A School of Prawn Orchids

What better to term to describe what we found today on a rocky hillside near Sassafras, than a "School of Prawn Orchids"?

Prawn Orchids (Crangonorchis pedoglossa). 

You can see the origins of the name here. 

Crangonorchis pedoglossa - The Prawn Orchid.

It is in fact this species is an extreme form
of Greenhood Orchid.
Formerly known as Pterostylis pedoglossa.
The dorsal sepal is extended as a "nose",
(technically called a "filiform point")
and the two tips of the lateral sepals 
are also filiform.
They are usually erect, but some are reflexed.

 Here is the botanical illustration from PlantNET,

which shows pretty clearly the structure of the flower, 

just as you see it in the photo.

By way of preamble to this story I should say that the "we" refers to myself, Alan Stephenson and, for the first time, my Blogging colleague Martin Butterfield and his wife Frances. And a very pleasant day was had by all. The visit came about because I wanted to go to Sassafras to see these Prawn Orchids, which I first saw this time two years ago. And as Sassafras is about equidistant from Robertson and Bungendore, I asked Martin if he wished to join us. EDIT: Martin's write up of the trip is here.

These tiny Greenhoods are actually hard to find (at first). They were growing on a steep hillside, on shallow soil, mostly growing between and under low-growing heath sub-shrubs, or jammed in beside rocks.

Habitat shots courtesy of Alan Stephenson

Fortunately, I am not in any compromising positions

in these images, for I had been 
"inching along" these ledges,
and lying semi-prone across the bare rock faces,

while photographing the tiny Orchids.

They live amongst the small shrubs, 
just above each ledge.

Each ledge is about waist height, 
But it is on far too steep an angle
for safe walking.

But the flat section below each ledge
(where one walks)

is covered with loose ironstone pebbles

and large chips of flaked rock.
There is very little stable foothold.

Habitat A - looking north

 Habitat B - looking south (from just below the same ledge)

Once you get to where the Orchids are likely to be growing, and once recognise what you are looking for, you will realise, suddenly, there are lots of them around and about.

Here are two Prawn Orchids 

seemingly bowing to eachother.

Is this some weird Prawn Dance?

Crangonorchis pedoglossa - The Prawn Orchid

Here is the best group we found today.

There are 10 mature flowers in this image, 

but there are some 30 rosettes in this colony.

 A "school of Prawn Orchids"?

This is a loose group, within a narrow alleyway

between small dense shrubs.

Click to enlarge.

Martin was teasing me about not having seen me "getting down and dirty" (as I often complain about - on this Blog - having to do to photograph inside Orchid flowers. I said that these were just too short, and with the shape of the "hood and nose", it was barely possible to see anything anyway. However, I did find a few plants growing on a rock ledge where I could lie down on the rocks and approach the flowers from below. Then I gently pushed one flower backwards to look inside.

Surprise, surprise.

Not only was there a Midge inside the flower, but after developing the image tonight, I realised that there was a minute "flower spider" inside the hood, which had trapped the midge in its web. "S*ex and Death" is a perennial theme in the relationship between Orchids and insects.

Click to enlarge this next image to see the details.

Midge and tiny "Flower Spider" inside the Orchid flower.
The Midge has been snared in the web, 

so it is not sitting "naturally".

The bright line coming forward 
(from the left of the flower)

is the pointed "nose" of the Orchid,

which is the tip of the dorsal sepal .

You can also see a line of spider web 
in front of the flower.

The books refer to "Gnats" 
pollinating these Orchids,

Looks about right to me.

These are very small plants. 
The leaf rosette is smaller than a 5 cent coin.

We found a few other species of Orchids today, most of which I have shown in some form or other over the laast few weeks. The most notable were the Pharochilum daintreanum, of which we found many, in several different locations. We also saw Eriochilus petricola (on the rock shelves), Eriochilus cucculatus (flowers mostly finished, but some quite large leaves, which grow once the flowers have finished). Alan and I saw lots of Speculantha ventricosa earlier on in the morning, and later on, I found one solitary Speculantha of indeterminate species, on a great rock shelf on Twelve Mile Road (northern section) in the beginnings of the Budawangs. Unfortunately, the road was closed, at about the 15 Km mark, so we could not go as far out into the Budawangs as we had hoped.

Bird Orchids are back!

I have posted about these little charmers previously, but I am going to write them up again, because they are special.

