Lena and her buddy, Buddy

Lena, with Buddy's "toy"
Lena has a boyfriend, a buddy, called Buddy.
She has taken to visiting Buddy as often as possible, either at his house in Bowral, or at his Mum's shop in Robertson, where Buddy hangs out frequently.

Buddy is quite a bit older than Lena, and he is normally pretty staid and he sleeps a lot. But when Lena turns up, Buddy gets quite "young" again.

Lena shaking the "rope"
and wagging her tail.
They wrestle, they tease eachother by playing with various "rope" toys, and mostly Buddy just tries to nip Lena near her mouth and ears, and around her neck, and on her legs, and just about everywhere.

She loves it, and constantly comes back for more.
She spends most of these "fights" lying on her side or back, because Lena is about twice Buddy's size.

Lena on her back, playing
with the rope toy
Because Buddy lives in a house, when he tries something a bit more "interesting", he gets scolded, till he stops that idea. Sometimes it is Lena who does the scolding, and sometimes it is his people who shout at him. Either way, he gets the idea, and forgets his other plan.
Above all, they are really good friends, and like eachother's company enormously.


Lena is tired, now!

*****

"Buddy"
Buddy has an issue with storms. He hates thunder and lightning, which is why there is only one photo here of Buddy. What?
Well, Buddy thinks camera flashes are lightning, and therefore, one flash means there is a Thunderstorm coming. Right?
So, as soon as a camera is produced, Buddy heads for his bed, climbs under the blanket, and hides there till everything is calm again. Poor Buddy. It is a shame, as he is actually quite photogenic, but he is ridiculously "camera shy" - because of the "lightning machine".

That's why there is only one photo of Buddy here. If you look, Buddy is checking out the evil "Lightning machine" (camera), prior to making for his bed.

Cockies love the Grubs in Kangaroo Apples

KangarooApple Shrub.
If that topic headline does not mean anything to you, have a look
at these photos.
I do not have a photo of a Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo in action on a Kangaroo Apple shrub (Solanum aviculare), but I have known for a long time that they love to chew Kangaroo Apples "to bits" chasing after the grubs which eat out the pith in the centre of the stems of these plants.


Chewed branch
I published a blog entry on 25 April about the Kangaroo Apple (Solanum aviculare). In that entry, I commented upon a hugely productive plant which appeared to be flowering itself to death. Well the Cockies have since shown me that it was being eaten to death by the grubs.



Thicker branch
snapped in half
The Cockies caught me by surprise, because I walked down my driveway, in the half-light of evening, suddenly these two huge birds (as big as Eagles, they seemed) flew out from where they had been chewing on this shrub.
Now, as a Robertson resident, I am totally used to seeing (and hearing) Black Cockies in the tree tops, or flying overhead. But, although I had often seen their tell-tale signs of damage, I had not ever "caught them at it", so to speak.
And another shot.
I would have to say that the Cockies do a huge amount of damage, but then, as I commented in the previous post, the shrub was clearly dying anyway. The loss of leaves was what made the shrub at my place stand out. This particular shrub in tonight's post looked more healthy than the one I mentioned as "dying" previously.
The thing to notice is that they go half-way into the branch till they find the grub which is eating out the core of the stem, (where the pithy centre is).
Cockie up a Pine Tree
shredding a Pine Cone
Local Robertson residents know the power of the beaks of these great birds, which can pick a pine cone off the tree, shred it and drop the finished cone, more easily than most of us can eat a Sweet Corn Cob. It is hardly surprising to see how they can tear apart the branches of a soft and brittle shrub.

But remember this. Cockatoos are parrots, and are supposed to be seed eaters. Vegetarians, right? Here is evidence that they love to eat fat grubs or caterpillars (moth larvae probably).
The only other Cockatoo which I know to have a similar carnivourous habit is the Gang-Gang Cockatoo, which loves to chew on "Spitfires" (the larvae of Saw Fly insects) which devour tips of Eucalypt trees.

Creeks behind Fountaindale Road

Narrow creek cutting
Down in the tall Eucalypt forest, below Fountaindale Road is a track which leads to a deep creek.

