Dalton does good

Frances and I have very fond memories of Dalton, just North of Gunning, as a native flower site.  It became less attractive a few years ago when the cemetery was incinerated by the Bush Fire people for reasons best known to them.  However, we wanted a shortish trip out of Carwoola so pointed the Jetta in that direction this morning.

First up, we swung in to the Cemetery and found things very much better.  The area out of the burial grounds (which seem to have acquired some new fences) was regenerating very well.
Jumping ahead a tad, we also visited Broadway TSR on the road to Boorowa.  That had some damp patches ..
As a result of the dampness both areas were well endowed with mosquitoes.  The cemetery was very much sun orchid central.  When we first got there (about 0920) they were not yet open, possibly as the temperature was only about 16oC.
 We called back on the way home (about noon) and the 23oC had not only got the Thelymitra carnea displaying but ...
 .. quite a few T. pauciflora had joined in,
 The carnivorous leaf of Drosera peltata was a bonus!

Getting back to our first visit to the cemetery, next cab of the rank was Diuris semilunulata - looking a bit sunburnt and generally used.
 Sticking with the genus Diuris, at the TSR D. sulphurea was found.
 As were at least hundreds of what are now called Caladenia again, even though giving the white Caladenias their own genus of Stegostyla was very sensible.  I think most of them were C/S ustulata due to brown tips.  A very knowledgeable friend has advised that he thinks they are all Caladenia moschata, which is known to be variable in colour.  Neither Frances nor I picked up the 'hippy shop' scent usually associate with the species.
This pink one had me a tad puzzled, but the dorsal sepal ain't right for what was briefly called Petalochilus!
 And this looks a bit greenish which made me ponder C/S cucullata.  See above.
 As I said there were lots of them.
 Staying briefly with monocotyledons both sites had many twining Fringe Lilies (aka Thysanotus patersonii).
 Into the Fabaceae (aka beans - from the latin faba = bean): Pultenaea microphylla and ...
 .. Daviesia leptophylla
 Heaths were represented by Brachyloma daphnoides.
 Reflecting the dampness there was a lot of Sundew around.  Some of them were fully flowering, and in this case showing the furry underside diagnostic of Drosera peltata.
The "daisies" were subject to a lot of insect attention, I think mainly hoverflies.  Here on Leucochrysum albicans ...
 .. and here Microseris lanceolata.
 The first vertebrate seen today was a Shingleback.
Indeed there were two present and both seemed rather sleepy.  Perhaps there will be more in the nearish future.
The final stage of this outing was a swing into the Merino Cafe in Gunning was an 8/10 beef pie.  The  specimen touched most of the bases for a good pie but lost a bit for being "just a pie" and a bit more for being somewhat small for the price.  But all other criteria were met well.

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