A visit to Boyd's Tower

 We have recently adopted a practice of visiting spots to our North when we go to Eden and/or Merimbula for other purposes (or vice versa).  On 28/8 we needed a few items in Eden so went to check out Boyd's Tower in Beowa National Park, never having been to that site.

As is now well known the name of the National Park has been changed to Beowa because it was felt inappropriate to honour Ben Boyd in that way, primarily due to his involvement in Blackbirding.  From having read about his history there seem also to be other reasons to disqualify him!  

Nice view to the South

And to the West, looking in to Twofold Bay.

Attractive geology is available.

I did mean to focus on the folded rock, rather than the Acacia longifolia!

A large mammal was slapping its fins around about a kilometre offshore.

I hope the punters on the Cat Balou got to see it.  Our attention was first caught by a full breach about 200m behind the boat.  (I have emailed the boat owners asking for confirmation of it being a Humpback.

A view of the tower from the ocean side.

In case you wonder who built it!  Reminded us of the activities of the mango Mussolini.

A close up of the stone work, which has survived very well given the exposure of the site.

A pair of Australasian Gannets were over the ocean.

About 1km away and flying quickly in the wind.

Getting back to Edrom Rd gives a closeup view of the piles of logs awaiting chipping.

Another view of the chip mill from Cocora Beach.  The previous image was taken about where the ridge dips down.

And here is a view of the Tower from Cocora Beach 

Sights of the Bunker area

This morning(20 June)  I went out to the Bunker Museum for a bit of maintenance.  There were a few birds around so I had eBird running and it gave this track.  It is purely crazy to log that as traveling (1.28 km) so I used Google Earth to estimate the area as 0.68 Ha.

A bunch of leaves and twigs had been raked up and ignited.  Should be safe with about 10 SES folk around, honing their chainsaw skills.

When people have been exploring the bush after the fire they have found relics such as these components of the power supply to the accommodation area.  That is about 300 m from the bunker location.   Note the different styles of insulator - no idea why they are different.

In other cases a lower-tech approach was used to mounting the insulators.  It is interesting to contemplate these having been bolted into the tree for around 75 years!

Some modest size Allocasuarina littoralis were growing under the canopy.

This cone is begging a Glossy Black-cockatoo to come and munch it!

I was in the general are the next day and when over by the Gun Club saw a small bird hoping around in the base of some shrubs.  To my astonishment it turned out to be a Red-capped Robin: usually a bird of the dry inland.  Sorry about the quality of photo but the windscreen was dusty!

From the tinge of red on the breast I think this is an immature male bird,

That was so unusual we went back on the 22nd to walk the area and see if we could relocate it. We didn't despite "walking the walk".

However we got a tad excited when we found some Jacky Winters on the fence as we started off.

There was also a more exciting Tawny-crowned Honeyeater but it didn't pose.   This area is a known hotspot for that species but they have been absent since the fires.  That was unfortunately just about the end of the birds.  I totalled 5 species with the other excitement being hearing a pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagles quacking away, and eventually seeing one bird fly off towards the Betka River.

It would be an exaggeration to describe the area as carpeted with flowers but there were some.  A nice development given the area was mulched last year and then burnt!  This is Acacia suavolens.

The three colour forms of Epacris impressa were all present.

A few specimens of Euphrasia collina were seen.

I can't attach a name to the daisy, but liked the visiting, and cooperative Hoverfly.

Pimelia humilis

As we walked along the edge of the forest I was again surprised to see epicormic growth on the Allocasuarina littoralis.  As these trees are mature they will hopefiully develop some cones later in the year.

A little further along the woodland edge we found some trees of this species, about 3m high, which seemed to have escaped the fire completely.  Presumably the fire was fairly low intensity after crossing the mulched heath.

 

BLEG does Bottom Lake

The visiting group from Birdlife East Gippsland (BLEG) chartered the Loch Ard and skipper Dale for a tour of the Inlet and some historic sites near the original site of Mallacoota.  We had been told in the past how good these trips are but hadn't got around to doing one until now.  It was really excellent!

I was surprised that once out on the water Genoa Peak was the backdrop to a view of Stingray Point.  (I was also surprised at the extent of the timber next to our block, which  meant our house was rarely visible from our route today.)

 A White-bellied Sea-Eagle came past.  Spoiler alert: this is not the last photo of this species in this post!  We saw a huge new nest being constructed towards the Mouth.

 One of the sandbars making up the Sands.  This one was quite well endowed with shore birds.  We didn't walk around as some of the birds were possibly nesting.

The diet of the Eagles was slightly supplemented with some chook offcuts.  The meat had air injected into it so that it floated.  Sorry about the other photographers finger, but the birds are travelling switly when they drop.

 A Silver Gull investigated one of the offcuts.  This would have to be contending for a Darwin Award: Silver Gulls are a more frequent element of the Eagle's diet than chook.

 Two views of a larger island in the Sands.  The Pelicans have bred with the chicks now quite large living in a creche.

 It was quite exciting to see Pied Cormorants.  The official count was 5 birds.

Several anglers were around the place.  I have obfuscated them in case they had called in sick and th boss happened to see this post.

 A Pelican came by.

 As did a Caspian Tern.

 At one point there were 3 Sea-Eagles and 3 Whistling Kites over the boat at once.  There was considerable discord between the Kites so this must have been the boundary of two territories.

 This is my best shot of an Eagle

 My second-best shot.

 On landing at the Spotted Dog Mine site an attractive Lace Monitor (Goanna) shinned up a tree.

 Here is an image of the bush as it is now around the mine site.  It was considered that at the time of setting up the mine the under-storey might have been more open as a result of regular burning

 Parks Victoria have put a lot of resources into the areaincluding fences on the mullock heap to stop punters falling into the mineshafts etc.

 A memorial to James Smellie in the historic Cemetery on the walk to Allan Head..

Our final walk was around the original settlement area of Lakeview.  The view from under a Bunya Pine was interesting.

 A Coal Tree had a few flowers.

 Here is the view back to Lakeview,

As I commented at the beginning, n excellent outing.