 |
| 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
4 comments:
Thank you for such an interesting post. Your photos are great and show so much detail of these tiny - and beautiful - plants. We have some quite extensive areas of saltmarch around here and it certainly does need protection. The biggest shorebird roosts around here are all associated with areas of saltmarch - I don't know if this is so elsewhere.
Thanks for the beautiful saltmarsh plant pics! I was once told by a fairly silly agricultural officer that there was 'more biodiversity in a wheat field than a saltmarsh'. I think he needed to get out a bit more (and look more closely). Cheers, Paula
Beautiful photos! Thank you so much for sharing.
Thanks for this - really interesting! There are some saltmarshes near me that I have been planning to explore (in Berowra Valley National Park and Marramarra National Park on the Hawkesbury in NSW). I wonder how much plant diversity there is in saltmarshes - I wonder if I will be able to use your photos as a starting point for working out the plants there? Thank!
Post a Comment