Above the Queanbeyan Fault

Not that I am saying that anything that follows is Queanbeyan's fault.  Just that both the spots covered in this post are higher than the former City - now just part of a Region.

The first site is my own block.  I was walking up to count Glossodia yesterday when I heard a strange scraping noise coming from under a sheet of corrugated iron.
My initial thought was some sort of reptile, so I lifted the sheet very carefully in case there was a deficiency in the number of legs.  All was cool: unless of course you are an ant, in which case your day had just got very bad indeed.
 Today, on a similar orchid-oriented mission I noticed one of our snake repellers had been enhanced.
Obviously  shall have to suggest to Sureguard that they fit an accessory wombat repeller to next year's model.

The scene now shifts closer to the Fault and the consequent Escarpment in the form of Cuumbeun Nature Reserve.  There is a good show of flowers there as well as my specific birding target of a Chestnut-rumped Heathwren.  I saw it well, and the rump was very Chestnut, but didn't get a photo.

My first photo was of a Stegostyla/Caladenia cuculata.
Several plants of Grevillea lanigera had flowers, but none of them were luxuriant.  However I think the shapes are attractive.
 A lot of sedge around a dam were doing their flower thing.
 At the roadside so was Leucochrysum albicans.
There was quite a lot of flowering Fabaceae (aka beans) of the egg-and-bacon persuasion..  The most obvious was Daviesia mimosoides.
 I think this is also a Daviesia, but D. genistifolia.
 No idea of the genus, let alone species on this one.  Ian Fraser has commented that Pultenaea microphylla is a suggestion and I have no argument with that!  The leaves are certainly small.
 The plant here is definitely a Yam Daisy, Microseris lanceolata.  I think the insect is a hoverfly (Family Syrphidae).
 I took this photograph because of the Robber Fly (family Asilidae).  It was only when I looked at the image on my computer that I noticed the approaching spider.  It is possibly a flower spider (Family Thomisidae, perhaps genus Diaea).  That view comes from some illustrations in "A guide to the Spiders of Australia" by Framenau, Baehr and Zborowski.
 This spider (again possibly Diaea sp.)was originally on a flower of a Craspedia sp, but took a dive when I approached.
All told this walk was very interesting - especially since I only walked about 1km - and a good investment of an hour.

Comments

Ian Fraser said…
Nice series of pics. I suspect your unknown pea is Pultenea microphylla.
23 October 2016 at 10:11:00 GMT+11
Flabmeister said…
Thanks for that Ian. I was thinking about Quispiam microphylla so reckon you have nailed it.

Martin
23 October 2016 at 12:52:00 GMT+11
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