They are highly localised plants, occurring in an area just near Robertson, on the Budderoo Plateau.These Bird Orchids get their name from the manner
in which the flower is held high,
resembling the open beak of a small bird, begging for food.
There are a number of closely related species, in other areas.
This is the only one I have seen.

This Bird Orchid is known as the "Wollongong Bird Orchid", the Green Bird Orchid, or Simpliglottis chlorantha (or Chiloglottis chlorantha).

It is found here on the Budderoo Plateau, and further south to the Budawangs. There may be some records from the Blue Mountains.

Botanical Illustration courtesy of PlantNET

Although David Jones mentions this locality in his book as Knights Hill (approx 6 Kms away), that reference is quite misleading. Knights Hill is a basalt capped mountain, with tall, wet Eucalypt forest, whereas these plants grow on shallow, sandy, peaty soil over a shallow sandstone rock shelf. They grow amongst small "heath" vegetation. In fact, they are quite hard to find, because of their tendency to grow in and amongst these low shrubby plants. One can clearly see Knights Hill from where these plants grow, but that's about all one can say in favour of that "location" note. Budderoo Plateau would have been a much better location descriptor.

You could hardly get more different habitats than Knights Hill (with a 30 metre canopy of Eucalypts and Sassafras), and where these plants are, growing under and amongst heath plants scarcely 30cm high.

Here is a close up of the Labellum.

The botanical description says: "Labellum cordate, 12–13 mm long, 9–12 mm wide, with c. 12 linear to terete, erect or curved calli on the basal two-thirds, the largest c. 3.5 mm long."

I prefer to describe the pale green, almost "luminous" green glands (calli) towards the tip of the labellum as looking like blobs of soft jelly. There are two large ones, and two small upright ones, flanking them. Behind the green glands are a series of upright glands, which look like they are made of red jelly. From the front-on view, these structures vaguely resemble chess pieces in some bizarre Chess Set, perhaps from an Alice in Wonderland story.

In the typical positioning of Chiloglottis Orchids, the column is held high, but directly above the labellum, ready to dob the sticky pollen grains on the back of a wasp which tries to mate with the flower (which smells like the female wasp).

Interestingly, the Labellum although looking quite stiff, is actually very lightly "hinged" and the labellums *** of these flowers were trembling in the warm breeze today.

This specimen has given its pollen away already,
to an unsuspecting wasp. one assumes. The yellow housing for the pollen is now empty,
and the receptive female part of the flower is clearly exposed.

Compare this flower (complete with pollen grains still present)
with the empty one, above.
This flower has an ant crawling across it, (click to enlarge image)
but the ant is not the suitable pollinator for these flowers.

*** Please forgive the use of the word "labellums", but "labella" seemed pretentious, and liable to confuse.

Interesting little creature from a Budawang pool

I wrote yesterday about the trip into the Budawangs from Tianjara Creek in search of migrating Honeyeaters. While there, at what is known as the "cross-roads", just below Kangaroo Hill, I was exploring the exposed rock shelves, while we had a cup of tea.There were many shallow pools of water, in natural depressions in the rock face. One of them (and probably all of them, if I had checked) had small black creatures swimming around in the bottom of the pool. I took a photo of one of these mysterious creatures on the sandy bottom of this little pool.At first I took them to be tiny tadpoles. But on closer examination they did not have tails.
If not Tadpoles, what were they?

Then I was able to pick one up easily. That confirmed it was not a tadpole, for it was not hard to catch, nor was it slippery. It was less than 1o mm long. It had a hard shell - looking exactly like a Mussel. But any Mussels I have seen were fixed to a rock base or jetty pole. This one moved around. What was it?Furthermore, it was obvious from watching them move that they did so by beating small protruding "legs" (for want of a better word). What sort of Shellfish could this be?
I sought assistance from some of my Aussie Nature Blogger colleagues, and "Snail" came up with the goods. Thanks to Chai for suggesting Snail as being the right person to ask.Snail replied very quickly - as follows:

• "Very interesting critter. It's a crustacean with a bivalved shell. It might be an ostracod or seed shrimp, but I'm pretty sure it's a clam shrimp. These are related to shield shrimps and water fleas. They often live in temporary water bodies. Really, really temporary ones like your rocky rain pools. Their embryos are enclosed in tough cysts that are resistant to drying out, so persist for a long time after the water's gone. Once the water returns, they continue development. Because of this, they appear very quickly after rainfall. Cysts are also spread by the wind, so these animals can colonise pools. ponds and puddles in the middle of nowhere (but in a very hit and miss way)."

