Four outings for exercise.

 'Twas a busy day on the 12th with much exercise taken.  I didn't take a camera on our first walk so there is nothing more on that.

In mid-morning I went for a bike ride including a lap of the Foreshore Caravan Park.  The most photogenic site was a Coral Tree in full-lurid mode.

The water level at the gauge was  very low: my estimate was 25 cms below the bottom of the gauge.  It was close to low tide but that is ridiculous!  Here are the sand flats beside the caravan park.

As I came close to finishing my lap of the top of the park I could here a strange bird call.  So I rode over and found, in a tree near the Church Op Shop, a nice blue male Satin Bowerbird.  His calling seemed a little ineffective as I couldn't spot any females.

Later in the morning I went to explore Double Creek Nature Trail

As I started to ascend the steps up from the Creek I noticed some (about 6 from memory) greenhoods next to the track.  They were subsequently identified from this crummy photo as Pterostylis alpina.  I had disregarded that as an option due to the 'alpina' which I took to mean it wouldn't be here, but the book gives it as a possibility.

Many of the large trees had been dropped into the gully (presumably identified as risky.  This was still vertical but the stump was only about 6 m high.  I took the photo as it shows how the centre of the tree was full of dirt, presumably carried in by termites (Order Isoptera) or ants (Order  Hymenoptera).

There were quite a few birds around with the noisiest and bolshiest being Bell Miners.  I managed to get a couple of photographs!

Down n the floor of the gully I spent some time looking at leaves in a (vain) search for orchids.  I think this strange life-form is a liverwort.

Some of the growth on ferns is most attractive.  The first is a tree fern Cyathea australis ...

.. but I have no idea of the name of this!

The taller tree fern here was about 3 m: I suspect that the tallest ones in the colony are at least 4 m.

The final outing was to Captains Creek Fire Trail, primarily to assess the flowering of Diuris orientis which had been pointed out to me in bud a few days ago.  The first flowers were seen before getting off the road!  Apparently this all-yellow form is unusual: not here - about 1/3rd of them were of  that nature.

Others were of the more usual reddish brown blotches form.

In places they were in swathes.  One of those cases where something goes from an addition to a life-list to nothing special in about 5 minutes!

There were a lot of Prasophyllum elatum along the way: surprisingly all on the downhill side of the track.  Also many Large Flying Duck Orchids (Caleana major): they were mainly on the uphill side  but a few on the lower.  We came back sticking to the track and thus found the Lyperanthus suavolens (Brown Beaks) quite close to start of the track.  Possibly 40 plants.

While peering at some orchids I noticed the open flowers on a small Lomandra.  They have all been buds previously.

A large eucalypt tree had fallen over taking some sand with it.

On looking more closely I found that what I had thought to be epicormic growth was in fact an invading Acacia seedling.

A significant feature of this track is a very steep climb up a dune.  At the top of it there was an intriguing area of weathering where the sand had been removed except where it was protected by a cap of cloy or a small pebble.  My guess is that this is wind erosion rather than rain.

As we drove home the low level of Bottom Lake was very evident in the amount of exposed sand in the Goodwins.  It almost stretches to the Lakeview area.