Today Jim showed me the way across the creek, via a steep, but passable, set of rock steps. Above this crossing point is a still pool called "Lorna Doone's Pool" - something straight out of my childhood reading.






Moss covered rocks
The creeks above this wonderful pool rush down through a series
of very narrow crevices, between moss-covered rock faces.

In some places, these cuttings were 15 metres deep, but they were too hard to photograph with any perspective.







Still pool, above the cascades
Further up the creek, the ground levels out and a still pool mirrors what little light was shining this afternoon.






Jim stepping across the creek
At a shallow point, we could easily step across the little creek.







A Moss Garden
Having crossed the creek, we went thougha patch of TeaTree Scrub, and found this wonderful little Moss Garden, in a small, open glade.

Kangaloon Sun Orchid nominated as a Threatened Species

Kangaloon Sun Orchid
(photo: M Clements)
The Kangaloon Sun Orchid is a local Ground Orchid species which I have not yet seen. It has been recorded by botanists, at Butler's Swamp, Stockyard Swamp and the Wildes Meadow Swamp (which has lost 80% of its original area to become Fitzroy Falls Reservoir).
The photo is borrowed from David Jones's "Complete Guide to Native Orchids of Australia" (2006). Photo credit: M. Clements.

I have today lodged a nomination form with the Federal Department of Environment and Water Resources, for listing of this species as an Endangered Species, under the terms of the EPBC Act.

The main reason is that the SCA's Upper Nepean Groundwater borefield poses a direct and immediate threat to the main remaining habitat of this species.

Lets hope that the nomination is successful, and that it occurs before the SCA's pumping dries out Butler's Swamp. We might know more about the impact of this pumping, come November of this year, which is when this species normally flowers.

Never go anywhere without your camera!

Jodie and Howard
with Penny's Fungus
This ought be a blank entry, as I went out without my camera today, as I was going to visit someone, and found they were not home, and so went for a bit of a bush-walk, which turned into a 3 Km stroll through a patch of forest I had never visited before. The pictures belong to an earlier event - (12 April).





Top view -
a dark leathery cap
I saw a pair of Ground Thrushes (Bassian Thrush) (Zoothera lunulata) walking ahead of me, along the track. Nice to see them as they are such quiet birds (they call in the very early morning,
and perhaps at dusk). They are a large thrush, closer to the size of a Bowerbird than a Blackbird.



Side view of Penny's
Fungus - a "Bolete" or
soft tissue, pore fungus
I also found a few interesting fungi, including a large, smooth-capped Bolete mushroom. It is not the huge-growing one
which Penny brought in from the farm a while ago (Phlebopus marginatus) (see photos), and which I took some photos of, one evening at the CTC (with the help of Jodie and Howard, some of our volunteers and Committee members). Today's Boletus was smaller than that, and not as yellowish underneath as Penny's huge one.

Eventually the track ran out, at a point where a deep gully crossed my path. The track is marked as going all the way through to Carrington Falls, but either I got lost, or the track does not really go through. I found myself facing a deep cliff-lined gully. about 50 metres deep, with a small but fast-flowing creek, and a series of small cascades (one would hardly call them waterfalls. But almost sheer walls stopped my progress. I shall have to get Jim to show me where I went wrong.

Another little Ground Orchid

Flower front on,
but closed.
I have spent hours working through books, trying to work out what this Ground Orchid is. The problem is that the flower is closed (pollinated already, it seems). At first I thought that it was a Gnat Orchid, but the leaf was not right for that. The flowers are solitary, whereas Gnat and Mosquito Orchids have numerous flowers on the stem, and solitary rounded or heart-shaped leaves.

I have concluded that it is a Small Wasp Orchid (Chiloglottis sylvestris), although, disconcertingly, the standard texts seem to disagree with photos and names of Chiloglottis sylvestris and C. seminuda). So, my naming of the "Turtle Orchid" Chiloglottis seminuda on 17 April is up in the air for now. I shall correct it when I get confirmation of which authority is correct.

With the aid of a magnifying lens, one can see that the labellum has the typical "callus" of the Wasp and Ant Orchid group (see 3rd photo).

