Its all happening in Mallacoota

After several weeks with matters natural being quite tepid, today was quite action packed.  Possibly the sunrise was a bit restrained, in comparison with some of the lurid efforts down here, but it did at least forecast the weather better than BoM!  Those clouds were loaded with drizzle!

Looking out at the sunrise I spotted two Pelicans doing there thing in the Inlet and decided to see how my camera handled the distance (about 200m).  Quite well is the answer!

On our first walk some Kennedia rubicunda caught our eyes.

A pair of Whistling Kites were lurking around Coulls Inlet and one was polite enough to pose for a photo.

I went for a prowl round the garden where a lot of plants were flowering.    I think this first one is a Crowea.

A Pittosporum sp was in heavy flower.  They must generate a lot of nectar, judging by the attention they were getting from Rainbow Lorikeets.

 We have no idea what this pretty purple flower is!

 An Acacia sp, in the lower garden, first at a distance..

 .. then closer up.

 There are many flavours of Grevillea

 A Leptospermum sp.

 A pair of Australian King Parrots.  A little later the male came and perched on the table beside Frances: possibly (and unsuccessfully) looking for the food it sometimes gets.

A New Holland Honeyeater was a little more self-sufficient in feeding in the eucalypt blossom.

Our next foray out was to Bastion Point where an awful lot of marine life had been washed up.  This first set are various sponges.

 An unusual alga and some Sea Tulips.

 Another sponge!

 A monster Sea Tulip!

Later in the day Frances revisited the area and found this purple Sea Tulip.

She spoke with a local who said that all the marine life got washed up a couple of days ago following a large storm.

There were a lot of former starfish washed up.  Most of them seem to have lost the tips of their legs, but I have no idea whether this was due to predation (either before or after death) or just pounding by waves.

 There were also a lot of shells washed up.  Where they had their original occupant I chucked them back into the sea.  In some cases they'd been taken over by Hermit Crabs who could, if they chose walk the shells back into the sea.  They seemed to prefer to wait for the sea to come to them.

 One cause of predation is the presence of immature Pacific Gulls.  I had never seen them around Mallcoota before this year but they have become common in recent months.

 There were lots of beach mice (OK they are birds not rodents, but scuttle about like mice).   Many were Red-capped and Double-banded Plovers but this bunch were Red-necked Stints.

We also saw a single Bar-tailed Godwit on the beach and, when we called into Captain Stevenson's Point, 3 Eastern Curlews.

But no Beach Thick-knee!

The weather at the Point was not great.  Quite a strong wind, not warm and continual drizzle.  If I wanted weather like that I'd have stayed in the UK.

Later in the day I spotted a mixed flock: not unusual in Canberra at this time of year, but this lot were in the Inlet.

The main components were obviously Pelicans, Silver Gulls and Little Black Cormorants.  We walked down to Stingray Point to see if we could get a better look but they had all disappeared.  As we descended Mount Karbeethong Frances noticed a Koala embedded in sme dense foliage in a eucalypt, and then, on Lakeside Drive saw a Lyrebird.

A second bird briefly came into the frame on top of the wall ...

.. before jumping down to chase off a third Lyrebird on the far side of the wall.

At Stingray Point a partial rainbow was visible.