ANPS Bolts into Bruce Ridge

It still being Winter the walk was designed to be close to town and lower in elevation so as to have a chance of some flowering plants.  Julie sorted out a course for us to follow which met both criteria.

I'll start with some wattles, as we are nearly at Wattle Day.  in places there were masses of Acacia genstifolia almost African in its spikiness.
 The spines, as well as the flowers. show in this close up.
 A. buxifolia is much gentler on the skin!
Some people seem to feel that A. baileyana was not spread naturally from its home at Cootamundra and start reaching for an axe whenever one is sighted.  I believe that that metropolis is sufficiently close to Canberra to argue against that proposition (especially noting the movement pattern of Superb Parrots).
 The low-down on wattles is embodied in A. gunnii.
 Just about the first plant seen was Olearia microphylla.
 Again I had to search for open flowers of Cryptandra amara, but it was worth it.
 A puzzle of an Hibbertia sp.  It has now been nailed down to H. riparia - I'd have to say a hard rain's gonna havta fall to get a river up there!
 Here are the wobbly bits in close-up: this may have been useful in sorting out a more definite species ID.
 More wobbly bits- this one is definitely H. obtusifolia - and there is not the separation of boys and girls!
 A wider perspective on the latter species.
 I'm not biased against stems if they make a pretty pattern like Cassytha pubescens (which it seems to be on the balance of probabilities).
I thought originally this was Grevillea not-alpina, and given its hairiness was going to suggest G. esauii as a suitable name.  Then I wondered if such a Jacobite proposal might offend any Caledonian readers so won't pursue the matter.
 This is about the best image I have ever captured of Stylidium graminifolium.
 Pimelea linifolia from the front ...
 .. and the back showing the arragement of the bracts withis diagnostic.
 Now we move on to a range of beans.  For some reason today's sample is heavily biased towards the longer wavelengths.  This is Indigofera australis.
 Hovea heterophylla
The sole egg and bacon specimen today: Dillwynia phylicoides.
To wash down the eggs and bacon here is a sasparilla!  Aka  Hardenbergia violacea
 Hovea makes nice with Acacia.
 There were a few good birds around today.  Including this Galah with a supercilious expression.
 I rather liked this immature Crimson Rosella, giving some action to an Exocarpos cupressiformis.
 The bird in black: Pied Currawong.
 I conclude with some thoughts about infrastructure etc.  This massive edifice is an underpass for the Gungahlin Drive Extension.  I can only presume they want to drive tree felling towers though there and will save time by leaving the tower at full height.  I paced the tunnel at 80m long and then timed the group scurrying through in 73.17 seconds, or 1.09m per second.  We obviously enjoy travelling more ('cos we spend more time doing it) than Usain Bolt who can cover 12.42 metres per second!
What can you do with a nature reserve?  You can build a freeway through it.  Then put in some interesting public art and it's all OK?
Or you can set fire to it.  At least this time - unlike most 'controlled' burns - the RFS seems to have been able to keep the fire out of the crowns.

Comments

Ian Fraser said…
Great pics - you must be happy with the new camera. Interesting thought about Sup Parrots distributing acacia seed; I'd never heard that one before - good lateral thinking! You might be stretching it a bit though to suggest they carried them to the Adelaide Hills where A baileyana is a serious weed.
14 August 2014 at 09:14:00 GMT+10
Flabmeister said…
I have received an email from an anonymous source suggesting that the size of the underpass is due to the fact that the road engineers anticipated it would need to be big enough to take buses ferrying passengers to and from the AIS Stadium on a dedicated ‘bus freeway’ cutting across the existing nature reserve to be built as an adjunct to another spur freeway GDE feeder road which was originally planned also cutting across the nature reserve from the Fairfax Street/Dryandra St intersection in O’Connor. The underpass of course anticipated actual planning approval for the roads which ultimately never came because of the concerted public opposition to the GDE.
14 August 2014 at 16:49:00 GMT+10
Flabmeister said…
Ian

Thanks. I am very happy with the new camera. I just wish it had a taser attachment for use on a Crescent Honeyeater which I spent about 40 minutes trying, unsuccessfully, to photograph this morning.

The idea of the SPs dispersing A.baileyana is not unfortunately mine, but due to a late friend whose house backed on to Mt Rogers. He loved the SPs which used to hang around his house but loathed the unemployables from TAMS who'd come and clearfell all the acacias which he also enjoyed.

I agree it is a stretch to see parrots carting fertile seed from the Western Slopes to the Adelaide Hills. I presume the folk there find it easier to clear the wattles than the Patterson's Curse! (I note that Albury - reputed Australian origin The Curse - isn't too far from Cootamundra.)
14 August 2014 at 17:00:00 GMT+10
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