Orchids of Robertson, Goulburn and Mt Rae

On Saturday morning Kirsten, (the Editor of our local ANOS Bulletin) and I were invited by Mark Selmes to go to Mt Rae, between Taralga and Crookwell. Before we left Robertson, I took the opportunity to show Kirsten a wonderful group of Orange-blossom Orchids (Sarcochilus falcatus).

A nice single clump.
You can see the thick, fleshy roots and dark green leaves.
These plants have particularly large flowers for this species.

These are growing amongst the dense mass of "Rock Felt Fern" (Pyrrosia rupestris) on mature or senescent Blackwood Wattle trees (Acacia melanoxylon).

There are more than a dozen plants on a single branch here.

The plants which grow along my own road in Robertson have all-but-finished flowering. However, these plants in today's post are growing on a slightly higher ridge, and are also growing in dense shade underneath the dense canopy of Wattle foliage. So, although they are just a few kilometres away from Robertson, these plants are a full two weeks later than the local plants.

On the way into Goulburn I decided to stop off on Governor's Hill, above Goulburn. I have seen some interesting Orchids there in previous years. But that was a little earlier in the season. But we decided to have a look. We found a few Diuris sulphurea, but these are common in the Southern Highlands.

Suddenly, Kirsten bobbed down and started going on about something which I could not yet see. I moved over to inspect what she had discovered and realised that we both knew straight away that they were one of the "rufa" type Greenhoods. Tiny, brownish red plants, growing out of a dry rocky depression (a drainage line) on a dry rocky hillside. Good work, Kirsten. Fortunately I had my copy of David Jones's book to check out exactly which species we were looking at.

I claimed some credit for this "find" because I had deliberately left my camera in the car, because I hate carting the camera bag around, and then not finding anything to photograph. I was being superstitious, and not wanting to "jinx" myself out of finding something interesting. So, after Kirsten's "find", I cheerfully went back down the hill to get the camera, even though it was on quite a steep slope.

Oligochaetochilus rufus formerly Pterostylis rufa
These plants were mostly only about four inches high
(less than 10 cm tall).
Several "tall" plants were as high as six inches tall (midgets).

A single flower (one of a set on the stem)
Note the Labellum standing forward.
It has a wide, flat "hinge"
on which it can snap shut when triggered
The front view of the Labellum showing the stiff hairs.

Here is the Botanical illustration from PlantNET
It shows those fine short hairs both at the top of the Labellum
and along either side of the Labellum.
Here is another view of two flowers.
Looking at the lower flower, you can clearly see
how far the labellum protrudes before it
changes angle, hanging nearly horizontal.
For once I remembered to change the lens
and get a habitat shot (for Mick).
The main plants are Calytrix tetragona.
I have seldom seen such a dense flowering of "wildflowers".
Goulburn has had a great season this year.
Normally you would not take a second look at this hillside.
We left Goulburn behind and drove north to Taralga
and then west to Mt Rae.
Shortly after we arrived, Mark's neighbour rang
and invited us to check out her Orchids.
This is one of the "Caladenias" now known as
Stegostyla cucullata.
A lovely purple-tipped labellum, hooded "Caladenia" flower.
Here you can see the front, side and rear of three
different flowers on a single stem.
Ignore the other flowers in the background.

This was one of the best displays of these Stegostyla flowers
which I have ever seen.
A truly great display - and this is just some of these plants.

And then we went over to Mark's place
to worship at the foot of the forest.
Well, more or less.

Diuris aequalis in situ, amongst Snow Grass, below a Eucalypt.

This is what it was all about.
We were there to see these wonderful, but endangered
Diuris aequalis the "Buttercup Doubletail (Orchid)".The "Buttercup" name ought be used only in the adjectival sense.
It is not a Buttercup, which is implied if that word is used last.
I refuse to use the silly "Doubletail Buttercup" name
which they use in the NSW Threatened Species List.

Diuris aequalis is listed as "Vulnerable" on the EPBC Act,
on the basis that less than 200 specimens are known,
from a range of locations between Braidwood and
Kanangra-Boyd National Park, in the Blue Mountains.

It is listed as "Endangered" on the NSW Threatened Species list.

The population between Taralga and Crookwell is well documented, largely thanks to the work done by Mark, and my ANOS colleague Alan Stephenson.

