ANPS finds the weather forecast correct

Todays Wednesday Walk for ANPS was to the Deep South of the ACT (not quite Adaminaby but nearly).
Bird of the day was before we got far down Boboyan Rd.  This was a young Wedge-tailed Eagle attempting to fly off with a very large former bunny.  I am so cheesed that I didn't have my camera.

The weather forecast muttered about showers, chance of a storm in the afternoon.  Before getting that far into the day the woodland was pleasantly sunny.
 So was our view at lunchtime.
However we could hear rumblings and bumblings from the South while we dined.  When we turned for home we could see the source of the noises.
I paused about 100m from the cars to put on my jacket and cover my pack so I didn't get wet.  The first several kilometres of the drive were a bit soggy.

Most of the walk was surprisingly for the ACT free of weeds.  However the ridge line was open , presumably as a result of human activity, and thistles ...
 ... and Verbascum were sprouting in fair profusion.  This was somewhat less profuse after we had passed by.  It was thus somewhat surprisng to find 3 dudes in ACT hi-vis wielding various power tools, removing the vegetation from the side of the track lower down as we returned.  ((I enquired at the Visitors Centre and they didn't know why this make-work was going on.)
In passing one could note that the ACT taxpayers have given this guy a face mask.  I wonder why he didn't use it.

Enough with the negative vibrations.  Here are some plants.  First up the two beans of the day.  Low down Podolobium alpestre formed the ground layer.
 In the upper part of the trip Oxylobium ellipticum had taken over the flowering duty.
This is of course Persoonia chamepeuce and nothing to do with any species of Pimelea (no wonder Jo and Julie looked perplexed when I asked about the flowering Pimelea).
 Olearia ramulosa
 Brachyscome spathulata and bonus insect
 This was Wahlenbergia gloriosa the ACT alternate floral emblem to St John's Wort.
 If I was a conservative person I'd stick with Corunastylis sp. but being a bold revolutionary type I'll say C. nuda.
When I went back I couldn't find the Speculantha sp. that was growing nearby and when the group returned it was pouring so didn't devote time to a major search.

This Diplodium decurvum ws quite easy to find in a couple of spots.
 Only one specimen of Eriochilus magenteus was found in the upper area.
 Autumn in within sniffing distance so it was well we found some fruits.  Exocarpos strictus, emphasising the exo attribute of the carpus.
 Choretrum pauciflorum grovellng along the ground.
 Linking plants to invertebrates here are some attractive galls.
 A Shouldered Brown butterfly.
 A lacewing .
 Getting into a Victorian (historic not geographic) frame of mind here is a silhouette of an insect though a gumleaf.
 Its dorsal surface was quite attractive ...
 .. as was the ventral!
 A fly came and looked over my lunch from a convenient perch.
I am advised this is a scarab beetle.  As there are 2200 known species in Australia that isn't really very specific!  But it is pretty.
 Sorry for not issuing an archnophobic alert earlier, but  I conclude with an orb spider, primarily because of the pretty zig-zag pattern it is delivering from the spinneret!

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