Mammy Johnson's Creek (Stroud NSW) under threat

On Saturday 20 September, Caroline Graham, of Rivers SOS, and I attended a meeting in Stroud, to hear about the threat to Mammy Johnson's Creek posed by coal mining.

Part of the crowd gathering together before the meeting got under way officially. A poster outside the School of Arts building in Stroud on Saturday.
The meeting was organised by the Johnson's Creek Conservation Committee and the Barrington, Gloucester, Stroud Preservation Alliance.
Mammy Johnson's Creek is just one of the many rivers which runs from the Barrington Tops area. This map shows the rivers and the mines which threaten them - just in the Gloucester-Stroud area.
Tony Tersteeg speaking at the Meeting. Tony has just been elected to the Gloucester Council. We wish him all the very best with his efforts on Council, for the community.
Amanda addressing the crowd. Amanda was the principal organiser of the meeting at Stroud."Bucket Man's" home-made poster And here is "Bucket Man" himself.

David reading from a difficult-to-read script, while Amanda helps with the microphone.Anti-Duralie Mine poster. You might quibble with the grammar, but the point is clear.A poster about Duralie Coal Mine, at Stroud, complete with a Press Release by Frank Sartor, former Minister for Planning, announcing the approval of Duralie Coal Mine, but under certain conditions. The company is now seeking to change those conditions. Caroline Graham, from the Cataract River at Douglas Park, with whom I attended the meeting, getting to know some of the Stroud and Gloucester people who are concerned about mining threatening to damage the local rivers.Dr Pauline Roberts from the Caroona Coal Action Group was one of the guest speakers. She outlined the activites of the Caroona and Liverpool Plains campaign against BHP's planned invasion of their area. There is currently a blockade taking place, preventing the mining company from getting on the properties where they wish to explore. Pauline is a very powerful speaker, and received great support from the crowd, while giving them great encouragement herself.

Car Window stickers - unambiguous in their messages.

Red Mud falling from the sky.

On Tuesday morning, 16 September 2008, the cars of Robertson were covered in a smattering of fine red mud. Over night winds had brought red dust from somewhere to the south and west (it was not Robertson dust). I had seen this storm coming in as a black line of cloud, just on sunset, as I was going in to Bowral on Monday evening. Then, overnight, there was a brief shower of rain (as often happens in Robertson). It rained mud.
Here are some images of the bonnet of my car, spattered with the now dry dust blobs, which clearly fell as muddy rain drops over night.
The grains of mud or dust, were not very fine, and felt like red sand to me - such as one might expect to find in Mildura, or the Victorian mallee. Robertson's red basalt soil creates much finer dust. The windy weather we experienced had been blowing in Victoria and southern NSW for two days before our little mud storm arrived.

Big Potato with Daffodils

Spring continues here in Robertson, but with blustery winds today.
The daffodils planted around the Big Potato, courtesy of Jill Keft of the Robertson Village Nursery, and the Robertson Chamber of Commerce, have all burst into flower over the last few warm days.At the back of the field where the Big Potato is located, there is a female Mudlark sitting on her clutch of eggs. Last week I saw 3 Currawongs perched around this bird, but obviously they have not yet gone in for a feed, as she is sitting on something - presumably eggs.

Female Mudlark, with white face and white beak just visible
Her white tail is visible on the right.
sitting on eggs in her mud nest.
They collect mud to build the nest -
that's what gives them their name.

It will be much more difficult when the eggs have hatched, and the adults need to feed the (juicy) young. These birds have selected their nest site very carefully, as there is a branch immediately over the top of the nest (protecting them from an overhead attack), and there is also a stiff branch about 6 inches (approx 125 mm) behind the nest (to the right), giving the nest protection from a rear attack. Lets hope their strategy works. But they will not be able to leave the nest defenceless, as this female did when I arrived under the tree. Currawongs work very quickly when attacking nestlings.
As the sky was clear in Robertson I went out to Ocean View to catch the view over Shell Harbour and Lake Illawarra. Unfortunately the sky out over the Ocean was a little hazy.This is looking out over Macquarie Pass - with Mt Macquarie the cliffline visible to the left. Knights Hill is to the right.The field in the foreground is on basalt soil. Beyond that - in the middle distance, is the natural forest on the escarpment top edge (on sandstone - which is why it was never cleared for farming). Macquarie Pass runs from just to the left of screen, down underneath the visible clifflines, and then out to the centre ground, at Albion Park and then Shell Harbour. The Pacific Ocean is on the horizon.