Documentation of this rare plant is important.

By the time I got home that night, I was quite exhausted.
It had been a big day.

Commercial killing of Kangaroos

Every now and then something comes across my desk which is so remarkable that I feel the desire to publicise it - with the approval of the original author. In this case, the document came from my friend Mark of Mt Rae, near Taralga, NSW (north-east of Goulburn).

PLEASE LOOK AT THE ATTACHED photos and then think of the commercial killing of millions of kangaroos this year across Australia. Mum is shot, and hopefully dies quickly. The joey, which may be growing in her pouch and is attached to a teat (not visible in these photos) may be bashed to death or decapitated. (This is an act I have had to perform many times, when checking roadkill female macropod pouches and finding tiny, non viable joeys. Such an act is done as an act of kindness to end suffering, not as a brutal by-product of a commercial industry seeking mums skin for leather, her flesh for pet food, and apparently now as an environmentally friendly boutique food for people who would turn up their nose at the thought of eating wild rabbit).

But what of her 'young at foot' which is with mum in these photos?
DJW Edit: There was some confusion in my mind, as to whether these were
Grey Kangaroos or Wallaroos.
It has been confirmed now that they Are Grey Kangaroos, not Wallaroos.
But the same facts of biology apply to them as to the Grey Kangaroo.
Thankfully, both of these species are protected in the wildlife refuge
in the Mt Rae Forest.

The industry makes no mention of these. They are now too large for the pouch and no longer classified as joeys. Yet this little one still feeds from Mum?

I love the look of "resignation" on the face of Mum.

Unlike other mammals, Macropods do not just pass on essential antibodies in the first few feeds, but throughout the entire feeding and weaning process. A fully functioning immune system is essential to these highly strung animals, which can die easily of stress induced myopathy***. The young roo in this photo is bonded to his mum. He is dependent on her, not just for milk until weaned, but to lead him away from predators, teach him the 'wallaby trails' and introduce him to his environment.

I love the way Mum is resting on the Joey's back.

How many millions of these young at foot have died in the past decade we will never know. They are not large enough to be killed commercially (for skin or meat) and hop away into the night. Will they die quickly of stress myopathy***, or be killed by foxes or suffer a slow death by malnutrition?

The belief of shooters that these immature Kangaroos will survive to be next years harvest are not based on fact.

Why is it that a value is only put on animal species when they are in danger of disappearing? Why does our appreciation rise, only as a species numbers disappear?

2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity.
Biodiversity means ALL living things.

We are human but certainly not humane. Otherwise we would use our science to find solutions that do not involve such barbaric practices. It would seem the only solutions we have where animals are concerned is the final solution. I suspect that we will not stop until all that is left to destroy is ourselves.

MARK OF MOUNT RAE

*** Myopathy - this condition causes the build up of lactic acids that can cause muscle degeneration, paralysis and death.

Red and grey kangaroos practice embryonic diapause and are known to stop reproduction during extended drought conditions.
It is also believed by some that they can determine the sex of the offspring.

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NO ARMY CAN DEFEAT AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME.
(Victor Hugo)

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Red-necked Wallabies of Mt Rae (near Taralga)

My friend Mark Selmes at Mt Rae regularly sends me wildlife photos taken at his property. This week he has excelled himself with photos of his young male Red-necked Wallabies (Macropus rufogriseus) testing themselves against eachother - (as young male mammals are prone to do).

Then there is a wonderful portrait of the "Old Buck" Red-necked Wallaby, watching and observing the young pretenders to his throne. At this stage, he has no problems, for they are fighting eachother - not him!

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Mark wrote:
The ultimate winner is just watching the futile attempts of these three. He stands next to the female only yards from me, and defies all attempts from the younger three to get close.
His is the face of experience, a seasoned fighter.
The female is not happy - she often hides in my (now overgrown ) garden with her "little one" at foot, to seek protection and some interesting plants
to eat.

But this morning the males are emboldened and seem to have no fear of me anymore. She runs for the bush, her little one disappearing into the garden shrubs, sitting silent as he has been trained to do.

In the bush the fur is flying as Red-necks run in all directions.

(Click to enlarge - that is loose fur catching the light, not flies.)

Although this is nature and she is not a raised wallaby I've had enough and
chase after them. If she WAS one of MY girls she would not be treated like this! (DJW Note: Mark was once a volunteer for WIRES - hence the demonstrated sense of "bonding".)

