Northern Suburbs Branch, 24 July 2024

Golly, I didn’t think we would take so long! What was planned as a one and a half to two-hour walk turned into 3 hours. Not because the 14 attendees were slow, but because there was so much to see – although it did take us two and a half hours to find our first orchids- a few greenhoods. A short time later we found the only colourful orchid, a single Blue Beard. However, by chance as we were looking for the orchid, we met a small group of photographers crouched among some low sedges. Upon enquiring, we learnt they were …

… an informal group who like to photograph macroinvertebrates and their target this morning was a very small Peacock Spider, Maratus clupeatus.

Image by Don Poynton

Our rather chilly morning (5 degrees) began with a walk along the base of the easternmost dune (in the City of Joondalup) of the Quindalup Dune System. Most of us then climbed the 80 or so steps up the face of the dune where we compared the Quandongs that were present with the ones we had seen at the base of the dune. The latter had much darker and elongated leaves.

Since the trees at the base appeared to have been planted compared with the “wild” trees on top of the dune, it was thought the planted trees were probably grown from seed that was not local provenance.

After taking a second set of stairs, down the dune, we entered the 300ha, fenced Craigie Open Space aka Craigie Bushland. The bushland is located on Cottesloe soil and contains a mix of Banksia Woodland and Tuart woodland with also some Jarrah and Marri. There are also several acacias and two Allocasuarinas. At least five species of banksias are present: Slender Banksia (Banksia attenuata), Bull Banksia (B. grandis), Firewood Banksia (B. menziesii), Acorn Banksia (B. prionotes) and Parrot Bush (B. sessilis).

Due to the recent rain, we found numerous fungus types and species.

Image by Kim Lapere

In many places it was obvious by the pervasive diggings, that the Quendas which had been translocated into the reserve after the fence was installed, were very active and no doubt will assist with the spreading of spores. As elsewhere, most of the early flowering native plants and shrubs are flowering weeks later than normal. As a result, very few flowers were noted, Honey Bush (Hakea lissocarpha) being the most obvious. Dune Moses and Prickly Moses, Native Wisteria, Common Hovea and two species of Daviesia, were just beginning to flower.

It was too cold for reptiles as well as the Quendas and the only insects we saw were a single caterpillar on a Jacksonia, a stink bug and a juvenile Huntsman Spider under some bark of a dead banksia.

The birds did not appear to be bothered by the cold weather as we recorded 28 species.

Don Poynton