Birds of Bastion

 We took a stroll to Bastion Point on 18 August.  For the first time in quite a while the dredge was active at the boat ramp, possibly reflecting the amount of sand moving around from creeks opening and strong waves eroding beaches to the West.  Also the sea was relatively calm today allowing the dredge to work.

Before descending to the beach we noticed this flower growing beside the stairs.  Obviously a member of the Asteraceae but not one I recognise and there is nothing in Joy Greig's book that looks like it in beach section.  

• After searching a book on Sydney Sandstone plants I concluded that Reptinella longipipes was the best match, but the habitat suggested  - swamps - wasn't quite right.  
• Flora of Victoria marked that species in the area but the photos were not helpful.  
• Next step was iNaturalist which suggested Cotula sp: Joy's book does include C coronopifolia (but habitat = marshes and the plant is said to look succulent).  Checking Flora of Victoria for genus Cotula shows considerable confusion between Cotula and Reptinella 

So I have suggested Reptinella longipipes to iNaturalist.

Getting out onto the sand flats there was much noise by Australian Pied Oystercatchers (26 counted) displaying to each other.  None of them had flags.  Here is the display posture.

Quite a few Red-capped Plovers on the sandbars (and more ~20) on the beach.

The reputation of Solver Gulls for dining on chips is unwarranted.  This one had acquired an eel which was still alive when these photos were taken.

Shortly after the second image was acquired another gull arrived and showed an interest in the eel.  The first bird promptly swallowed 95% of the fish and departed with about an inch poking out of its beak!

We spent some time watching a pair of Chestnut Teal feeding in the mouth. This male was actually moving to the right!

They were swept out into the breakers and disappeared briefly then flew back into the channel to repeat the process!

As well as the flock of Red-capped Plovers there were several Double-banded PLovers of which 2 were in breeding plumage.