Another new walk

 On our drives out towards Genoa we had noticed a track off to the left opposite the South West Arm track.  This looked to be worth investigating and we made it so on 7 February.

A new warning sign had been erected.

I put this on the Mallacoota Community News FB group and, as might have been predicted, it has drawn comments from some elements saying they should just let hunters in.  Presumably sponsored by the undertaking industry.

Starting in to the walk a small example of erosion was noted!

A standard Hyacinth Orchid (Dipodium roseum) was noted.

I have been resisting taking more photos of Scaevola ramosissima because it is so common and has been flowering for the last 5 months.  This seemed worth celebrating so here it is with bonus raindrops.

After a small navigational embarrassment  (I didn't realise the track forked and then guessed wrongly) we got to the Premier Track under the power lines.  Quite eroded ...

.. and from the look of these hills would be a bit of a challenge to drive, especially if the drops go down to creeklines.  I think I will pass on that.

There was a lot of this wattle in the higher parts of the walk.  My guess was Acacia mucronata with which iNaturalist agrees.

I also guessed this was Mitrasacme and iNaturalist suggests M. polymorpha.

2 walks in nearby NSW

 I have a memory of someone enquiring on the Mallacoota Birds Facebook Group about the condition of Maxwell's Forest Reserve (on Maxwell's Rd in NSW) but can't now find the post. At the time I didn't know, not having been there since the fire. However today we went there. Shortly after we turned off the highway we noted a sign to the Python Track (regarded by Google as Python Firetrail) and through that looked worth exploring at some stage. However we had an objective in mind so pressed on to the Forest Reserve (12 km of reasonable forest road).

The Reserve is close to the pin for Royds Rd.

You may be aware of the military acronyms which escalate the level of shambles: SNAFU (Situation Normal, All...); TARFU (Totally And Royally ...) and FUBAR ( .... Beyond All Recall).

The lovely rainforest walk is at least TARFU and, given the Parrothead Government of NSW's level of interest in environmental matters, I suspect is actually FUBAR. The images show where the track used to start and the state of (dis)repair of a picnic table.

There was obviously no point in trying to follow the walk through the rainforest. The first 200 m would be battling through the revegetation and who knows in what condition the fire had left the rainforest. If it burnt, which seems highly likely, it would be utterly impenetrable. So Frances suggested going back a little to a track marked to a Picnic Area and exploring that and then the Python trail. An excellent suggestion. It was only about 500 m back to the first track.

The next image, from Google Earth, was acquired on my computer at home, as I took a compass reading on my phone at the turn point and another when back at the car. It was pleasing that they agreed almost exactly on altitude and snapped to a track on the computer screen. Note the many areas of rainforest visible off to the sides: again the regrowth was going to be very difficult to get through.

The most interesting plant seen had a lot of fruit and the somewhat hop-like appearance made us think of Dodonea sp. Then we noticed the thorns and Bursaria spinosa got elected (confirmed by a few flowers seen later)

It was a tad upwards going back: about 70m elevation gain in 900m. The reason for the rain gear was not rain - it held off while we were walking - but the expectation of mosquitos etc.

So back to the Python track.  I have used this snip from Google maps as it names the creeks in the area.

The sign to the trail.  (The signs do the job and would be a lot cheaper than the flashy metal street signs deployed by Parks Victoria: I'm not sure how long they will last.)

The Python track is much flatter than the higher one and very sandy.  This first few metres had more Tabanid flies than I have ever met elsewhere.  These are related to March flies and are biters: the Rid worked in keeping them moving.

A patch of Drosera as we got into a sedge zone before descending a little to White Gum Creek

This is the crossing of White Gum Creek, where we turned.

An Eastern Iris-Skipper butterfly (thanks for the ID Em Dale).

A common attractive flower which I (and iNaturalist thus far) can only ID as Goodenia sp.  However @jackiemiles has delivered via iNaturalist with G. humilis - with a vernacular name of Swamp Goodenia this is right on the money.

Some of the Banksia serata (Old Man Banksia) were nicely in flower.

The nuts on some of the Allaocasuarinas suggested this coulfd be a happy place for Glossy Black-Cockatoos (but not this day).

Some nature notes

 This covers a few activities in the Mallacoota area on 3rd and 4th February.

The first entry is a stroll around the woodland opposite the Pony Club.  It can be a quite interesting area and we hadn't been there for a while.  It was in fact very quiet, apart from the noise of the strong wind in the trees.  We did the full loop.

On the first leg through the heath we found a tea-tree looking shrub.  From consulting iNaturalist and Flora of Victoria I have concluded this is Baeckea linifolia.  This and the two plants which follow have been confirmed by Jackie Miles (an expert  from Brogo in Bega Valley) on iNaturalist.

Next is a pea, which we quickly had to a Dillwynia, and consulting iNaturalist, Flora of Victoria and Wildflowers of the Wilderness Coast have it to D. glabberima, based on downturned tips to the leaves visible in the second image.

The payoff for doing the loop was spotting some Dipodium variegatum on the second leg.  I initially identified it as D. punctatum but apparently the force of taxonomic evil have split that and the second  Mallacoota version is now D. variegatum.  This is less common in our area than  D. roseum but more common than punctatum (and the spots on the pedicel are deterministic).

On the morning of 4 January I decided to throw COVID caution to the winds and go to Captain Stevenson's Point as it seemed the density of semi-wild life in the campground had dropped a fair bit.  I wrote down quite a few species of birds but the only unusual one was an adult Pacific Gull sitting on a sandbar.  Nearly all the Pacific Gulls I have seen at Mallacoota in the past have been juveniles.

Driving around town on the 4th I noticed this pink flowered Eucalypt (??) in the main street ...

.. and a white jobbie - possibly the famous Mallacoota Gum - at the start of Betka Rd.

We went for a stroll from Bastion Point.  We are not anti-tourist but the contrast in the beach between now and a week ago was astonishing.  We saw 5 other people in the hour we were down there.

This "line in the sand" seemed very friable and I think was the remains of layer of charred vegetation laid down after the fire.

Another line was composed of shells of various sorts.

These vertical lines were left as the rhyzomes of grass were dragged out by the waves.

This bank was about 1.8m high and had obviously been seriously undercut.

I think it was somewhat after high tide but the sea was still washing over the sand into Develings Inlet.

There were a number (~20) of Red-capped Plovers running about on the inland side of the sand bar.  A single Red-necked Stint was also there, presumably stacking in the food before heading off to Siberia to breed.

A fair frenzy of gulls was happening at the Captain Stevenson's Point end of the sandbar.

I took this to capture the various wing positions adopted by the gulls.  Few of them seemed to be actually getting food just acting as though they had had a good serve of red food colouring. 

I saw what looked to be a strange patterned tern and took lots of pictures trying to capture it.  I failed in that endeavour (and have found that it was merely a rather young Crested Tern anyway).  However I have ended up with some pretty fair shots of Crested Terns in flight!

You can just see the small fish this one has caught