Snail was exactly right. My creature is NOT a shellfish, but a form of Crustacean, a branchiopod, a member of the group known as "Clam Shrimps".

There is an Australian researcher, Brian Timms, from Newcastle University, who has done work as a Research Associate at the Australian Museum (Sydney), specialising in Clam Shrimps.

Clam Shrimp - Illustration - Richter and Timms
His illustration is of a newly described species - not my specimen,
but it is close enough to confirm that my creature is a Clam Shrimp.
Note the antennae (left) and tail (right) protruding, as in my two photos above.
The strong muscle which controls the opening and closing of the carapace
is shown in the top left of this anatomical sketch.
It is inside the carapace, so is not visible in my photographs.

Note: Scale line shown represents 1 mm

While the books do not mention the term, it seems to me that these creatures have adapted in what is known as "parallel evolution", to closely resemble a Mussel shell, despite being totally unrelated to those creatures.

Image of an as yet undescribed Clam Shrimp.
One valve of the carapace is removed to show the animal's body.
These conchostracans live in temporary water in a desert.
Photo by Brenton Knott
Source: Uni of WA, School of Animal Biology - Image Gallery

So, it turns out my little Clam Shrimps are freshwater creatures, close to prawn or a miniature Crayfish, which has evolved a bivalve shell, as a casing. It lives within this shell, and filters the water, in search of its food. The movement comes from beating of its long protruding antennae (not its legs, as one might assume).

Image of Clam Shrimp, (genus: Eulimnadia) showing body - through shell.
In this image the antennae are protruding on the right.
Source: Uni of WA, School of Animal Biology - Image Gallery

Their life cycle is pretty amazing. I have seen this area in a time of total drought, and the moss beds on the rocks were blackened and dry. There were no pools left for these creatures to live in. Where did they come from?
Wrong question.
They were probably there all the time - surviving the drought as cysts enclosing the embryos - a form of suspended animation. They were there, as "cysts" waiting for the rain to fill their temporary pools. A perfect adaptation to Australia's harsh climate on top of a sandstone plateau.

Even though this area is in a high rainfall region, the specific habitat, on an exposed rock shelf, has very little water-holding capacity. So what they do, is lay minute eggs which have a hard shell (cysts), and these cysts can survive an extended drought. Indeed the cysts can even be transported from one place to another on the wind.

These Clam Shrimps are related to "Brine Shrimps" which are known to occur in places like Uluru. Now that is a truly harsh environment for any aquatic creature. It makes the sudden appearance of my little Clam Shrimps on the Budawang Plateau as not remarkable, compared to Uluru.

They are also related to creatures which the Americans refer to as "Sea Monkeys", which are apparently sold in pet shops at the egg stage, which are used as food for aquarium fish, and as pets - for their novelty value. They have the ability to hatch and grow very quickly - exactly the key to the survival of these little creatures in a rock pool on an exposed sandstone plateau in the Budawangs.

As "Snail" said: "Hope this helps. They're really fascinating animals."
It certainly did help - I would never have though of it being a crustacean hiding inside a carapace, looking like a classic bivalve. Too tricky for me. These things make Orchids look easy to study.
Fascinating creatures indeed.

Technical Notes:
Brian Timms and Stefan Richter published a paper naming a new species of Clam Shrimp, apparently the first Australian record in the genus Eocyzicus, and it is a salt-tolerant species which is also unusual (in a group of fresh-water animals).

Within that article, they listed all known Australian species of Clam Shrimps.

• "With this new species the Australian fauna comprises 26 valid species of
  clam shrimps. We provide a list of all described species, including their known localities and a key to the genera of Australian clam shrimps."
  

Most of their records are of arid zone areas, or in the tropics. Only one species, Limnadia stanleyana is shown as having a known distribution which includes "Coogee near Port Jackson, Moore Park, Maroubra, Sydney (New South Wales). Also North Head, Sydney and Kanangra Walls, via Oberon, NSW".

That is the only species which has a distribution which includes "Sydney Sandstone country" at altitude (Kanangra Walls). That is in the Upper Blue Mountains, which is quite close (similar in habitat type) to the Budawangs. Although my record is at approximately 600 metres, which is not nearly as high as Kanangra Walls, that species would be the only one in a roughly similar habitat and geology to my report of this Clam Shrimp.

