Following the opening of the road to Shipwreck Creek we took ourselves down there for a walk on 9 December. We did the short loop, coming back along the Old Coast Road
Here is the beach (point 1) with a couple of folk emulating seals at the far end. The entrance is closed so shoes stayed dry.
This photo shows well the patches of moss (
Funaria hygrometrica) establishing itself on the bare burnt soil at point 2. Also the burnt shrub layer.
As with other sites in the area the
Banksia sericea (Old Man Banksia) is regenerating well.
Epicormic growth is well underway along the Old Coast Road (point 3).
The forest around the crossing of Shipwreck Creek (point 4) shows the shrubbery has been burnt out, despite the damper microclimate.
On to plants, beginning with orchids.
Dipodium roseum (Rosy Hyacinth Orchid) was in several spots.
An exciting find was Orthoceras strictum (Horned Orchid). This is a lifer for us. It was a bugger to spot, with the generally brown colour merging with sedge seed heads all around it.
Interestingly "Orchids of East Gippsland" comments that this species may disappear after fire, while this is the third, currently flowering, colony we have heard of in the Mallacoota area. "Bush Beauties" is silent on the reaction to fire.
We found several examples of fertilised Prasophyllums.
Then we came across several clusters of
Prasophyllum (
P. australe? - judging by the fused dorsal sepal) with at least some flowers still open.
We also came across a colony of
Microtis sp, but they looked rather second hand and became rated as OOLI (Orchids Of Limited Interest).
Moving away from orchids, I always like
Gompholobium huegelii. I think its the large smooth yellow flowers that appeal in contrast to the small messy blotches of the egg and bacon genera.
In a couple of areas
Xanthorrhoea resinosa was still in flower, unlike the areas closer to town (and toward Genoa) where the flowers are largely finished.
Persoonia levis.
Pimelia humilis
For some reason we have had trouble in the past in finding flowers on
Lomatia ilicifolia- the nominative 'holly leaves' are easy to identify however. This year, and this trip in particular, flowering plants were very common.
A very nice clump of
Chrysocephalum baxteri was very evident as we rejoined Betka Rd for the trek back to the car park.
Ricinocarpos pinifolius (Wedding bush - for some reason I can remember this vernacular name, but not the Latin)
Now we get back to the title of the post. I thought Frances was doing pretty well in collecting flies.
Then she took a photo of my back. I guessed 150 flies in the image and counting carefully I have come up with 146!
This beetle, not at well IMHO, was in the heath track.
A very interesting looking fly It seems to be a Robber Fly but the species suggested by iNaturalist were all in the Great Plains of the the US. Hopefully a guru will attach a name to it.
A spider!
A caterpillar! We did see a Monarch butterfly (and some Cabbage Whites and Common Grass Blues) but didn't photograph them.
Birds were very few. The only ones I recorded in the Heath were 2 Stubble Quail: 1 heard calling and a second which flushed and then demonstrated clearly the bum first drop back into the vegetation.
Finally the gate at the crossing of Shipwreck Creek.
There are two major problems with this:
- There is no danger in the area. We rated it as less risky than many other areas which have finally been opened. That is just the anal retentive risk-aversion of Parks.
- The larger issue is they have opened up the camping area - and presumably will be collecting camping fees - but then don't allow people to go anywhere except the beach. (Which is not patrolled, surrounded by rocks and open to the ocean so must be rated as far more dangerous than the forest.)
