Close to home

On our way home recently, 

the Cook (who was in charge of the conveyance) 

decided she needed to know what was down a certain road.

So we turned off and drove and drove.

No, we weren't lost,

just misplaced for a while.

We did find some lovely things along the way.

Sundew

Australian buttercup

No idea...but it was everywhere.

Almost 3 years on the trees are still showing signs of the Black Saturday bushfires.

Common Billy Button

Caladenia - orchid

Poo

Some of the puddles were a bit scary
(not this one, though)

A ti tree...leptospermum

The road track became narrower and narrower...

and rougher and rougher...

and boggier and boggier.

Finally even The Cook had enough
 and executed a three point turn
and returned the way we came.

But aren't we lucky to live just down the road!

Everlasting love

Xerochrysum viscosum
Australian paper or everlasting daisy.

Winter Wednesday # 8

Pink Heath has to be one of the most joyous

things about Winter.

Common Pink Heath is the floral emblem for the State of Victoria.

It flowers from Autumn through to Spring but is at its best in Winter.

 As its name suggests,

it is common and also comes in white 

and a darker pink/almost red.

Common it may be,

but it is also impressive.

Its 2 cm (a little less than 1 inch) flower tubes

have nectar at their base and pollen close

to the opening.   Nectar eating birds, are lightly dusted

when they probe the flower with their long beaks 

and become unwitting pollinators.

But that's not all.

Photo credit.

The  microscopic pollen grains have narrow fins 

that slide between the edges of the bird's feathers 

so that they are efficiently carried away.

Now, that is IMPRESSIVE

So it will come as no surprise that the botanical name 

for the common heath  is  epacris impressa!

Click on these links to other bloggers 

who also find joy in winter

Rose's Mum has a winter visitor in her bed

Our Malay-Kadazan girl is making winter bombs!

Snuggle up with Angela Earthmama

Phoebe is getting dirty looks over at Ballynoe Cottage

Kristi likes a bit of winter rain

Alison is into extreme monotremes

Suzanne is enchanted with waiting

Mrs Gooseberry is baking up a winter storm

Her heart may be Asia but she is celebrating some winter whiteness

There is some wild beauty over at The New Good Life

Barb loves lots of things about Winter in W.A.

Ali is peeling her lips of and her son has feet like a chicken...I think???

Spring wildflower meadows

The best Spring rains in 30 years have resulted in a floral bounty in the Victorian bush.

Chocolate lilies - dichopogon strictus

Milkmaids - Burchardia umbelata

Sundew - Drosera

I have posted this before, but I was amazed at how much of it there was and how lush it was on this roadside verge.

Hibbertia - there are over 150 species of this little fellow.

Now this is where I will need some help.  This is what, as a child, I called shivery grass.  I know that 'trembling grass' with the larger seed head is an introduced species but am wondering about this very fine form.  Maybe there is a bush chick out there who could tell me if this is indigenous and what it's botanical name is.   :-)

Salt and Pepper

This is another one whose name I can't find on the web so would appreciate a botanical name.

Nature's apartment building - a threat

All of these flowers were thriving among the grasses on the edge of the road, under this dead and blackened eucalypt,  complete with its dead mistletoe.  

I was considering what may be living in its hollows, when a family of screeching indian myna birds skimmed in to investigate the hollows.  

Native parrots are happy to share trees and to live 'apartment' style with each other and possums.  The introduced indian mynas, however, will use a single hollow and then stop any other species from using the other nesting sites in the tree or nearby.  They are aggressive and territorial and will eject possums and birds, destroying nestlings and eggs. They also compete with local species for habitat and food.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has ranked the Myna amongs the world's 100 most invasive pest species.  The Lane Cove Council in New South Wales has an eradication program.

Horrible things!

Bushfire Regrowth

I have moved into an area that was severely affected by the Black Saturday bushfires in February 2009.

Last Saturday I went up into the hills behind the town and this is what I found.

Common Pink Heath Epicris...Victoria's floral emblem

A couple of different forms of the carnivorous sundew drosera

A scattering of Billy Buttons craspedia

A very rare sparkplugia

Sarsaparilla vine hardenbergia violacea

and another pea like relative Egg and Bacon Bossiaea  

 Australian Buttercup Ranunculus lappaceus 

Paper daisies

Here a couple of general shots of he grasses, mosses, and other little plants with regrowth on trees visible behind.

In many places it will be the wattles, and eucalypt saplings that will regenerate the bush rather than the regrowth of existing trees.

On the sides of some hills the trees have just failed to regrow and we will have to wait for the babies to replace them.  In this part of the forest it was very quiet too, no bird song yet unlike the sections with regrowth up the trunks where bird calls were everywhere.

Bracken was one of the first things back and continues to flourish. Some believe that it blocks out the light and discourages regeneration of other flora after bushfires.  However, Mesibov says that on burned ground, bracken cover ameliorates the erosive and other affects of weather and encourages redevelopment of healthy soil and fauna.