Mark continues: I find her hiding in the front of a wombat burrow.

The bigger and older male is fighting the others.
Fight scene AFight scene B

When I run in, they all flee, but the bigger one seems to forget himself and tries to push past me to get at the female, who is crouching in fear.

I let out a yell , and ALL the males flee.

The female comes out and sits silently next to me for 5 mins. She then hops quickly to the garden where her young one immediately appears. They hide in the shrubs for the next hour. Then Mum rests and feeds her little boy. They lie down and stroke each other.Occasionally shapes move on the ridge line - the males are still circling. I
keep an eye on the female and her little one and she sometimes nibbles on
the flowers. Then she dashes for the bush, her little one flying after her.

Here is another photo of the first (young) male sneaking up and spying on the young Mum.
It was quite funny as they all seemed to look at her - I was standing right there - and it was as if i didn't exist.

Gee, talk about one tracked minds!

MARK

DJW Comment.

You can see how Mark loves his animals.

To the "Purists" out there, I say don't worry about Mark's attempted interference in the mating rituals of the Wallabies - Mark is not out in the Mt Rae Forest 24/7 (as the jargon is).

No doubt the survival of the fittest is proceeding apace, despite Mark's protective instincts.

He is getting on with the real task confronting him, protecting the Mt Rae Forest from the local wood cutters who wish to clear the surrounding forests. See these previous posts:

• Images of Mt Rae Forest

• More rare plants from Mt Rae Forest

• Diuris chryseopsis "Common Golden Moth Orchid"
  

More rare plants from Mt Rae forest

Readers will recall that I have a friend, Mark Selmes, who is campaigning to protect the forests of Mt Rae, near Taralga (north-east of Goulburn).
Mark had been promising me to let me know as soon as the rare Diuris aequalis (the Buttercup Doubletail Orchid) started to flower.

These plants are a lovely colour of clear golden yellow.
By contrast with Diuris sulphurea
which was also in flower on the same day,
these flowers were distinctly golden, not lemon yellow.
Even the lovely yellow D. chryseopsis had a different colour,
and grows out in the open grasslands
and has very different shaped "ears".

This plant is listed on the NSW Threatened Species list.
It is endangered because of the threat from clearing of the Wet sclerophyll forests (grassy sub-formation).
Anyway, Mark was as good as his word. I went there on Monday and we saw only 5 of these plants, but that's just the start of the season. Hopefully many more of these plants will be seen and their locations recorded before the season ends for them.

You can clearly see the labellum of the flower,
the beautifully rounded dorsal sepal (above the column).
You can clearly see the two callus ridges
divergent, at the top of the labellum.
The labellum itself has a prominent ridge towards the lower edge.

But it is less pronounced than some other species of Diuris.

It is worth remembering that these plants grow only amongst grasses and bracken ferns on the floor of the forest. But the forest needs to be there, for the plants to survive. These plants are not found in open cleared areas close by. They grow only under the canopy of the forest.

That is why Mark Selmes's campaigning to protect the Mt Rae forests is important - for these rare, threatened plants to survive.

Note how tightly the lateral sepals
(the so-called "double-tails")

are tightly held under the flower.

Mark Selmes will be the guest speaker at the forthcoming meeting of the National Parks Association, (Southern Highlands Branch) on Wednesday, 18 November, at the Moss Vale CWA Hall (adjacent to the Wingecarribee Shire Council chambers) at 7:30 PM.

Surprises at Tarlo, north of Goulburn.

Today I went with Alan Stephenson to hear a lecture by Mark Clements, a CSIRO expert Orchid researcher from the Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research. It was an interesting talk, about the challenges ahead in managing the CSIRO/ANBG Orchid Collection. One of the issues he raised was the possibility of having a self-sustaining commercial operation where they might grow and sell Orchids. That will scare the conservative management of the Dept of Environment which is the ultimate manager of the Botanic Gardens (ANBG). He also spoke about the work he has been doing for years, reclassifying Orchids (what is seen as simply re-naming Orchids), but it is obviously much more than that. There were several people in the audience who spoke critically of the "new names".

After the lunchtime lecture, Alan and I headed back up the Highway, to Goulburn and then on the Taralga Road to a district named Tarlo. We had been invited there by Lynette, a local property holder who had found some unusual Greenhood Orchids at her place.

