The DRB’s natural history surveys of the bush block at Arbuthnot St, Kelmscott are continuing to prove popular. On June 23, sixteen of us went to the property for our fifth and next-to-last survey for the season of Makuru – Winter – June-July. We were finding so much we had to be called to stop after two hours of constant observing. Imagine how much we will find in our last survey on August 25. We’re going to need everyone on deck to help us observe, identify and photograph everything.

This was the first survey after the rains and it was very noticeable how much had changed since the last survey, when the ground was dry and parched. This time there were damp places under foot.

There was a significant increase in the number of flowers in bloom, and the Semaphore Sedge (Mesomalaena tetragona) was evidence of this, as was the Prickly Bitter Pea, (Daviesia decurrens), Banksia armata and Acacia Teretifolia. Also of interest were the red flowers on the male Allocasuarina humilis and isolated examples of a flowering brown and yellow pea (Cristonia biloba).(above R.Green) Several plants such as the Honey Bush (Hakea lissocarpha) and Prickly Moses (Acacia pulchella) were in bud ready to burst open by the time of our next survey.

One of our botanists, Anne Keating, highlighted the abundant variety of native grasses that were present, despite the number of weeds—including several species of Oxalis. For the first time, there was very little activity associated with the mistletoe: there were no seeds stuck to the branches and no mistletoe birds to be seen, unlike in April.

Of course, we saw more fungi than we’ve found before. Kevn Griffiths educated us on the need to take photographs looking underneath the fungi to aid accurate identification. The Scarlet Bracket Fungus (Pycnoporus coccineus) had increased in number since the last time. Many of the other fungi were not fully identified, but were collected and given to the school for the teachers to see and the children to disperse back onto the property.

Twenty-two species of birds were sighted but only one new one was added to our overall list, the Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis), although people were again delighted to see Baudin’s Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus baudinii) with their distinctively long beaks. Sadly, Rainbow Lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus) were active throughout the area and a feral pigeon was seen for the first time. Overall, we now have seen 32 birds across all five surveys.

If you’d like to see the observations we’ve made so far, please go to our project on the Atlas of Living Australia, as we regularly upload our data for each survey to our Biocollect Project: Arbuthnot St, Kelmscott Western Australia on the Atlas of LivingAustralia.

Getting photographs of all the birds is hard though, but thanks to Alex Graham we have some excellent ones including a Weebill (Smicornis brevirostris) (above A.Graham)). We again extend thanks to Diana Newman, the Deputy Principal at the adjoining Good Shepherd Primary School.

Rachel Green