Spring Pruning - preparing for a hot windy summer

Integral Energy, our local electricity supplier, and one which the last NSW Premier and Treasurer wanted to sell off, has come through and pruned trees along Missingham Parade. And then, yesterday morning, shortly after 7:00am, they were knocking on my front door, to advise me that they were going to prune some trees on my block. This is part of their planning for a forthcoming hot and windy season. Sounds fair enough to me. I know that the line across my paddock feeds down to rural property along Belmore Falls Road, down in the valley below my place.

I have shown photos of these plants when they were first planted by Zoe and myself on 17 May 2004 (Click here to see Zoe celebrating having planted plants in the otherwise bare paddock). These plants have been pruned 3 times since they were first planted. Once to "top them" to reduce their direct vertical leaders, and make them bush out (when they were young saplings). Then in July 2007, my friend Peter came with his chain saw to knock them back - because I could see they were growing too tall, under the powerlines (when just 3 years old). Now, a year later, the Integral Energy guys gave them a real "Boy Prune", as the phrase is.
I last wrote about these trees under the heading Green and Gold, back on 11 August, as they were just coming into flower.

I originally anticipated that these plants would grow quickly (not as quickly as they have done) - and act as a temporary screen and wind break, while other plants established themselves, down in the paddock below the house. Wind is the issue down there - it is very exposed to southerly winds.The reality is that the Wattles have jumped out of the ground, but other plants have been less successful. So I will keep on cutting their heads off, and hope that other self-sown seedlings of plants like Pittosporum and Sassafras do establish themselves under the shelter of these trees.

One Wattle which has grown reasonably well is this small shrub of Acacia fimbriata "compact form". The true species grows in a much more open manner. This one will never pose a problem for the power lines. Nor will the few Camellias which are growing down there.I mentioned recently, when writing about the leaves and phyllodes of Blackwood Wattles, that mature Blackwood Wattles eventually form an open crown. This is what I meant. Most of the Blackwoods on my place are young plants (regrowth) and have not reached that stage - and still have dense crowns.

And, here is a surprise visitor - a Willy Wagtail - which was on the fence while I was taking the other photos, late in the afternoon. Lousy light, but it is the first time I have ever seen a Willy Wagtail at my place (it is definitely not a rainforest bird) - so I was not going to miss the chance to try and get a photo. Sorry, but it was the best I could manage - the bird was a bit nervous of my presence.

Unusual Greenhoods - pot grown specimens

I generally do not favour collectors growing potted native orchids, however, as many of these plants are now in private hands, I guess I cannot complain that I had the opportunity to see some of these rare and unusual plants, as potted specimens, being displayed at the recent meeting of the Australasian Native Orchid Society (Illawarra Branch) last week.

The first three species here are all known as Greenhoods, but they are very different in structure, which explains why the very large genus of Pterostylis has been broken up by some taxonomists. The alternative generic names are shown for two of these plants.

Pterostylis baptistii or King Greenhood.
This is a striking plant. i have only seen it in the wild once, in the general Jervis Bay area, growing in a wet, swampy area. But I remember being very impressed by the large size of the flower, and its height. This specimen, a potted plant, was large in flower, but not so tall.
Note how this flower has a classic Greenhood structure with lateral sepals closing off the front of the flower, and with the tips forming points held back and behind the flower. The Labellum is thin, and pointed, and quite red in colour. It resembles a bird's tongue.
Pterostylis gibbosa (Oligochaetochilus gibbosus) (a rare plant, with no common name).
Seen below, this species is classed as rare and endangered. Its population is restricted to several locations in the Illawarra, and a separate population in the Hunter Valley. It has a most interesting structure, with strongly reflexed lateral sepals (the bits below the flower hood) which in other typical Greenhoods, form the front part of the flower. Contrast the front of this flower with the Pt. baptistii above. This one is opened, with the lateral sepals deflexed (downwards pointing).

You can clearly see the yellow pollinia held high inside the partially transparent galea or hood.

This is perhaps the most clear photo I have ever taken of the "hinge" which holds the "labellum", which in this case has been triggered by movement, and has closed up inside the flower. This is the normal position when the plant has been triggered by the presence of an insect (remember I have said that these plants are sensitive to the presenc e of an insect, but they can also snap closed if bumped.) This ability to close is a key strategy for pollination of the flower. The brown section in the centre of the flower is the rear or lower side of the labellum. Immediately below the brown patch is a clearly visible green "strap" of tissue which the botanists describe as a hinge.Pterostylis biseta (Oligochaetochilus biseta). Seen below, this plant is an inland cousin of Pt gibbosa (above). It is a dry land plant. The structure of the flowers of the two species is basically similar.

