Moth caterpillars

While Trevor, Craig and Grace poked around the rocks looking for lizards and snakes I took a break (from the tension!) and poked around under the bark of some eucalypts - and found this interesting caterpillar. It's Oenosandra boisduvalii Boisduval's Autumn Moth. Apparently it lives in southern Australia, including Tasmania, and the male and female moths look quite different from each other and were thought to be separate species at one stage.

But it doesn't do as much damage as another species that is in plague proportions around the coast at Anglesea at the moment. Painted Cup Moth caterpillars, Doratiphora oxleyi, are everywhere, chewing on leaves of various species of shrubs and trees. They're doing a lot of damage but presumably the plants will recover. I'll be down there again soon and will look for the cup-shaped cocoons on twigs.

Skinks

First we checked the twenty mammal traps that had been set out amongst the stony rises in Floating Island Reserve (one Swamp Rat and nine Dusky Antechinus). What's the plural of antechinus?

Then we tagged Trevor, the reptile expert, who led us into some pretty scary spots. There's no way I would have walked where we did if I'd been alone. Big rocks, long grass, lots of nooks and crannies - perfect for a reptile.

Apart from the White-lipped Snake that Trevor had found the day before under a piece of corrugated iron we only saw a Tiger Snake, but probably didn't see numerous others. But we did find some skinks basking in the sun on the dark rocks in the reserve, and were especially pleased to find the special Dreeite (or Corangamite) Water Skink, that only lives in that area, when we drove north on Hawksnest Road.

I think I'm done with reptile-hunting.

Black Rock Skink Egernia saxatilis

Dreeite Water Skink Eulamprus tympanum marnieae

Eastern Three-lined Skink Acritoscincus duperreyi

The lake really is a lake

What a different year this is. Water everywhere. Several years ago I was blogging here about the lakes in the western district being totally dry. Today we drove by Lake Colac, Lake Corangamite, Lake Beeac and many others on the volcanic plains that this year have water in them. It's a sight that makes my heart sing.

Lake Beeac, above, was looking brilliant today - almost pure white, shallow and salty. And in the Floating Islands Reserve at PirronYallock we did some reptile-hunting on the rocks above a beautiful little lake in the reserve (below).

Floating Islands Reserve, Part 2

Re the final sentence in yesterday's blog:

This morning we checked the mammal traps again and success - another house mouse and a Swamp Rat Rattus lutreolus. Trevor was very pleased. "How do you know it's not a Bush Rat?" he was asked. Apparently the Swamp Rat is an overall brown colour and it has a stubby nose. The hind foot colour (Bush Rat, pale and Swamp Rat, dark) and the proportion of tail-to-body length are also important.  Later we found an extensive tunnel and runway system and set another trap nearby in the hope of catching another Swamp Rat.

Floating Islands Reserve

Whenever we travelled to Melbourne when I was a kid dad would stop half way for a break at Floating Islands Reserve in Stony Rises near Colac. It's about an hour west of Geelong.

The islands in the little lake really did float, blown around by the wind. They weren't small either - they had trees growing on them. The theory is that in 1952, a very wet year, the lake filled and some peat detached from the bottom of the swamp. The reserve still exists but the islands no longer float because the lake dried out. The trees have now rooted into the lake bed.

The Stony Rises is an area of basalt rocks and swamps that was a lava flow in the recent past and, in parts, the original vegetation remains because it was so difficult to clear and farm. The flora in Floating Islands Reserve is relatively intact with an overstory of Eucalytus viminalis and Acacia melanoxylon.

This week we set up fifty mammal traps to see what what living there or, to be honest, I should say Trevor set up the Elliott Traps. He has the licence and the expertise. First he mixed up a mess of oatmeal, peanut butter and Golden Syrup and rolled it into small balls. One ball was placed in each trap along with a crumpled sheet of paper towel to provide shelter. Each trap was placed in a likely spot roughly ten metres apart along a transept.

This morning we checked the traps - and found one house mouse, and one Dusky Antechinus. The latter was a female with young in her pouch which Trevor said was right and proper because the males all died a month or so ago after exhausting themselves during frenetic sexual activity and fighting. She was weighed, measured and released. Tomorrow morning we check the traps again.