Eriostemon australasius

“Easily recognized by it’s large pink flowers and thick grey green foliage” - NPOS p.118

After having come home from the boys soccer to an empty house without keys there was only one thing to do, get the boys on their bikes and head down the bush! The weather was warm with the first hints of spring, a number of flowers had started to come out too. I didn’t have my camera with me so I took these photos with my phone, I’m still so impressed at how clearly they come out with such a small lense and sensor. This plant took me a while to identify, in NPOS it looks similar to Crowea saligna or Crowea exalata, but the flowers are not quite as depicted in the book. In the end I’m pretty sure it’s a Eriostemon australasius also known as the Pink Wax Flower. Pink Wax Flowers are common in heath and woodlands on sandstone plateaus. They are a small shrub growing to about 1.5m They have leathery leaves that are narrow, 1cm, and long, 8cm or so. The flowers are numerous and striking, large and pink with 5 petals.

Lycopodium deuterodensum

“A small erect plant, resembling a miniature pine tree” – NPOS p. 304

Clubmosses are ancient plants, the oldest fossils dating from the Devonian period 395 Million years ago, 150 Million years before the dinosaurs! I came across this grove of bushy clubmoss at the flat bottom of the small gully behind our house while searching for the dog that had got away again. Bushy clubmoss is supposedly fairly common in wet sandy soil, but this is the first time I recall seeing them. NPOS lists the common name of Lycopodium deuterodensum as “Mountain Clubmoss”, but searching online “Bushy clubmoss” seems to be used more often. Bushy Clubmoss is small, usually 20-30cm tall, although they are known to  grow larger. They often have a straight central stem where branchlets covered by small scaly leaves sprout from, somewhat resembling miniature pine trees. They are thought to be structurally similar to the earliest vascular plants. They really do look like they are from another time.

Dillwynia retorta

“A small, spreading shrub to 1m high”. – NPOS p.78 While revisiting the Prickly Moses I was reminded of a plant that I’d been unable to identify at the time. After some searching I think it’s a Healthy Parrot Pea, Dillwynia retorta. I wish I’d kept notes on exactly where it was found but It’s clear it’s a pea of some sort from the non symmetrical yellow flowers. The short prickly leaves narrow it down, but it’s the twist in the leaves that is observable is some parts of the photo that make me think it’s the Healthy Parrot Pea.

I’ve already done a post on the Prickly Moses, but wanted to post a picture of one that I came across today while looking at clubmosses.

A baby Prickly Moses

Leucopogon amplexicaulis

“A small weak shrub to 1m tall with distinctive leaves” - NPOS p.108

Will had “B.O.B” the classroom mascot for the weekend so we decided to take him down to the river to throw some stones! It had been raining for pretty much the whole previous week and the ground was soggy, and being the winter solstice it was dim and cold. I spotted this small plant growing on a damp sandstone ledge near where of Allan Small creek meets Middle Harbour river. As usual I couldn’t identify it but figured the distinctive hairy leaves would give me a good chance of being able to look it up. I’m pretty confident it’s a Leucopogon amplexicaulis, commonly known as Beard-heath. Beard heath is a small plant, up to 1m in height, made up of sparse scrambling stems with leaves attached directly. The leaves are 30 – 90mm long, heart shaped and have a distinctive “beard” of white hairs around their margins. Flowing time is spring and winter, the specimen pictured was just beginning to flower. Fruiting is September to December and apparently it’s edible, I’ll be sampling some when it’s ready!

The sea level, rainfall and temperature climate pages have been updated with the latest data from the BOM. As per usual temperature and rainfall are almost up to date but sea level is more than a year behind with the latest reading from December 2013. Why is this? Always interesting to see how the most recent weather extremes stack up against the last century or so of readings. This most recent summer that felt so hot was nothing special if you look back only 15 years or so, but the longer term trend is clear for sea level and temperature. But not rainfall.

Cacomantis flabelliformis

After the big storms a few weeks ago we had another wet weekend. It didn’t stop us from getting outside though, the two boys agreed to brave the leeches for a walk down to the river to see the flood damage and see what birds we could spot. The creeks were running high but still crossable, it was clear from the debris and flow patterns how high the water had been. Bird wise it was pretty quiet, but near the river just past Murrumba waterfall a Fan-tailed cuckoo flew overhead from one tree to another. Yet again I couldn’t identify it until I got back and studied the photo, hopefully I’ll get it next time. Fan-tailed cuckoo’s are a common bird found all down the east coast of Australia, south and all the way through to southern west Australia. They are also found on other nearby Pacific islands of New Caledonia, New Guinea, Fiji, New Zealand. They are a medium sized bird with a slate grey head, wings and back, it’s breast is a lighter grey, tail is horizontally striped with black and white. A clear identifier of the Fan-tailed cuckoo is the yellow ring around its eyes.

I wrote an earlier post on a spot at the tidal limit of middle harbour creek called Bungaroo where Governor Phillip and an exploration party camped on April 16th 1788. It appears John ( who inspired my original post ) is still hard at work trying to uncover old records and get some official recognition for Bungaroo. As part of his research John said he’s now considering that the Bungaroo site of Governor Phillip’s April 16th camp may have been at the tidal limit of Rocky Creek rather than Middle Harbour Creek. It sounded plausible, and a good excuse to head up Rocky Creek again for a closer look! To get there I headed north on the trail that follows the west bank of Middle Harbour River.  Upon hitting Rocky Creek the trail heads west to where the creek can be crossed on foot near the tidal limit. When I got there the tide was low, the fresh water was cascading into the salt just below the crossing. At this point I left the trail and kept heading up Rocky Creek. About 100m further upstream the creek deepened to the point where I could not see the bottom, then a little way past this was a lip in the rock ( about 50cm high ) where the fresh water cascaded down. I’ll have to go back to confirm but I reckon this could be the point where fresh water meets salt when the tide is high. With the cascading fresh water meeting the salt at a deep pool this looks like a plausible alternate location of Governor Phillip’s Bungaroo camp.

Myrmecia

I’m not bothered much by ticks, leeches, spiders or snakes, but bulldog ants really put me on edge. It’s not just they are HUGE, it’s their behaviour and aggressiveness. While most wild animals seem timid and will avoid human contact bulldog ants will actively seek out and attack a threat. They don’t swarm mindlessly in large numbers, bulldog ants hunt alone and are large enough that you can clearly see their heads, eyes and other body parts. To see an ant turn it’s head, look at you and then turn it’s large body around and start jumping at you is really off-putting. And it’s not all posturing, they back it up with an excruciating string.