Two more walks

This covers the latest two walks we have done.  On Saturday we headed for the Narrows, basically covering on foot the area we took the kayaks a week or so back

The area is quite a dry habitat at the best of times and is being slow to rehabilitate after the fire.  Thus there wasn't a great deal to photograph.  The two aspects of this stump which caught my attention were firstly way the trunk has burnt, leaving the little supports and secondly the way it has revealed the soil carried into the trunk by termites.

To repeat, there is not much regrowth.

We finally found a patch of flowers.  Definitely Brachyscome, but they seemed much smaller than most we have found.  However after browsing the 21 species listed for East Gippsland in Flora of Victoria I have concluded that they were just stunted B. spathulata.  here are 5 flowers and more un-blossomed plants in this image.

A close-up.

Several of the Exocarpos cupressiformis had provided nesting sites for spiders.

They also had the fruit ('cherries') evident.  This one had lost the seed which usually sits on the end of the cherry.

A bridge on the track had partially burnt but walkers had helpfully lobbed logs into the water to fill the gap.  A little precarious and one got grubby hands clinging to the small convenient trunks.

On Sunday we headed for a stroll from Bastion Point.  Quite a few other folk had the same idea a fair proportion with rods.

This photo was to capture the Caspian Tern (second from the left).

A sample of a large group of Red-capped Plovers on the bar.  

There were a few Double-banded Plovers mixed in.  This one was running around at the ocean shoreline.  It is beginning to think about getting in to breeding plumage.

Birds don't have to be rare to look attractive.  A Silver Gull in full spiff breeding plumage is very good to see.

This was washed up.  We couldn't work out whether animal or vegetable, but probably ruled out mineral.  

Casuarina Track reopens

Felling a little weary after an outing on the water and a longer walk today we decided to do a shorter walk and chose the Casuarina Track.  This runs from Genoa Rd to Betka Rd.  The zigzag near the start is where the track crosses Davis Creek (and the "Big Zig" is actually a switchback climbing out of the Creek).

There were some nice shiny new signs at the start!

Very close to the start this cut through shows the size of the trees in the area.

I hope they leave this sign as it is.  A genuine reminder of what happened.  I am intrigued that the plastic information sheet melted and burned but the wood was pretty muchuntouched.

As soon as we started walking we were aware of the birds calling.  Notable in this were 4 Golden Whistlers chasing each other in the canopy.  A Common Bronzewing was more relaxed.

This Brown Goshawk posed quite well (about 100 m away).  It was very vocal and was getting a response from another bird so I suspect they have eggs on their mind.

Not great floriferocity but a few Brachyscome spathulata brightened up the black.

A small colony of Leptorhyncos nitidulus were close to the start

The commonest flower (as in most areas) was Schelhammera undulata. 

Some of the fungi was on the job of decomposing the fallen timber.

Frances spotted a small colony of Peziza tenacella.  An ascomycete fungus, always associated with burnt ground.

Surprisingly there were no tree ferns shown in the gully of Davis Creek.  However small ferns are popping up elsewhere.

Some of the burnt Allocasuarinas are sprouting from the base.

On a previous visit I had concluded that those which had been cut were not sprouting.  That theory has been sisproved!

At the Betka Rd end the culvert has been replaced!

A nicer sign than the "Road Crossing ahead" which was burnt off.

An extension towards Shipwreck Creek

I posted recently about a walk towards Shipwreck Creek.  We decided to have another foray there, going a bit further.

The area seemed quieter both in terms of birdsong and flowers.  We noticed a few Schelhammera undulata in the woodland early on but that was all.  Things picked up a bit in the heath.  The first photostop was for a Sundew Drosera auriculata.  I particularly like the feathery stamens.

There were quite a few Burchardia umbellata in the grass (sedge? reed?) now growing rampantly where there used to be heath.  I have no idea why they have a common name of "Milkmaids"!

Not a good photo, but is does hopefully show the differing structure of a Craspedia variabilis (left) and Coronidium elatum (right).  Both are members of the Family Asteraceae, commonly called 'daisies' rather than 'asters' for some reason!  Although these are said to flower in Spring thhere was quite a lot in the heath.

A few Pimelea linifolia were in flower in the heath.  I decided on this species as it flowers in Winter.

There were tree ferns (Cyathea australis) in the gullies amongst the charred remains of the spear grass (Gahnia sp.)  These were particularly striking, up to ~2 m tall.

An uncurling frond.

There were quite a few fungi around, and several of them were Ascomycetes rather than the more usual Basidiomycetes.  I have identified this as Plicaria sp, possibly P. recurva.

Obviously a gilled fungus but I have no idea what.

This is the problem we found last time.  The experts of Fungimap couldn't come to a decision about ID but I have now seen Pulvinula archeri, which ticks most of the boxes (colour, size shape, substrate).

Frances commented how burning the low bush has revealed a lot of ant mounds.  Some of them have also burnt: as a naturalist friend commented "there is a lot of organic material in them".

Other ants which don't form hills had been building up the entrances to their burrows, probably as a result of the rain.  The excavated material looked rather like sawdust, but was in fact light coloured sand, contrasting with the blackened ground.

A hoverfly feeding on a Craspedia flower.  The wings are in focus!

We were surprised to meet a cyclist in the woodland.  He was pushing his bike in an area where the track was indistinct, having ridden down the road to Shipwreck.  In a llightly damp patch it was evident that quite a few people had ridden the route.

My guess is that we went about 1 km further than last time.  We got a nice coastal view where we turned.

Kayaking, yakking, yakking

The weather being ideal today (sunny, 16C no wind) we took the kayaks out again.  We went to the same launch spot as last time.  As eBird didn't connect to GPS for a wile the first ~500 m or so but we started at the spot we finished.

As I said a lovely day.  This is looking down towards the Inlet.

Looking across towards the shore on the far side of the major Inlet.  The fire wasn't crowning at water level but the understorey has all gone.  The reason for Frances posture is that she has he hands on the rudder levers, built into the side of the kayak.

With some trepidation (about dropping the phone into 2 m of water) I passed my phone over and Frances took a couple of snaps of me.  Also with my hands on the rudder controls!

Our house - the one with cream brick, lightly to the left of the communications tower - stood out quite well.

This is the inverse image.  I think where I took the previous photo was well towards the shore about in line with Mt Imlay.

Just before we turned a white dot in the top of the tees turned into a White-bellied Sea-Eagle.  We didn't have any rancid chook to feed it.

As we came back I noticed a lot of yellow dots on the water which puzzled me for a while.  Then it turned out to be a flotilla of kayaks crewed by girls.  Presumably Marshmead is operating again: the bushfire was fought around it and they would certainly be isolated for COVID 19.

I assume they just gathered together for safety but it looked as though they were lining up to start a race!

We even managed to land without falling in the water.  An amount of wading was needed making it clear that the water was uncold.