I shall attempt to contact Brian Timms, and I will provide him with documentation of this sighting. At least that way, someone who has a detailed appreciation of their biology and distribution of Australian Clam Shrimps will be able to note this report.

UPDATE
I have just spoke with Martin Schwentner, a visiting researcher at the Australian Museum. He was very interested to hear of my little Clam Shrimp. I have sent him my photos. Lets see what he can make of them. I might have to retrace my steps, to find these little creatures again.

FURTHER UPDATE:

Martin got back to me:

• I just had a look at those pictures and your blog. That looks very
  interesting.
  I have to say that identifying these crustaceans is very difficult.
  That is one of the reasons I am doing my PhD on this. I try to use
  molecular and morphological approaches to to be able to identify
  species (old and new ones). From the picture I would guess that it
  might be a Limnadia species, so Limadia stanleyana could be right (as
  you have guessed). Brian knows these animals better, but I doubt that
  he will be able to name the species just by the photo.
  
  It would be great if you could send me the coordinates.

EVEN FURTHER UPDATE

Late on Wednesday afternoon (just on dark) I stopped at the Budderoo Plateau Track, and realised there were pools beside the track, with sandy bottoms (over sandstone rock shelves) - just like where I had found my first Clam Shrimps, out at the Budawangs. I looked and sure enough there were Clam shrimps here too. Great. This place is a mere 10 minutes down the road from Robertson - much easier to find them there than a full day trip out to the Budawangs. I will also report this locality to the Clam Shrimp specialists.

Migrating Honeyeaters feeding in the Budawangs.

Last weekend I went in search of the migrating Honeyeaters from the tall wet Eucalypt forests of Canberra's ranges, and the High Country to the south.

As a kid (in the 1960s) I assisted my father, Steve Wilson, and many other volunteers to band migrating Honeyeaters at Pine Island. That is a point on the Murrumbidgee River, south from Canberra where a line of trees follows the River. There are many Grevillea plants which flower at this time of year, along the sandy river banks. So, the Honeyeaters could follow the line of trees, for cover and for resting points, and top up with their favourite high-energy food source along the route. For several years (in autumn and winter), we also banded many Honeyeaters at Tianjara Falls, on the road from Braidwood to Nowra. That stopped after the a huge fire in the mid 1960s burnt out the entire area from behind Marulan, right through the lower reaches of the Shoalhaven to Tomerong, near Jervis Bay.

The odd thing about the migratory route of these birds (Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and White-naped Honeyeaters, and some Silvereyes and stray birds of other species) is that nobody really knew where they were going.

We had assumed (from northern hemisphere models inverted) that southern birds migrate north in winter, but that is a simplistic generalisation. Around Canberra, Max Murn demonstrated that the Honeyeaters went south-east, at least as far along the Murrumbidgee as Angle Crossing. From there they could follow through timbered country to cross to the east behind Captains Flat, and then to Braidwood. But beyond that, where were they going?

Having moved to Robertson, about 6 years ago, I became aware that I was living on a migration route for the same species of birds. And I knew from talking to the late Mrs Crowe, that many of the Honeyeaters migrated past her area at Berrima. Of course, where she was is just on the edge of Sydney Sandstone country, the home of many sweet-nectar producing plants such as the various Banksias and the Lambertia formosa ("Mountain Devil"). So, I knew that there is a wide band of migration tracks for these birds through the Southern Highlands.

Last year I went into the Budawangs for the first time, and ended up at Tianjara Falls. Immediately it was apparent that the Banksias were fully restored, and that the Honeyeaters were there.

So, after Mrs Crowe's death last week, Elizabeth Compston, of the Canberra Ornithologists Group, and I went out to the edge of the Upper Kangaroo Valley, at Mannings Lookout. It is a place where I knew that the Banksia ericifolia would be in flower. Sure enough it was, and there were a few Honeyeaters present, despite the late afternoon timing of our visit.

We decided to plan a trip to Tianjara Falls and the Budawangs, so I could attempt to show Elizabeth that there is a huge area of heath and Banksia country, which is a magnet for the migratory Honeyeaters.

This is very definitely 4WD territory only, as the road had many deep ruts and also long pools of water which needed good clearance and 4WD traction to get through
(Deep Sand + Water = Mud).

