ANPS takes its turn at the Lagoon with Many Names!

A couple of weeks back COG visited Rowes/Rose/ Tarago Lagoon.  Today ANPS followed along and got a good handle on a very good crop of flowers.

After gathering at Sutton we progressed along the Federal Highway to Rowes Lagoon where a couple other members joined us. Thanks to Mr Rob Hunt, lessee, firstly for conserving this important ecological community and secondly for kindly allowing us access and providing a secure parking area.

The weather wasn't brilliant but there was no significant precipitation over the course of the outing and the temperature eventually got to a point where a layer or two were shed.

We soon found the signature species of the site, Rulingia prostrata which obliged further by being in flower.

 The edge of the water was about 50m from the fence. 

The speckly bits on the mud were leaves of Nymphoides montana.

 Also in this area was Urtricularia australis .....

 .. and two species of Ranunculus.  This first was R. diminutus (also seen last week at Lake Bathurst)...

.. while the second, with a ferny leaf, was R. inundatus.

 Getting a little out of temporal sequence, at a later stage in a grassland area we encountered the more usual R. lappaceus.

 Myriophyllum sp

 Isotoma fluviatilis was flowering well (although it may have been renamed as Lobelia fluviatilis).

 Getting away from the bed of the lagoon a patch of Arthropodium fimbriatus (Chocolate lilies) were encountered.

 I only noticed one example of Thysanotus tuberosus.

The commonest lily in the area was Bulbine bulbosa, but I didn't want to spend your bandwidth on photos of gone over seed pods!

We only found one orchid flower: Microtis unifolia ...

 ... although one spent stem was found much later in the walk.

There were quite a large number of Wahlenbergia around the site.  This first was relatively small and identified as W. communis.

 In life, this one was much larger and identified as W. stricta.

 Relatively few examples of the Fabaceae were evident today.  I always like Gompholobium hugelii, even though I find the very shiny petals hard to photograph at close range.

 Eryngium ovinum (Blue Devil) is a good sign of a native grassland habitat.

 A Lomandra multiflora was living up to the Latin!

 A couple of meadows, with a profusion of Chrysocephalum apiculatum  and...

 .. almost at the end of the walk Calotis anthemoides.

One of the many old eucalypts was graced with two mistletoes: on the left,  Mullerina anthemoides and to the right Amyema pendula.

 Eucalyptus dives had effectively finished flowering ...

 .. but E pauciflora was still going well.

A beetle lurking on Cassinia aculeata.

 A ladybird, possibly Coccinella transversalis, also on Cassinia, together with a small fly.

These flies were observed swarming from pine trees in vast numbers last year as well as clustering on low bushes.  Here are a couple of close-ups: they were not cooperative in staying still.

 The more common bush flies added weight to peoples hats and backs.

 An iridescent moth was flying around and eventually stayed still.  Sandra has suggested a name for the species (see her comment below).  On a previous occasion  I concluded a similar specimen was Pollanisus apicalis.  Both species are shown in the Atlas of Living Australia as possible in this area.  Certainly genus Pollanisus seems to be pretty definite. 

An interesting sidelight from that investigation was to discover the Australian Faunal Directory.  This seems to be a listing of all animals in Australia and as such potentially very useful.

This week's photo of a Blotched Blue-tongue does show the pinkish colour rather better.

A Tiger Snake was seen by some, towards the end of the walk but didn't hang around and we didn't want to disturb it from its refuge under a pile of fallen timber.

Tree Martins were evident in the timbered area, which included a good number of hollows suitable for them and many other species to nest in.

 A Pallid Cuckoo came to check us out.

 Before leaving Rowes Lagoon, Roger has provided an image of its condition in November 2012. The area of bed we walked on was well inundated.

I then went to check out the birdlife on a couple of other lagoons visible on Google Earth.   The fiorst Wollogorang Lagoon was visible in the distance, but the area close to the road seems to have reverted to pasture and or cropping.

However Wet Lagoon just North of the Hume Highway had a good amount of water and some birds were visible.  Even though Joe Hockey is no longer an influence on our lives I have included a snap of the Cullerin Range windfarm.

Coming back along the edge of Lake George I was surprised to notice 4 Cattle Egrets in breeding plumage.  Seeing them with cattle was less surprising.