This was another interesting walk led by Brian Everingham for the National Parks Association of NSW. We walked down the Mowlee Ridge (on the Marley Firetrail), to just above Little Marley Beach in Royal National Park.
Brian had led a similar walk down the Mowlee Ridge last year. That one had been in June and we had seen some interesting geology, some Aboriginal sites and plenty of birds. This time the highlight was a magnificent display of coastal heath wildflowers.
In the party was Brian, Sue, Valerie, Suzanne, Helen F, Helen Z, Kerrie, Ann, Paul, Elaine, Roger and myself.
Sprengelia sp.
Boronia sp.
Native Iris
Boronia sp.
Philotheca sp.
Grevillea sp.
This one is a club moss –
And here is an Aboriginal engraving of a figure –
Andanother engraving nearby hat we could not work out –
Boronia sp.
Darwinian fascicularis
This could be another engraving –
Tessellations –
Boronia sp.
Probably another engraving –
And here is kangaroo footprints engraving –
Possibly more engravings –
New Holland Honeyeater
Then we bumped into Ross, who is working on a large insect project. He has a number of traps set up like this that collect insect specimens.
The insects are preserved in alcohol –
Ross then send them off to be DNA bar coded and described (in Canada).
White-naped Honeyeater
Drosera sp.
Epacris longifolia
While we were having lunch a pair of Black-shouldered Kites flew past –
And we could look down and see Little Marley.
Walking back, Elaine showed me some beautiful Spotted Sun Orchids – Thelymitra ixioides, that Brian had spotted on the walk down.
Christmas Bells – Blandfordia nobilis
Bladderwort –
Boronia sp.
And Helen F spotted another engraving – a second set of Kangaroo footprints.
New Holland Honeyeater
Many thanks to Brian for leading the walk, and also to Roger for a lift down and back.