Our dog walk this morning was mainly along Karbethong Rd (as
opposed to Karbethong Avenue which is our base). Lots of
Correa reflexa,
Epacris impressa and
Acacia suaveolens. Also a fair bit of
calling by Superb Lyrebirds: one was obviously displaying close to the road but
fled – unfortunately, into the bush rather than out across the road - as we
approached. The sign is true:
There were a few interesting looking fungi beside the road ....
... and much
Acacia terminalis in the bush.
The view across the Inlet was rather attenuated because of
low cloud and/or the drizzle emanating from same. In Melbourne the rule of thumb is “Don't like
our weather? No worries, it'll change in
5 minutes.” I have a suspicion that may
not apply in Mallacoota. In fact it did:
it is important to remember that not all change is for the better – by 2pm it
was micturating down, and we were very pleased that we had done our “pleasure
walk” in the morning.
At some point I remembered to have a look at the chimney, to see Peter's fix of
the possum problem from our previous visit.
Much more elegant than the plastic milk crate I had installed!
We drove to Quarry Beach, on the road to Shipwreck Creek, and
then took the Coastal walk to Pebbly Beach.
I'm pretty sure this was a Council undertaking as it wasn't canophobic,
unlike the approach of a certain State Government organ The walk started off through a dense stand
of Melaleuca
with a few plants (eg
Solanum aviculare)
growing where the ground had been
disturbed. It gradually became a more diverse
community with Banksias and Eucalypts taking over.
Just before we got to Secret Beach (1.2km) Frances spotted a
Bassian Thrush snuffling around: I haven't seen one of those for many
years. It nicked off PDQ but here is a snap of the branch it was sitting on 0.5 seconds before the shutter went.
We also saw a few waterfowl
sitting on offshore rocks: from an idiomatic Australian perspective it would be
nice to say “they were as lonely as a shag on a rock”
but in each case at least one other member of the family was present.
As we passed down into Pebbly Beach we finally found some
orchids. Fairley and Moore show these to
be “Cobra Greenhoods” giving the Latin as
Pterostylis grandiflora. (They come from NSW so don't believe in the
Jones and Clements rejigging of orchid families (but then I have heard that
Jones and Clements no longer believe in it either!) I
do believe in Jones and Clements so it's real name is
Diplodium grandiflora.
As we left the beach – having decided to walk
back along the road for a change of scenery - we found a second orchid species
(very close to the site of the great
Red-bellied Black Snake episode of 2 years
ago). I think this one was
Pterostylis nutans, but will have to check as we
don't have an orchid reference book with us.
Before leaving the beach we noticed the large kelp which had
been washed up. One of the wide‑bladed specimens still had some rock attached
to its sucker (sorry about the technical term), demonstrating the power of the
waves acting on a few square metres of tough plant material.
A Sooty Oystercatcher (another threatened species) was checking things out.
We found a few other flowers along the way back to Quarry
Beach.
Caprobrotus glaucescens (aka pigface)
Dampiera stricta
Goodenia sp.
Back at the house I put out some more apple as bowerbird bait
and found that a beautiful black male bird came in a few times. By chance I had just been reading “Australian
Bird Names” by Ian Fraser and Jeannie Gray in which they explain that the genus
name for these birds (
Ptilonorhyncus) means feather-bill so it nice to
observe the patch of feathers over the base of the bill!
I decided that another dose of fish and chips was needed
(excellent again) and was surprised to find that it wasn't really raining in
the town centre but reasonably steady at Karbethong. In the evening the rain
really set in, and seemed to go for most of the night. I will be most interested to see how much we
got. The answer to that rhetorical question was 30mm.
Of course with a cool wet night the Swift Moths were out.
Putting up that image has caused me to realise that we saw hardly any insects. Given that quite a few of them (eg mozzies, sandflies and ticks) are undesirable that was a Good Thing.
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Drive home in the rain.
with a few plants (eg Solanum aviculare)
growing where the ground had been
disturbed. It gradually became a more diverse
community with Banksias and Eucalypts taking over.
We also saw a few waterfowl
sitting on offshore rocks: from an idiomatic Australian perspective it would be
nice to say “they were as lonely as a shag on a rock”
but in each case at least one other member of the family was present.
As we passed down into Pebbly Beach we finally found some
orchids. Fairley and Moore show these to
be “Cobra Greenhoods” giving the Latin as Pterostylis grandiflora. (They come from NSW so don't believe in the
Jones and Clements rejigging of orchid families (but then I have heard that
Jones and Clements no longer believe in it either!) I do believe in Jones and Clements so it's real name is Diplodium grandiflora.
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One more episode being crafted now.