Snail's pace

I can't begin to explain how lovely it is to spend a day in the wet forest of the Otway Ranges. The tall dripping ferns, the fungi, the damp mulch, the sound of running water, moss, tall trees, birds calling, shrubs and herbs starting to flower, the solitude - all contribute to a wonderful environment. It's been raining this year for a change so the dampness is a true delight. I'm sure the flora and fauna are appreciating it as well.

We went down a walking track at Blanketleaf Picnic Ground north of Lorne and there was so much to see it took us more than an hour to go only about 200 metres in and back again. Interesting fungi was everywhere and that's what slowed us down the most. I'll post some photos of those later.

But Rosalind also found two snails, the rare Otway Snail that I've blogged about before here and one I hadn't seen before, a little Helicarion nigra.

It had a small glossy shell, too small to retract into. It is quite slug-like. Snail will know more than me but it seemed to me to be a primitive type of snail. We found it in moss on the ground on a damp south-facing slope in the forest and moved it to a piece of bark to get its portrait taken. The shell is horizontal and quite flat. I wonder if it's carnivorous like the Otway Snail.

Boom then bust

Over the last few months we've all seen images of central Australian plants and animals responding to higher rainfall and water in creeks and swamps, we've seen images of lakes like Lake Eyre that have earned the title 'lake'. Scientists have been out in the desert areas trying to document huge increases in bird numbers, breeding events, plants germinating from long-dormant seeds, mammals and insects that are finding the larder full for a change.

On our recent trip to the area round Alice Springs we found numerous Budgerigars breeding in River Red Gums along watercourses - it was a delight to watch their antics - and noted Zebra Finches simply everywhere. Seed supplies must be plentiful and water too. It would be wonderful to be able to explore places like the Simpson Desert and the Channel Country now, when they're at its best.

Scientists are gradually building up knowledge of how Australian plants and animals respond to the semi-arid conditions that cover 70% of our country, how they cope with long dry periods and times of plenty after rain events. Some of the experts were asked to contribute chapters to a book called Boom and Bust: Bird Stories for a Dry Country edited by Libby Robin, Robert Heinsohnn and Leo Joseph. It is an award-winner (the Whitley Award and the NSW Premier's Award) and our Eco Book Group decided to make it our study book this month.

We all agreed that Boom and Bust was a most enjoyable read and it generated a lively discussion. Each chapter of the book concentrates on one bird species' response to good times. We learned about woodswallows, zebra finches, grey teals, emus, koels and black-tailed native hens. And pelicans, and brolgas. And the extinct genyornis that couldn't cope at all well with changing climate and vegetation. And night parrots. So many interesting stories told well. We learnt that humans will have to learn to adapt to changes too and that there are lessons to be learned from observing the behaviour of white-winged choughs - all very charming and cooperative when food is plentiful but watch their true natures appear when there isn't enough food to go around. War is declared.

This is a book about birds but non-birders would enjoy it as well.

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.