I can now confess that it was all a bit hair-raising, really. Two 4WD vehicles with long tow-ropes or winches would have been better preparation for this trip, but we made it successfully. I was quite pleased to know that there were a number of motor cyclists out there, who at least could have helped raise an alarm if we had needed it. But we didn't. My little Daihatsu Feroza short-wheel base 4WD proved it self as trustworthy, and adequate for the task.

Heathland on the Budawang Plateau

And so, on Sunday, Elizabeth and Bill Compston and I met at Tianjara Falls.We went south into the Budawangs, along the Twelve Mile Road. This area is the north-eastern section of the Budawangs. Click to enlarge the map.Technically, the Tianjara Creek is part of the Shoalhaven Valley system, but there is no marked divide between the Clyde Valley to the south and the Shoalhaven system to the north.

Looking South from Mt Tianjara to Pigeonhouse Mtn.
Low heath shrubbery, with Banksias and Hakeas, and some Mallee Eucalypts.
A vast Honeyeater habitat - seldom disturbed by people.

There must be a boundary, obviously, in terms of which way the creeks flow. But in terms of the habitat, it is pretty much of a continuum - low, open heath country interspersed with Stringbark forest on the sides of small hills, where the soil is deep enough to support tree cover.

In patches, there are exposed rock shelves which support nothing more than low heath plants, a mere 30 cm high. This is especially obvious at a point just south of Kangaroo Hill, where two roads meet, from where one can make a round trip, returning to Tianjara Falls via the Tianjara Fire Trail (on the left). Watch out for deeply rutted gutters in the road. The point of this long-winded explanation is that as soon as we left the Nowra-Braidwood Road, not far from Tianjara Falls, we found ourselves in Banksia shrubbery, and there were lots of Honeyeaters seen, flitting across the road, and on occasions, flying down and bathing in puddles in the road. It immediately became obvious that it would be impossible to attempt a census of these birds, as we drove along some 30 Kms of roads and tracks. In some places there were no Honeyeaters, or few. But frequently we would see and hear birds, lots of them, around us.

Where there were isolated trees in the heathland shrubbery, it was common to see small migratory flocks moving along, "leapfrogging" from tree to tree. Mostly these birds were Yellow-faced Honeyeaters. But we did see many Red Wattlebirds as well - sometimes calling from deep cover, obviously in feeding mode. Other times, we saw them flying in their silent groups, typical of migrating Wattlebirds.

In some wet gullies, especially, we saw and heard New Holland Honeyeaters. And in one area of exposed heathland, we heard (and Elizabeth and Bill saw) Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters. Their soft, melodic liquid sounding call was quite distinctive. I had not seen that species for over 30 years, so I was tickled pink to find them (even if I didn't see them clearly).

We also saw several large groups of Silvereyes, in patches of Eucalypt foreast, with Banksia understorey. A few Brush Wattlebirds were seen, but not nearly as many as the Red Wattlebirds. We also saw a solitary Nankeen Kestrel, out over the heathland. Several parties of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. Grey Shrike Thrushes were seen several times. Spinebills were abundant.

In a period of over 3 hours I estimate we saw between five and seven hundred Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, but with such a vast habitat available to these birds, I confidently estimate that there must have been several thousand Honeyeaters in this corner of the Budawangs.

From the Tianjara area, the birds could move east towards the Jervis Bay area, where there is a huge amount of suitable autumn habitat available to them. Alternatively, they can move north, around the rim of the huge Shoalhaven Valley and Kangaroo Valley, all the way to Carrington Falls, while staying within easy reach of suitable habitat. If they do move north to Robertson (and I see them regularly here, passing through), they only have to cross an 8 Km line of unsuitable habitat of Cool Temperate Rainforest, before they find the huge area of suitable habitat in the Woronora Plateau.

Sticky nights bring out the moths.

Two evenings ago we had a large thunderstorm to the south of Robertson. This is a slow exposure shot, showing the effect of sheet lightning. The large power stanchion is clearly visible against the dark sky. That is visible in most daytime shots from my back deck.

All these images are easier to see in full detail, if you click on the images, to enlarge them.The storm seems to have been centred around the Budawangs, due south of Robertson, about 100 Kms away. I say that, because there has been a large fire there burning over the last 36 hours. The fire is north of the Kings Highway, which runs from Braidwood, over Clyde Mountain, to Batemans Bay. I have written about the Budawangs before, with some shots of the wonderful mountains there. It is very difficult and remote country for firefighting.Robertson has had hot days and very sticky nights. The storm brought out the moths, and one determined Huntsman Spider, which was sucking dry this medium-large moth. Eventually the spider dropped the dead moth, after the spider had feasted enough. At this stage the spider was gripping the moth's wings tightly to prevent it flapping too much. Now you know why Spiders have eight legs, to allow 3 legs to hold their victims, and 5 legs to hang onto a vertical wall, and not fall off. Not a bad effort, really, for this spider (which incidentally is back out there near my front porch light, as I write, two days later). Why not? Its a good hunting ground, obviously.

