Some new images of Robbo Nature Reserve Pines

A few people liked the Bush Stone Curlew, yesterday, even though they were old photos. That's nice, as it is one of my favourite birds, for sentimental reasons to do with the early taste for the Aussie bush - listening to them calling at night, when I was a kid.

Today I went down the Belmore Falls Road, to check for Greenhood Orchids, but I found only one group budding up. No flowers to show you, unfortunately. I am guessing, from the shape of the leaves, that they will turn out to be Pterostylis curta.

However, while I was sloshing around down there, in my gum boots, I did find this Orange-peel Fungus (Aleuria aurantia) which might help Junior Lepid at Flowers, Frogs, Fungi and Feathered. This fungus is clearly NOT stalked, whereas his little orange fungus clearly was on a stalk. So, one option we discussed on his blog is clearly ruled out.
I decided to come back to the Robertson Nature Reserve, to report back on the previous posts about the pruning of some of the huge Pine Trees. See below.

On the way back across the rich green pastures below the Robertson basalt country starts, there was a pair of White-necked Herons (Ardea pacifica). One was conveniently stretching one of its wings, revealing both the slight purple tinge in its dark feathers, but also the distinctive white spots on the leading edge of the wing.At the front of the Robertson Nature Reserve, there were a number of huge Monterey Pine Trees (Pinus Radiata) growing. I have reported before on some of the work done to remove the most dangerous branches of these old trees. I would have to confess that it is not clear if this work is regarded as "finished" - for there are a great number of branches just lying on the ground. While they no longer pose a safety hazard, they are certainly going to create a maintenance problem for the volunteers who weed this Nature Reserve, to try and keep down the Privet seedlings, and other weeds which thrive wherever the canopy is opened (as is now the case, here).These logs on the ground averaged about 25 cm in diameter (one foot approx) - obviously thicker as they got closer to the trunk. The huge forked trunk in the background is about 3 metres in diameter, (10 feet at least). It is huge. The cut branch is about 45 cm in diameter. I do hope that the NPWS contractors will be ordered back to finsh the job they have started.

Below is another trunk of a Radiata Pine, cut at above my head height. It was felled, and the trunk lying on the ground, came up to the height of my pocket (approx one metre). Serious trees. You can make out the natural forest from this I took this photo, looking out towards the roadside edge of the forest. Vines and dark rainforest vegetation predominates, so it is good that the Pines be removed. Hopefully the others will go some time. But, as previous readers will have seen, removing there trees is a huge task. There is nothing like dealing with weeds which are 30 metres high, and have trunks in excess of 3 metres to make you realise why seedling weeds ought be removed, when they are still manageable.
While in the Nature Reserve, I walked the circuit pathway, looking for fungi. In view of the reasonable amount of rain which we have had (not a lot, admittedly, but there has been some), I was surprised that there were not many fungi in evidence. The leathery "Ear Fungi" which are more-or-less permanent are all shrivelled up. I did find these tiny little orange ball-shaped fungi. They are on a branch, a mere stick, which was lying on the ground. The branch was no more than a finger thick. So, using that as a scale, you can see that these little fungi look like tiny "pustules". They are in fact tiny stalked fungi, but there is no evidence that they open up like "mushrooms". Frankly, these are so tiny that i cannot identify them from any web or book references which i have at my disposal.I have been trying to upload several more photos, but the normally reliable Blogger uploading system is failing to night. I give up. Time to go to bed.