From a photo which she had sent us, it was clearly one of the "rufa group" of Greenhoods, or "Rustyhoods" as they are known.

Indeed they are in the "rufa" group.

A quick look at the labellum revealed this.
The shape of the labellum and the lateral sepals
indicates it is Oligochaetochilus squamatus
This plant was previously known as Pterostylis squamata
Click to enlarge the photo and see the diagnostic bristles on the labellum.
Here is a flower with the labellum "triggered"
From directly in from, this is what the flower looks like
(with the labellum snapped closed - up inside the flower).
This is what the plants look like, in situ.
This plant was about 8 inches tall (approx 200 mm).

Here are two plants growing close together (amongst grass)
Here is the leaf rosette.
the leaves are dying off,
which Alan explained is normal once these plants start to flower.
This was very satisfying as it was a new species for all of us.
Lynette (who had found the plants, but didn't have a name for it)
and myself and Alan and also it was new for
Mark Selmes, from Mt Rae, had joined us to inspect these plants..
So it was a genuine thrill for all concerned.

For the record, these plants are 15 kms north-east of Goulburn, growing on sandstone and shale hillside, in dry stony conditions. This is well outside the previous recorded range for this species.

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After studying these flowers, we went off to see a "dead bird" which Lynette had also found.
This was the thing which had interested Mark Selmes most of all.
All she knew was that it was a large grey and silver bird.
It had been suggested it might have been a Tawny Frogmouth.
A quick glance showed it was a very large Owl
Almost certainly a Powerful Owl.
The talons are immensely powerful.
I am convinced it is a Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua)
The bird had been dead for a long time, and was quite dried and "leathery".
I estimate it might have been dead for several months,
and had seemingly died in natural circumstances.
The body was more or less intact.

As it is an Endangered Species, Mark is very keen to get the remains positively identified and the record formally reported.

Too much excitement for one day!

Diuris chryseopsis (Common Golden Moth Orchid)

At last some of the puzzling pure yellow "Donkey Orchids". My blogging colleague "Junior Lepid" has been teasing me with the plants in the Grampians, including several Donkey Orchids which I have not seen.

So, I am pleased to be able to return the compliment, by showing a new species (for me) - Diuris chryseopsis, as far as I can tell (that's why I refer to them as "puzzling").
I was shown these flowers today, at Mount Rae, between Taralga and Crookwell, in the Southern Tablelands of NSW, about half an hour's drive north-east of Goulburn (1.5 hours driving time south from Robertson).

(Click to enlarge to see detail of the flower).

The forests of Mt. Rae are very different from Robertson. Mostly dense Eucalypt forest, with native tussock grasses, but relatively little understory shrubbery. It is a rare type of bush known as Basalt Tableland Forest. It is good country for Grey Kangaroos, Red-necked and Swamp Wallabies and Euros. More to my particular interest, however was the wonderful massed display of "wildflowers" on these hillsides, especially the Orchids.

Today I shall show you only the Orchids. I need to do some research on the other species I photographed, today.

Orchid seen from the rear - note the stripes.

It was drizzling today, and the flowers were wet.
But you can see how these flowers hold themselves in a flat manner,
instead of the more vertical form of the more common Donkey Orchids.
This earns this plant the name "Small Snake Orchid".
They look as if they are poised to "strike".

These plants are also known as "Common Golden Moth Orchids". Not sure why, except that they could (possibly) be interpreted as golden moths flying amongst the grasses.

This amazing display of these Orchids shows how prolifically these plants grow in some areas at Mt Rae. The soil was heavy clay, in a cleared paddock, on a slope.
This was completely amazing for me. It well and truly justified my journey - even on a damp day.

Thanks to the remarkably dedicated Mark Selmes for showing me these plants.

Lets hope that Mark can secure Mount Rae's forests from irresponsible logging of Australia's precious native forests.

In my view it is very important for Governments and bureaucrats and policy makers to understand that trees are not just "fuel" - they are habitat for plants and animals as well as holding together our precious, delicate and ancient soils; catching rain, and making Australia what it is.

If we destroy this Mt Rae forest (or others from one end of Australia to the other) then Australia will lose its distinctive and precious wildlife, (and wildflowers like these Orchids) as well as lose its precious identity.