Here is another moth (a different species) which I have not yet had the chance to "look up".

DJW Update: My Blogging colleague, Duncan, has kindly told me that "The one with the eyes is Oenochroma quardrigramma" (in the Geometridae). It took me a few moments to realise he was referring to the "eye markings" on the wings of this moth, below. Thanks Duncan.

Here is the same moth viewed from the front and side.
It has a good chubby body, which, surprisingly does not seem to be very hairy.
The "head and shoulders" (forgive my poor moth anatomy - its too late) is very hairy.
The bronze coloured hairs are clearly visible in the image above, too.

This next moth (about 2.5 cms long) is a beautiful silvery creature, with a small yellow stripe on its head, and yellow marks on its front legs. Click on these images, to see them closely.
I have seen other silvery moths before, which were "Rice stem borers" (or similar) on rushes in a swamp, but there are no swamps close by my place.

DJW Edit: It seems this may be Eochrois callianassa, which is in a group of ""Concealer moths" - a name given because of the habit of the caterpillars to hide in either cases, or canopies of leaves sewn together with silk. Don Herbison-Evans has a photo on his site which looks similarly silvery to my moth. He notes that "The adult moth has white forewings shading to yellow at the edges". That matches my specimen. It feeds on members of the Proteaceae, of which there is only one species native to the Robertson Rainforest - a tall tree - Stenocarpus salignus. But of course, many members of this family are grown as garden plants.

Here is the same moth from the front.

You can see the long antennae and the upwardly curved palps.
What puzzles me his the apparent absence of eyes.
Presumably they are underneath the antennae, held low down.

And from the side it looks like this.
You can just make out the eyes in this shot -
tucked behind (and above) the base of the curved palps.
I do not know what the little dark spot is on the side of the head.
This is the same species of moth as the Huntsman Spider had caught.
A different individual, though.
Possibly Anthela acuta. See Duncan's gallery image.
Click to his two previous images as well - use the left arrows.
And here you can see its eyes (large ones) and its front legs.
The antennae are long, but held parallel to the front edge of the wings.

I doubt that these moths are rare, I simply have not had a chance to go searching through my Nature Blogger colleagues image galleries of moths to sort out what species these are.

On a clear day, you can see forever (almost).

What a difference a day makes!

Today I awoke to a clear sky, not the drab grey day from yesterday.

I decided to have look for the cliffs on the far side of the Shoalhaven Valley. They are visible all right. The Shoalhaven Valley is looking very blue, and a little hazy, but clear enough to make these photos worth publishing. I have a clear fix now, on the location of these cliffs in relation to the Surge Tank (the huge cylinder parked on the hill above the Bendeela Pondage) 480 metres above the Kangaroo Valley, on the edge of the local escarpment. It is an integral part of the Shoalhaven (water) Transfers system, and the small hydro-electric power plant associated with that scheme. It is located 4 Km from Fitzroy Falls.
The Surge Tank is clearly marked on the detailed contour maps of the Shoalhaven Valley, and I hope to be able to lay out a full set of these maps, and by drawing a straight line from my house, past the Surge Tank, to the far side of the Shoalhaven Valley I will get a "fix" on where I am looking at. I need lots of maps, as the distance is possibly as far away as 60 Km. Perceptions of distances across such deep valleys are deceptive.

I am missing several maps in the set. Once I have a full set of these maps, I can paste them together, and lay them out on a very large table, and check out exactly what I am looking out.

*****

In this next image, you can just see the toe of a line of hills - in the middle distance. This is the big hill behind the Kangaroo Valley village. It is collectively known as "Red Rock". On the very far southern horizon, past Red Rock, I can see several "bumps" on the horizon (centre and very far right on the horizon) which might turn out to be the Budawangs Ranges. If that is the case, then my annotated photograph of this horizon (published two weeks ago) might need to be revised. I shall let you know. That's OK. I can live with my errors needing to being corrected. The pursuit of knowledge is always a forward-moving process.