Its flower is particularly hairy, including on the labellum. This is presumably part of the flower's "trigger" mechanism, as these plants are sensitive to the presence of an insect. It has a very long point on the dorsal sepal (the tip of the hood prokecting forward) as well as two very long projecting tips of the lateral sepals (open, underneath the flower). There is a dead flower in the foreground.Note how prominent the labellum is, on a very free standing 'hinge". The labellum of this plant is green, whereas in Pt gibbosa, the labellum is dark brown.Diuris maculata - Spotted Doubletail. I have still not seen this plant, although it is relatively common around Sydney, apparently.

More Spring Flowers - on a balmy day.

Today was one of those rare Spring Days in Robertson which one dreams about.
Warm breezes carrying light floral perfume from Plum Blossoms; a day of blue skies, and fluffy white clouds.Here is a lovely flower opening on the Pink Star Magnolia in Bernie and Dorothy's garden.
A Purple Hellebore (Helleborus orientalis). A White-flowered Hellebore (sorry, not sure of the species) which goes green as the flower ages, and the seeds start to develop.Here are the flowers of a "Cherry Plum" (once again, I am not sure of the species) - a wild form of a domestic plum, basically.And this week, the second of the Waratahs which were planted as a community gardening project at the CTC@Robertson three years ago, has started to open its first flower. (The first plant of a few specimens which were planted, flowered at the CTC last year.) The flower is structured with large red bracts which protect the inner florets. These bracts are showing some signs of scorching, unfortunately. However, I am confident that the flower will open to a perfectly lovely Waratah. This is a seedling I was given by Mr Paul Nixon, a famous selector of the Brimstone Collection series of selected varieties of NSW Waratahs. This plant was grown from wild collected seed, so it is a genuine Telopea speciosissima - not a hybrid. This is apparent from the flower shape, and the heavily serrated leaves.
These Waratahs are local to the Sandstone plateau just below Robertson, near Kangaloon, and the points further north. They are not native to the Robertson red basalt soil, however, they thrive in this soil. However, as they are local plants (to the area) and as they do so well here, Robertson is proud to feature Waratahs in public and private gardens in the village.

More Greenhoods from Macquarie Pass

Macquarie Pass is the link between the Southern Highlands, at Robertson, on high basalt hills (750 metres) and the coastal plateau, at Albion Park. This is 30 Km south from Wollongong, and 20 Km from the ocean (which is on the far horizon). The Pass goes from sandstone clifflines, directly at the top of the Escarpment, then through a series of shelves, over different soil types - initially sandstone, then in places, soil derived from shale. It is sub-tropical rainforest country, but it varies from tall Eucalypt forest cover with rainforest sub-story, to classic rainforest vegetation in the wet gullies. The soil in the rainforest is, of course, heavily enriched by humus.

Cabbage Tree Palm flowering in a deep Rainforest gully, below the track.
Eucalypts in the foreground. Dense rainforest trees further back.

The Ground Orchids which occur here grow in little open patches, and along track edges - usually in patches of short grass, or native herbs, or Club Moss. Sometimes the Orchids grow in bare soil along exposed excavations and naturally occurring disturbed soil patches where huge trees have come down, tearing out rocks and leaving bare soil exposed.

Pterostylis curta - with diagnostic twisted labellum
The "column" structure is visible at the back of the Galea (hood).
The Pollinia is visible still in position.

Pt. curta - rear view.
Note the wide, almost bulging, shape of the hood.

Pt. curta - rear view - a heavily coloured flower.
This one has a particularly wide hood.

A group of Pt. curta showing how widely bulging their "Hoods" are.
Maybe this shape accounts for the common name "Blunt Greenhood".

Pterostylis hildae, the Rainforest Greenhood.
It is similar to Pt. curta, but is finer in features, and more honey-coloured.
It has a straight, not twisted labellum.

Pt. hildae - rear view.
Compared to Pt curta, it is less swollen at the base,
and definitely less bulging in the hood.

Pt. hildae - from side.
A classic shaped specimen with fine pointed hood
and honey colour.

Another specimen of Pt. hildae, with slightly less pointed hood.
Its labellum is just visible, but was straight, not twisted.
It does not have the bulging sides of the hood of Pt. curta.
A group of Pt hildae.

A possible hybrid?
This has the general shape of Pt hildae,
but the colour is indicative of some Pt. pedunculata influence.

These three species from yesterday and today's postings were growing together
within a metre diameter circle.

Front view of the same plant.
The front of the flower (the lateral sepals) have an unusual reddish colour,
Is this indicative of possible Pt pedunculata hybridisation?
(Pt hildae, and Pt curta both have some honey/brown colour on the hood,
but the front of the flower, is always green).

Compare with yesterday's image of the front view of Pt. pedunculata by clicking here.