Things in, on, and near the water

Our walk on Friday 5 June was to the Inlet mouth and then to the tip of Bastion Point.  

From the steps to the mouth along the ocean was fairly quiet with just a few Red-capped Plovers and one Double-banded Plover.

Once across the dune the waders were more common.  This Red-necked Stint, although staying here rather than heading for Siberia, looked to be considering developing breeding plumage,

The usual flock of Crested Terns were on a sand spit.  Some were out in the water bathing.  I thought an image with water flying all over the place would be interesting.  This was of course the signal for the activity to stop, but I thought this of take-off was quite attractive.

The two Red Knots were still around, although they seemed a little nervous today.  

We walked back past the steps and found the usual group (family?) of three Sooty Oystercatchers on the rocks.

On the ocean side of the breakwater a LOT of sand had been washed away by recent rough seas.  This image shouws the small cave/burrow in which a Little Penguin sheltered while it was moulting.  The yellow line shows the height of the sand at that time: my guess is that about a metre has gone (similar to Quarry Beach, a few kilometres South.

A blue sea star was making tracks as it tried to get back to the water.

A few surfers were enjoying the very clean waves.  They seemed to be getting very long rides: whether this was due to the nature of the break or the skill of the surfers is a good question.

This is out of chronological sequence but I still thought it interesting to record some flowers out in the dunes.  Unfortunately they are both introduced plants (and both were identified through iNaturalist.org).  The first is Calkile maritima (Sea Rocket)).

The second is Arctotheca populifolia (Coast Capeweed).  It is native to South Africa and in Victoria is known only from this area and the very far West of the State.  As noted in Flora of Victoria it "is a species of coastal dunes (with e.g. Spinifex sericeus), accreting mounds of sand as it proliferates."