When does Spring begin?

 For Mallacoota in 2023 the answer seems to be July 1!  It has (mainly) been a very warm month thus far with 2 maxima over 20C and 3 minima over 10C.  Perhaps that is why we found quite a bit of blossom in the Davis Creek heath on 27 July?

I'll begin with Hakea decurrens.  When fully blooming the flowers are white.

Earlier, the inflorescences appear more pink.

The first wattles are around.  Acacia buxifolia

Acacia suavolens

The family still known colloquially as 'peas' even though it is now called Fabaceae (after Faba = bean [although I think most 'beans' are now in the genus Vicia!]) has commenced flowering.  The usual suspect is Dillwynia sericea.

We saw our first flower for the season of another pea Hardenbergia violaceae

One of the dominant shrubs of the heath is Allocasuarina paludosa.  These are female flowers and a nut from previous years.

A butterfly paused its fluttering by.  I think it is a Varied Dusky-Blue (Erina hyacinthina), and an observer on iNaturalist has agreed with this.   (Note that in my copy of Butterflies of Australia by Michael Braby it is shown as a different genus: well done taxonomists!)

A Little Wattlebird tries hard to impersonate a Banksia integrifolia cone!

I am adding a few images from the 28th as the are more or less on topic!  The first image is a mass of blossoming Pandora pandorea (Wonga vine) at Bucklands carpark.

Looking down at the Lake showed each swan had a ring of ripples.  This is probably a comment more on the stillness of the Lake surface than the strength of the ripples.

Raising my eyes a little revealed a New Holland Honeyeater.

What I had actually gone out to see was the sunset.