Flower from the rear
The dorsal sepal is strongly pointed, and it closely wraps around the "column" of the flower. The most obvious feature is the little "arms" which are sticking up in the air. In fact these are held up this way because after pollingation, the flower closes the lip ("labellum") and the lateral sepals (the things which look like tiny arms) get lifted up in the air.
Confused?
I am a bit, too.




Side on view shows the
"callus" protruding
The "callus", a warty gland on the labellum of the flower, is just visible beneath the green "column".

It is the shape of the callus which is probably the most distinctive feature of the flower.







Leaves on the ground
The leaves are not a match to those described in the books. For some reason these plants have solitary leaves. That seems to be unusual.







Paired leaves, which
have been eaten
Some plants appear to have "paired" leaves, which is regarded as normal.

The photos are terrible, because i found these plants in the late afternoon, in deep shade, in a Melaleuca thicket. So it was quite dark.

The soil is a muddy creek bed. I have to go back and be prepared to get wet (lie down in the mud, probably) in order to try and get better shots.

All of the flowers I saw today were already closed, but I hope that perhaps I will find some more plants with open flowers (if I am lucky).

Penny and Larry, out in the bush

Penny and Larry's
place is just visible
at the top of the
clearing in the
top of this image -
taken from Robertson
It is tempting to call this post "The secret lives of others". That is
because Penny and Larry live "off the grid", in every sense. No power, no water, no sewerage, hardly a road to speak of - well the road is not bad, but they are some 10 Km past a locked gate, down an access trail within the Budderoo National Park.
Not many people know they are there, and arrangements have be made to access their property via the locked gate at the entrance of the Budderoo NP. So, in many senses, they live a secret life, but not a secretive one. The tranquility is entrancing. So is their hospitality.



Penny gathering wild
raspberries in the bush
Penny enjoys gathering wild Raspberries (Rubus rosifolius) on their property.
Penny cooks a lovely jam, or spread, from these berries. It has a wild flavour, but it is truly delightful when served with cheese and biscuits (as I can attest).
Apparently Penny's condiment is available to buy in the delicatessan at the "Old Cheese Factory", Robertson.

Lyrebird's cleared
"dance mound" amongst
the wild Raspberry bushes.
There are Lyrebird "display mounds" cleared out, amongst those dense Raspberry bushes. The Lyrebirds (perhaps Australia's most famous songbird) act like very aggressive "chooks", and clear away all the vegetation (the bushes you see around Penny). These bushes get ripped out and an area about 1 metre in diameter is cleared as a display mound for the male bird to perform his song and dance routine.

Penny displaying the
depth of the entrance
of a Wombat's burrow
Now, it doesn't get much "bushier" than this - Penny is testing (displaying) the depth of the local Wombat burrow entrance. The soil there is so deep that Wombats have free range to dig and dig huge burrow entrances, and that is before they even start to dig the burrow itself. Even in Robertson, the local Wombats don't excavate such huge burrow entrances.


Penny's roly-poly puppies
romping up the hill,
back towards the house.
When we went to check out the Lyrebird mounds, and to inspect the Raspberries, we were accompanied by a roly-poly, rag-tag assembly of Penny's little Maltese Terriers.
Great little pups, and very happy creatures.




The Robertson range
in the distance.
15 Km away.
One can clearly see the Robertson range from Penny and Larry's place, some 15 Km in a straight line - across the "Upper Kangaroo Valley" (as it is called). Of course, from the perspective of Penny and Larry's place, the Upper Kangaroo Valley is low, or very much lower, so the title "upper" always seems an anomaly.



Robertson range, topped by
the radio relay tower on
Mackey's Lane.
They are as remote as one can get, and still be close to "town" (if you accept Robertson as "town"). Next point of contact would be Jamberoo, in the other direction. But Jamberoo is on the coastal strip, so that is another world.




The view across
from Robertson
I was invited to visit Penny and Larry, with Jim and Songsri, who walked the 6 Km from their place near Carrington Falls, across the Budderoo. Their place is also visible in the photo at left, (taken from Robertson). Their place is the cleared farm in the middle level, just past the cliffs visible in the foreground. Those cliffs are the top of the "escarpment" which mark the Kangaroo Valley cliff line.