it was to Frances feet when first spotted

Having got that off my chest, I'll note that we were intending to go to Booroomba Rocks today but were quite reasonably put off by a Severe Weather Warning talking about wind gusts up to 110 kph.  That seems to have been a small exaggeration but the BoM did record gusts to 80 kph in the morning - a bit dodgy if standing near the edge of a large cliff.  So we did the Cypress Pines walk (plus a bit) instead.

Here is a habitat shot from the CP Lookout towards Mt Tennant.

Noting the 'P' of 'ANPS' I'll mention that we saw a few spiffy (or very spiffy) plants of various sorts.  The following images are more or less (hmm: on review, 'less' rather than 'more', but I am sure folk can deal with it) in the order I/we saw them.

I didn't attempt to photograph Microtis sp. which had "gone over' but this Dipodium sp. in bud definitely had some aesthetic appeal.

 I found the first solitary, and very sticky, Olearia tenuifolia not long after crossing Boboyan Rd.

 Further up the track they were in sticky swathes.

 The Lilies made up for the poor showing by Orchids.   The first was Athropodium fimbriatum (Chocolate lily) ...

 then Thysanotus tuberosus (Fringe Lily) ...

 and finally Arthropodium milleflorum (Vanilla Lily).  Very spiffy one and all!

 Isotoma fluviatalis popped up in many damp spots.

 Getting an early start on a Carwoola (OK, Tharwa) White Christmas was Kunzea ericoides.

 The only BEAN that I noticed in flower today was Bossiaea buxifolia.

 If you want small and delicate, but spiffy to the extreme, try Pelargonium australe.

I will now deal with a mystery plant.  A member spotted

 which looked pretty much like a Thelymitra seed capsule.  However ..

 ..was adjacent and didn't look much like a Thelymitra bud (as well as being out of season) but ..

.. the stems suggested they were coming from the same source.  Experts are being consulted.  Watch this space.  Current suggestions are for Calochilus.  Mymost recent advice is that the presence of bracts rather than a substantial leaf indicates C. saproprophyticus rather than C. therophilus (the latter being as the latest flowering of the beardies which is also very tall)  Both could flower in December and have been recorded from Mt Tennant.  I think we have a winner - currently C. saprophyticus - but we might have to go back in about 10 days to make sure.  

As with last week there were lots of annoying flies around near the start but they diminished as we got away from the 'roo infested area at the start.  Some more interesting invertebrates were photographed.

Ethnolagria grandis

 A moth, probably a member of the family Arctiidae (Tiger Moths).

 A Tachinid fly, possibly Rutilia sp.

My images of a very interesting spider which Ros encountered were complete garbage so will not bother you further!

A good list of birds were seen today.  These images - taken of the same bush - contrast the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo with the recently arrived Little Corella.

At the end of the walk this Welcome Swallow occasionally raised its head above the parapet of the nest to observe me (and others) inhaling ice-cream

This is my first image of a tadpole!  No idea what sort of frog will result from this!

Some members were concerned that a subset of tadpoles were being monstered by ants so were rescued and deposited in a lower, and larger pool.

While this was going on those less concerned with saving pollywogs were debating whether the term 'pillock' was appropriate to apply to a certain radio announcer.  Warning: coarse language in the following link!   On site, we couldn't call up a definition on the available technology but subsequently looking at the definition in Wiktionary I reckon the Norwegians had him dead to rights!