Mountain Forest Orchids

Last week I was up in the mountain forests of Namadgi and I found s patch of woodland that was rich with orchids. There were four species within fifty metres. As with most orchids, if we walk slowly, watch where we tread, we'll find them. These plants are so easily overlooked as they have simple leaves, slender stems and small, often inconspicuous flowers. Just be careful not to step on any that are not yet in flower, they are especially difficult to see.

The long stem, 200mm, of a Highland Golden Moth Diuris monticola rises well above the leaf and bark litter on the alpine forest floor at1200m. This is an upland species that is related to D. chryseopsis which grows on lower ground.

There were several groups of several plants in the woodland. Most of the plants had double flowers, which were more a sulphur than golden yellow. 

 

The straight stem, 300mm, and curved green and white hood of a Large Mountain Greenhood Pterostylis monticola. Again, there were several stands of several plants, all in flatter wetter ground.

The hooded flower, simple, yet perfectly balanced intricacy

A single stem, 300mm, of a Cinnamon Bells Gastrodia sesamoides holds its three drooping flowers up above the ground cover where insects can more easily find them. There was one other plant which was not yet in full flower. Its unopened buds were drooping from the stem.

These were once called Potato Orchids. 

A species of Bird Orchid Chiloglottis sp. A single flower on a very upright stem, 60-70mm, with two basal leaves. This tiny plant was growing in moist soil close to the Greenhoods.

Unfortunately, this one was not fully open and there were no others in flower nearby, so the precise identification is uncertain.

 Wet wallabies

On a recent visit to Namadgi National Park in the ACT, I had to wait a bit until the rain stopped before I went for a walk in the forest. As I waited, I noticed something twitching in the grass, and there were several humps of wet grey fur in the grass.

The humps moved a little and a pair of ears flicked at a fly, then another pair of ears rose up out of the grass.

Eventually a head rose up below the ears and the eyes of a Red-Necked Wallaby fixed onto me - very casually. Clearly the wallaby wasn't perturbed and it seemed to not want to move. It had seen lots of humans in the carpark before, setting off on walks along the forest paths. There were several of wallabies, and they were all quite relaxed, sitting up to their ears in food. 

The rain didn't appear to bother them. It wasn't penetrating their thick woolly fur and the odd dribble down their nose was easily shaken off with a jerk of the head. Wet weather is good for colour satuation in photographs, so as soon as the rain stopped, or nearly stopped, I grabbed some shots to capture the richness of colour in their fur, and white-stripe along their cheeks that was emphasised by the light. 

It's good to stop and take alternative looks at wildlife, to see the detail and watch animals at peace. And while I was there I then noticed the colour of the bark on some nearby Snow Gums. The rain had soaked the bark, some dribbles were running down over the flakes of bark, and every tree trunk was individually colourful. A few hours later when I returned, the rain had long-stopped, the sun was out, the colours were flat on the wallabies' dry fur and the bark was a soft dull grey.

Pick of the Year 2023 - part three

Otters 

In this last post of 2023, I would like to share some of the most amazing moments I had all year, close up views of wild otters. I had several super encounters with these amazing animals in the west Highlands and Islands of Scotland. I watched them fishing for butterfish, crabs and plaice. What a menu. I watched them from clifftops, following their sleek twists and turns underwater. I watched them exploring rivers, popping in and out of their holts, families rolling about together and those shown here, a teenage cub that had only recently left its family. She was fishing, and I reckon it was a female by the small size. Then she pulled out to sleep on the seaweed. The second sequence is of a courting pair whom I watched cruising along the coast. I crept onto a tideline rock and watched them swim past a few metres away then pull out to groom on a rock twenty metres away. 

The cub was in as deep a sleep as ottters ever seem to go, they fidget a lot. It stretched and yawned, and after about half an hour it was awakened by a few herring Gulls that swooped low to check if it had left any food scraps about. It lifted its sleepy head then dawdled down to the water, scambled over the rocks towards me and slipped in right next to me.

The pair swam right next to one another, twisting and swapping places. Then when they pulled out of the water they shook themselves like dogs, from nose to tail, scattering water droplets in a great wide spray. They seemed to know where they were going and quickly curled up, groomed, fidgeted a bit, groomed and curled up again for brief sleep. They too left after about twenty minutes. And to top it all, there was a porpoise cruising past as they swam away. 

A very special experience.

Pick of the year 2023 - part two 

The Western Isles

This the second of three summary posts of my trip to Scotland in 2023. As I mentioned in the previous post and repeat here, I had to do so much in the field that I seldom had time to upload posts to the Blog. So, now that it is the year's end, I have managed to organise and edit all the photographs I took during the year. This post, and the other two, illustrate some of the wildplaces I visited and wildlife I saw in Scotland in May and June. It was a wonderful trip and I covered so much ground, I can't cover everything here. 

Please browse through the pics below and join in my explorations. I haven't given away most of the locations, although I will share the one above which is of Heb Pods where I stayed for part of the trip, overlooking the Uig Sands on the Isle of Lewis. Lovely accomodation in a wonderful setting. 

Click on any of the photos to open them larger and follow the other photos as they link up.