A cross orchid

Sometimes when you're bushwalking a sight just stops you in your tracks, takes your breath away. That was the feeling when I saw a colony of orchids near Inverleigh. They are tiny and blend in with the ground litter remarkably, even when growing en masse  as they do.  I wish I'd thought to video my fellow field nats tip-toeing around the bush trying to avoid stepping on them - you'd be about to put your foot down, spot the leaves and be forced to change direction whilst balancing on one foot.

We were looking at a natural hybrid called Chiloglottis X pescottiana (or Chilosimpliglottis X pescottiana) Bronze Bird-orchid. Apparently it's a cross between C. trapeziformis and C. valida. It was growing in grassy woodland. The callus gland is basal, large and stalked - Jones describes it as 'resembling an ant'.

Tiny and sweet

Today I joined the Field Nats on an excursion to Inverleigh Nature Conservation Reserve (known as the Common). It's a 1000ha grassy woodland with a Friends Group, some interesting plants (including a spider orchid that only grows there) and a very good bird list.

We saw quite a few orchids today, including the spider orchid in wire cages. The Friends locate as many as they can each year and cover each in a wire cage to protect it from marauding possums, choughs, kangaroos, wallabies and rabbits. They are very beautiful orchids but unfortunately none of my photos are good enough to upload.

There were other plants flowering and many others in bud. These are a few of the little plants that are easily overlooked. All are in the Asteraceae family.

Common Sunray Triptilodiscus pygmaeus (not quite open)

Moss Sunray Hyalosperma demissum

Soft Millotia Millotia tennifolia

Hoary Sunray Leucochrysum albicans var. tricolor (not fully open)

Spring in the Common

The reserve at Inverleigh, known as the Common, has been very dry for the last decade or more. But we've had something like average rainfall this year and the plants in the Common have responded. On a short visit this week we found a lot of orchids, dozens of a few species in a small area. And that's just the orchids. It was looking spectacular.

Hornet orchid Diuris sulphurea

Thelymitra sp. Sun-orchid. Possibly T. peniculata



Spotted Sun-orchid Thelymitra ixioides

Thelymitra sp. Sun-orchid. Possibly T. malvina

Above and below: Thelymitra rubra Salmon Sun-orchid

Helmet, bird, dwarf and trim - orchids of course.

Trevor emailed me a photo of a helmet orchid that he found near the Elliot Traps he'd set in the Inverleigh Flora and Fauna Reserve. "Meet me there at 8.30 in the morning?" he asked. So of course I went, along with several other friends. Sadly Trevor didn't trap any mammals in four days of trapping but we found four, maybe five, orchid species this morning.

Corybas diemenicus Veined Helmet Orchid

Pterostylis concinna Trim Greenhood

Pterostylis nana Dwarf Greenhood

Chiloglottis trapeziformis Dainty Wasp Orchid (or, Broad-lip Bird Orchid)

and, a mystery Corybas sp.

Update: The above is almost certainly a bud of Corybas incurvus Slaty Helmet Orchid. [Thanks Helen and Neil]

Solitaire

It was a beautiful day today, I didn't have any commitments, I knew the grasslands would be starting to flower - so off to Bannockburn cemetery I went.

This little treasure holds remnant volcanic plains grassland plants, including the endangered Large-fruit Groundsel Senecio macrocarpus. There are moves afoot to set up a new cemetery so that this one can stay as it is, with large open spaces beyond the graves. DSE keeps an eye on the population of this plant here and monitors the threats - encroaching suburbia, weeds, mowing practices - but it will be a miracle if this patch survives in good condition. I noticed yesterday that several of the new houses on the boundary have pushed building rubble onto the site and a couple of the neighbours have dumped garden pruning over the fence.

Then I went to Inverleigh Common - a very large reserve. It's a bit early yet to see very much in the way of flowers but there were Gold Moth orchids everywhere so it was worth visiting just to see that. There was one patch of Dillwynia hispida, the Red Parrot-pea. The local rabbits and kangaroos give the vegetation a hard time - a Friends group is trialling fenced-off areas and getting good results - and the parrot-pea was a prostrate instead of the normal metre or so high bush.

I didn't meet anyone else at all in my travels - the bush was mine for the day. Oh, what a feeling.

A sandy patch

This morning there were no pressing commitments, and the house work could wait, so I headed out to Inverleigh Flora and Fauna Reserve about 30 km west of Geelong. The Reserve used to be a Common (for firewood and grazing) but it now has a Friends group, and is a very interesting 1000 ha patch of natural vegetation. There are plants here that are not found anywhere else, and the birds like the mix of trees, shrubs and open space.

The Inverleigh Golf Course runs along one boundary, and they must have installed this opening for the kangaroos. Judging by the worn track it must be effective. It's one way of protecting the fence. Pity we can't use the same method at the farm - the sheep would love the escape route.

I was slowly driving along one track listening for birds, and not taking too much notice of the track itself, and suddenly found myself in a predicament. Bogged in the sand.

I put leaves and sticks behind the wheels and tried backing out. No good, I only dug myself in deeper. With images from the film Japanese Story in my mind, I had to decide what to do. Should I ring a friend, or the RACV? Ended up ringing a friend who drove out from Geelong and rescued me. (Thanks Dick.) Mobile phones are great when they work. It certainly saved me a long walk. A sandy soil is great for Australian plants but I'll have to respect it more in the future.