Friday 4 March 2016

Breamlea Flora and Fauna Reserve

Suaeda australis
Thompson Creek estuary, Breamlea
Part of the charm of Breamlea is that you have to deliberately go there. In other words, it's off the beaten track. It's not on a main road. There is a surf club and a beach, there are a few houses, there is a caravan park and there is a sports reserve.

And there is, for me, the main attraction - the saltmarsh of the Flora and Fauna Reserve - at any time of the year.



A saltmarsh is not the most attractive EVC* on the block but it really shines when you get down on your knees. The colours of the plants are spectacular, the flowers intricate and varied, the leaves amazing. And there are always birds on the estuary and some of those birds have flown all the way from the Alaska or Siberia for the summer. The saltmarsh that we have left (after years of abuse) is under threat from developers, weed invasion, rising sea levels and human activities. We need to stand guard for all the saltmarsh areas that remain.

Tecticornia pergranulata
Disphyma crassifolium

Sarcocornia quinqueflora
Frankenia pauciflora
Wilsonia rotundifolia
* Ecological Vegetation Class