In search of sun orchids

This is the time of year when the scented sun orchids are flowering.

According to a 2010 Friends of Kings Park publication "For People and Plants" article (Sun Orchids, Successful and Immoral), the Sun Orchid family are not fussy about whether they are pollinated by their own species or not - with the result that it can be difficult to identify one species of sun orchid from another.

This year we have found an abundant display of Sun Orchids within the bushland. We think they are Thelymytra macrophylla, but who knows? See photos below.

We also saw some Cow Kick trigger plants (Stylidium schoenoides)

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Spring time is here

The bushland is looking beautiful with lots of orchids and wildflowers out. Well worth a visit! We have been mostly working on Geraldton Carnation Weed and some of the bulbous weeds (especially watsonia and ixia) that we are keen to keep under control. The regular spring showers we are having are prompting lots of Geraldton Carnation Weed seedlings to keep coming up ...

Click here to view live map Click here to download the GPX data for this map. Note, this data is an XML file - change the name to .GPX to upload to your GPS.

Click here to view live map Click here to download the GPX data for this map. Note, this data is an XML file - change the name to .GPX to upload to your GPS.

Click here to view live map Click here to download the GPX data for this map. Note, this data is an XML file - change the name to .GPX to upload to your GPS.

Continuing on with Geraldton Carnation Weed

After working on the Ixia we have now moved onto the Geraldton Carnation Weeds.

Not sure if our Ixia strategy is working - I don't think we are really controlling them - may need to explore other options.

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Sunday, 2nd September

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Sunday 9th September

Drug dens, foxes and rats!

Seems like the bushland is being visited by various pests - Dorothy found a drug den, and Joe Tonga lent us a camera that captured images of a fox and a rat. Not quite what we were hoping to see! We also came across a feral bee-hive inside a broken grass tree.

Click here to view live map Click here to download the GPX data for this map. Note, this data is an XML file - change the name to .GPX to upload to your GPS.

Click here to view live map Click here to download the GPX data for this map. Note, this data is an XML file - change the name to .GPX to upload to your GPS.

Lachenalias and lots of other things

This wattle looks like something from the east.

Corné saw this cuckoo while we were working.

It looks like the Health Department decided to put the put the radiation lab into the car park rather than into bushland - well done (whoever it was)!

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Lachenalia and other things

First job this week was to cut up a tree fallen over the path, then back to removing lachenalia ...

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Corné' Photos

Shenton College student Corné van der Linden has sent in some great photos he took in the bushland recently:

Callose-palmed fence skink (Cryptoblepharus plagiocephalus)

Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera)

Photos copyright Corné van der Linden