Yellow flowers of button everlasting and deep orange of trailing shaggy-pea are the two prominent wildflowers shown in the accompanying photo.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Like many other wildflowers benefitting from spring rainfall, they are making an attractive show this year.
The button everlasting is widespread and common in local forests. It is not a tall plant - mostly shorter than 25 cm.
The trailing shaggy-pea is a low-growing ground-cover plant. It is also widespread locally, but is generally uncommon and patchy in its distribution.
Today's photo was taken on the edge of the Creswick forest at Sulky. The bright green leaves of the shaggy-pea are almost hidden by the prolific orange flowers in this photo. The green and orange make an attractive contrast of colour. The large, orange late-spring flowers and the wider-than-average green leaves help to readily identify this striking plant.
There are several local everlasting daisies, but the button everlasting is easy enough to identify from the others because of its pale yellow colour and its height. Its petals spread out and down as the flowers age.
Not far from these two wildflower species were numerous stems of trigger-plant flowers, just past their peak. Elsewhere in the forest were murnong (yam daisy), trailing goodenia, chocolate lily, ivy-leaf violet and more.
The murnong flowers look very much like those of the exotic and common dandelion and flatweed. There is a slight difference in the formation of the flower (the exotics are denser) and in colour (murnong is lighter). There are also differences in the stem and the leaves.
Just visible in the photo are tiny heads of hair-grass, a delicate and attractive grass that grows readily in many natural areas. Although exotic and often abundant, it seems to have little effect on the natural environment here.
DAWN CHORUS
Just before sunrise, we are greeted by a chorus of bird song. In Ballarat, this might be dominated by magpies and blackbirds, but sometimes there are grey butcherbirds, silvereyes, New Holland honeyeaters, spotted doves and currawongs.
Hardly songsters, but often heard at dawn too, are red wattlebird and little raven.
Rural residents and bush campers hear many more, including willie wagtail, kookaburra, yellow-faced honeyeater, grey shrike-thrush, grey fantail, golden and rufous whistler and bronzewing pigeon. Most of these call for 15 to 20 minutes soon after first light, at around 5.25am. Many will seek food soon after their dawn song, but will call frequently throughout the day.
NATURE QUERIES ANSWERED
Some chicks left a nest in our carport on October 26, and by November 19 there were three eggs in the same nest. I didn't realise that birds used their nests more than once. The bird on the nest has an orange beak, which seemed odd.
E.M., Beaufort.
Your bird is a female blackbird. Some have orange beaks, but others are duller. Yours is probably an older bird. In most cases, blackbirds make a new nest each time they lay.
Blackbirds normally look after their chicks for several weeks, but damp conditions such as we have been having might encourage a second clutch sooner than usual.
The fact that they have commenced their second brood in the same nest seems to indicate that they regard that nest site as a safe place. A new nest would probably have been built if the original nest suffered interference.
Questions and photos are welcome. Email to rthomas@vic.australis.com.au, or send to Roger Thomas at The Courier, PO Box 21, Ballarat, 3353.