As in previous years, our walk along the coastal path was a combined event with the Retired and Leisured Group.
Despite being a rather secluded car park, ten members found our starting point and a few took the opportunity to grab a drink from the coffee van before we departed—having been advised that there were several toilets along the way!
Our first stop was to examine some Long-leafed Spinifex (Spinifex longifolia) plants, noting the difference between the female with its round flower heads and the male with its smaller and flatter flowers.
After we examined the ripe seed pods of the Red-eyed Wattle (Acacia cyclops) Don used several people to demonstrate how to make “soap” using green seed pods. Surprisingly, this was a first for some.
Don had listed the possible birds we would find along the way and it was not long before Ian Abbott spotted—or more likely heard, as it gave off its characteristic chatter—a White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis).
The flowers of the mauve Snake Bush (Hemiandra pungens) and white Chenille Honeymyrtle (Melaleuca huegelii) stood out on the steep slopes of the dunes but flowers of the numerous other species were past their prime. Of these, the cream coloured flowers of Coastal Honeymyrtle (Melaleuca systena) were prominent. Some members were unaware of its name change, and even in a 2017 botanical report for the City of Joondalup, it was still referred to as M. acerosa.
As we approached the change rooms at Whitfords Beach we lowered our voices, hoping to see the family of Variegated Fairywrens (Malarus lamberti) who live in the area and had been spotted only a few days before. But our luck was out.
Similarly, the endemic White-breasted Robin (Eopsaltria georgiana), which has moved back into the coastal strip around Mullaloo in recent years and was seen last year, was disappointingly not seen on this year’s walk.
At Pinnaroo Point we stopped in the shade of the introduced monoecious Coastal Sheoak (Casuarina equisetifolia) where Don explained the origin of the species name: casuari being the Malay word for cassowary and equus being Latin for horse, with both terms referring to the drooping form of the ‘branchlets’.
After our break we took to the beach hoping to find some interesting specimens. Again our luck was out—not even a Ram’s Horn shell to display our newly gained knowledge (see last issue of the Naturalist Newsletter for the Museum Golly walk report), just a few broken cuttlebones.
After rejoining the coastal path we continued on to the Whitfords Nodes, an area which in the 1970s aroused as much emotion as the recent Roe 8 protests. Fortunately the people’s voices won out and the nodes were saved from being turned into an exclusive seaside housing estate. It is now part of Bush Forever Site 325 but this has not been mentioned in the City of Joondalup’s proposal to build a “Jacob’s ladder” type stairway up the steep face of a remnant dune.
Walkers were treated to some iced watermelon (GOLLY, that was good!) before being shuttled back to the starting point.
Don Poynton