Late afternoon light highlights the Shoalhaven horizon

Late afternoon light on the far horizon created an unusual perspective of my ever-changing view.

I just happened to glance at the clouds late in the afternoon, at 4:55pm, which ought have been just a few minutes after official sunset. What I had first noticed was that while the entire sky appeared covered by dull grey clouds, the very far horizon had a pink line - a break of clouds - which effectively highlighted the far side of the Shoalhaven valley (near Sassafras, Tianjara Falls, and the Budawangs). I wrote about that view of the horizon recently.
The eye sees things differently from the camera, and we can "focus" the mind as well as the eye, to block out everything except that which we wish to see. The equivalent is to zoom the long lens in, and close off the foreground. This is what I was really looking at.

But, what I mean about the role of the mind in perception is this: I ask you to look only at the far horizon. Forget the trees, forget the deep valley - just look at the pink line of sky, and the hills immediately below. That was what I saw this afternoon. Of course, this works best if you click on the image below (to blow it up).
To capture the perspective about which I am writing (as a photographic image), I would need a lens a metre long, or more. Sorry folks, I cannot afford that. But your eyes can approximate what I was looking at, by just focussing on just the very horizon itself - for a second or two. See what your mind can do? The small hills start to stand out from the seemingly flat horizon. Gaps appear between individual hills.

Our eyes are really amazing organs - at least when used in conjunction with an active mind. It is "Perception" I am talking about, NOT just "Vision". This is a similar discussion to the comments I made recently when talking about the clouds seen in the main street of Robertson.

I am tempted to quote the old proverb: "There are none so blind as those who will not see"...

• "There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know. The proverb has been traced back in English to 1546 (John Heywood), ...... . In 1738, it was used by Jonathan Swift in his 'Polite Conversation,' and is first attested in the United States in the 1713 'Works of Thomas Chalkley'..."
  

• Reference: http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/5/messages/1614.html
  

From one end of the Shoalhaven Valley - to the other

Today I went with my friend George on a long-promised voyage back through history, to Sassafras and Tianjara Falls, via the Budawangs area. We were to travel from one end of the Shoalhaven Valley (my backyard - in Robertson) to the other, at Sassafras.

For me, my first contact with the Sassafras district was in early 1960s when my father was an amateur bird-bander with CSIRO Wildlife Division. For several years, we visited the Banksia-rich flora of the Shoalhaven Valley, at Tianjara Falls, in order to band hundreds of Honeyeaters, in the autumn and winter seasons, when the Banksia ericifolia bushes are in flower.

Banksia ericifolia shrub in flower today

We stopped visiting this spot following huge fires which burnt through this area in mid-1960s. The Banksias were killed outright by the fire (as is normal) and then the plants needed to regenerate from seed. Today, one could not see any sign of that particular fire having nearly wiped out the Banksia shrubbery of the area (in the 1960s). Such is the cycle of life.

Years ago, George had work-contacts with this area, including the coastal villages south from Nowra, and as far west as Sassafras. It seems there were more cottages in Sassafras, in those days, but no Nut Tree plantations. He travelled these roads frequently, it seems, but had not been back for many years.

Today we took the "road less-travelled", via Porter's Creek, and the Little Forest Plateau.
Here we were at a wonderful natural lookout-point in a very thin saddle, between the Clyde Valley behind us, and the coastal escarpment. This view looks out over Lake Conjola, with a local sandstone bluff in the foreground. A wonderful contrast between rainforest vegetation immediately below the rocky cliffs where we were, and the coastal plain far below, and dry sandstone rock-shelf vegetation (heathland) immediately across the road, behind us.
Further along we came to this wonderful view of Mt Bushwalker, and Pigeon House Mountain far in the distance. In the foreground was a wonderful area of sandstone plateau with mixed heathland and sedge. Pigeon House is 719 metres high, but because of its isolation, and distinctive shape, appears more prominent than the other hills.
Below is Flat Topped Mountain, far in the distance, in the inaccessible Budawang Ranges. This mountain is deceptively high, at 837 metre above sea level.
Here is a late afternoon photo of Tianjara Falls. At the end of a very dry month of May (and a generally dry autumn), there is very little water going over the falls. However, my memories of these falls include once getting isolated for a weekend by the creek having risen and flooded the (former) low-level crossing. On that particular day, there was a veritable torrent going over this cliff-ledge.I was interested to see the advanced plantations of Nut Trees which are now established at Sassafras. When I lived in Canberra, I lived just around the corner from the (late - and great) Wilf Crane who was one of the persons who helped develop the nut-growing industry at Sassafras. Today, in Robertson, I live just up the road from Wilf's former mentor (from his days in CSIRO and the ANU Forestry School) - Hugh Waring. Small world. Wilf died in an ultra-light aircraft accident, in 1992, when returning to Canberra from visiting the nut plantations at Sassafras. Both Hugh and Wilf made a study of tree growing, with particular emphasis on nutritional requirements of trees. Therefore it is no accident that each had an interest in Sassafras and Robertson - both areas famous for their rich basalt soils.
Sassafras and Robertson are at opposite ends of the Shoalhaven Valley system - I can see the hills of Sassafras and the Budawang Ranges from my back verandah - on a clear day. This is approximately 60 kilometres away, in a direct line. Today the round trip, via Kangaroo Valley, Cambewarra Mountain, Nowra and Sassafras, and back was 250 Km of driving - a full day's trip.

