Northern Suburbs Branch, 22 October 2025
Our second walk for the year at Lake Gnangara was a short one, only 1.8km, but it took us through a variety of habitats. We started at the northern end of the lake, which had been subjected to a prescribed burn by the City of Wanneroo since our visit in June.
Image by Don Poynton
Many of the tall candlestick banksias were burnt entirely, suggesting there had been a high fuel load in the understorey. However, among the survivors, we found Prickly Conostylis, Native Violet, Catspaw, Pixie Mop, Pineapple Bush, Woolly Bush, Stylidium sp., Waitzia suaveolens, Alexgeorgea nitens, and a single Speckled Hemiandra.
When we reached the path around the lake, we found it was flooded. Our detour took us along a sandy path where Marri, Candlestick Banksia, Grey Stinkwood and a weedy acacia (Sydney Wattle) dominated the upper storey, with Regelia ciliata and Astartea scoparia in the middle storey. Autumn Lily, Dampiera sp., Hairy Yellow Pea, Purple Flag and Purple Tassel occurred in the lower story along with Mignonette Orchids and Bare Twig Rush. During the reconnaissance walk, this area hosted large patches of Donkey Orchids and Pink Fairy Orchids. An unusual plant that only one person could identify was Cartonema philydroides. We saw only two fungi species during the walk. The ubiquitous red bracket, and what we thought was a bolete, as it turned blue when broken.
We were able to regain our planned route after a short detour. This took us to a grove of bracken and flooded gum with paperbarks nearer the water’s edge. Burrows and tunnels suggested quenda were making the most of the protection offered by the thick bracken.
The next part of our walk took us through thick, waist-high groves of White Myrtle, previously Hypocalymma angustifolium, now H. balbakia, which would have been spectacular a month earlier. Another species very few of us had seen before was the Long-stemmed Yellow Pea, Aotus gracillima. We also saw a large patch of Blueberry Lily (Dianella revoluta), which had much thinner leaves than the D. revoluta var. divaricata we had seen earlier.
We were again forced to leave the path due to flooding, but this led us through scattered bushes of White Myrtle, Painted Lady (previously Burtonia scabra, now Gompholobium scabrum), Swamp Tea-tree and Spearwood, with the latter just beginning to flower. We also found two hemiparasitic plants growing in the pure white Bassendean sand. These were the WA Christmas Tree and Broom Ballart. Neither was in flower. This was where we also found Pygmy Drosera and procumbent Siloxerus. These are found on the edge of many of the lakes in this part of the metropolitan area.
Although we could not get closer than about 100m, we had good views of the water and were disappointed to find not a single bird on this side of the lake. On our June walk, this is where they all were!
Overall, the bird count was very low, with 28 species, including Gerygone, Pardalote, Raven, Western Wattlebird, a single raptor in flight (possibly a Goshawk), and a mystery bird.
Listen! What is making that strangled guttural sound? Is it a Kookaburra trying to laugh with something stuck in its throat? Look, there it is, see that flash of orangey-red, through there. Look, it’s flapping its wings again. Golly, I never, it’s a rooster trying to perch amongst the branches of thick Tea-tree!
No reptiles were recorded. We spotted some tadpoles, several different spider species, and a couple of moth species. We heard crickets, but frogs were noticeably absent. A short but very varied and rewarding walk.
Don Poynton