A comment on the roads.
The roads around the Sassafras district, and down to Nowra have been improved greatly since the 1960s. Indeed there is a very large road construction project occurring now, west of Sassafras, at Bulee Gap, above the Endrick River. That patch of road was always a very narrow, steep climb up the back edge of the escarpment up towards the high point at Sassafras. That road develpment has been promised for more than 45 years, that I know of - and probably far longer, as, of course, it was intended to link the two parts of the ACT - Canberra and the port of Jervis Bay - an arrangement entered into in 1912 when the Capital was declared.

It was a great day out - seeing wonderful country, landscapes and birds and wildlife - from one end of the Shoalhaven Valley to the other.

Two new Orchids (for me) - in the Budawangs

I was fortunate to be taken to the Budawang Ranges today, by Alan Stephenson, of ANOS Illawarra. The Budawangs is a really interesting part of the Morton National Park, which forms the southern boundary of the Shoalhaven Valley (technically it is outside the Shoalhaven catchment, but as the Sandstone country extends just a bit further south, into the Budawangs, it is regarded as part of the Sydney Region (just). Botanically it is an interesting area, as it includes many endemic plants, and some which have their northern-most or southern-most distributions here. It is classic "boundary country" in that regard. Pigeonhouse Mountain, is the most famous landmark on the "South Coast" (named by Captain Cook from out at sea, as he sailed up the coast). It is geologically different from the Sandstone plateaux, and so has different vegetation from this region, although it is relatively close.The vegetation in the foreground is sandstone heath country - very dwarf, often less than knee high. In wetter patches, it will support low shrubbery, but less than head high.

We were looking for Orchids and found many signs of them although not many in flower. But the few which we did find in flower, were exciting ones, for me, as I had not seen them before.
The first new species (for me) was Mecopodum striatum (formerly Prasophyllum striatum). This was a very pale Leek Orchid, which was quite delightful in its "purity". A lovely creamy white labellum, and purple stripes on the dorsal sepal and lateral petals. These flowers were growing in low heath shrubbery, on peaty soil over sandstone. The second new species, for me, was the tiny "Prawn Greenhood" Crangonorchis pedoglossa (formerly Pterostylis pedoglossa). I was totally surprised by how tiny these plants were. I have seen photos of these plants, but without any scale. So when we found the first plants today, I was surprised to see that the rosettes of leaves we saw were less than a 10 cent coin in diameter. And the first flowers we saw were dried up ones, on about 60mm high stems. That means they are considerably smaller (shorter) than the Tiny Greenhoods (Speculantha sp) which we saw in considerable numbers today (as flowers just finished, or just setting seed). Subsequently we found some fresh flowers, but even these were barely 2cm long, standing no more than 80 mm high. The fine pointed tip is so fine that it was barely visible with the naked eye (until you lay down on the ground to get a really good look at them, or to take these photographs). Even the thin "ears" (points) were very fine. These plants were growing in little patches of low vegetation, on steeply sloping sandstone rock shelves. Their aspect was south-easterly, so that would give them a little protection from the full heat of the sun, but not much. Needless to say, I was thrilled to see these exquisite little Greenhoods.The common name of "Prawn Greenhood" is quite apt, once you see these flowers, as the point is reminiscent of the long pointed head of a Prawn, and the points remind one of the feelers of the Prawn.

I shall report more fully on this expedition on another occasion.