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Grampians N.P, south eastern Australia


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Firstly, an apology to those using dial-up. The following fieldtrip occurred over the past weekend and of the 400+ photos that were taken, I was only able to knock the total down to around 80. It may take awhile to get through these if you have a slow connection. This is by far the longest post I have ever and will ever make.

Anyway, Last Friday a small group of VCPS members visited an area located in western Victoria, probably the best area to see native CPs in south eastern Australia. We left early that morning and spent 3 full days searching for CPs and native orchids- we found plenty of each.

The area is a mountainous area of granite and sandstone and arises from a flat plain. It is a National Park known as "Gariwerd", formerly known as the Grampians National Park. I had visited the area countless times during the past 25 years but this year was special. A massive bushfire had burnt out around half of the 170,000 hectares. This would allow easy access to previously inaccessible areas as well as result in the flowering of species that I had never before seen.

For those interested, here's a link with a little more info on the area-

http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/1park_display.cfm?park=109

The main objective was to find populations of Drosera binata which are supposed to occur around watercourses. I had never managed to find the species in any of my visits and I was hoping that my luck would change on this occasion.

Now to the photos.

Our first stop was at a small stream that winded along one of the main roads. I'd checked it out many years prior, but had found nothing. It didn't take long before we had found our first Drosera, and it was D. binata! Also found in this area was D. spatulata, auriculata, pygmaea, whittakerii ssp. aberrans, peltata var. gracilis & Utricularia dichotoma.

A few shots of the habitat-

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Me walking through the burnt out area-

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Carpets of Drosera binata growing in semi-shade-

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by a stream-

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Some plants closer up-

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A couple in full sun-

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Drosera peltata var. gracilis growing amongst the D. binata-

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Nearby Drosera spatulata-

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In slightly more elevated positions were colonies of orange Drosera whittakerii ssp. aberrans-

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A typical Drosera auriculata growing with the D. binata-

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Utricularia dichotoma growing in the same area-

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A fantastic Beard orchid (Calochilus robertsonii) found growing in dry substrate on the high side of the road-

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A small pink fairy orchid (Caladenia pusilla) growing close to the Beard orchid-

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After spending an hour or so in this spot we headed up to the highest point in the ranges, Mt. William. This peak rises to around 1000m and could be classified as sub-alpine. The CP species found here differ from those in the low valleys.

Here are a couple of views from the mountain. You can clearly see the damage done by the bushfires. The area was previously densely covered by low Eucalyptus vegetation-

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Looking east towards the flat plains-

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Colonies of a beautiful, small growing red form of Drosera auriculata are common. The temps here would regularly drop well below zero deg C during winter and spring.

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A nice red form of Drosera whittakerii ssp. aberrans occur here. Still at their peak and many have been pollinated. During my travels I have found that it is uncommon for many of the flowers to be fertilized. Perhaps the lack of cover after the burn made the flowers more easily accessible to insects-

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A weird double double flower of the highland form of Utricularia dichotoma-

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That was it for the Friday as we retired to our accomodation. The following day we headed towards the centre of the ranges in search of other CPs.

The main road south is composed mainly of low heathland dominated by grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea australis). This plant only flowers after a fire and the display it put on was breathtaking-

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We pulled up alongside the dry burnt out heathland to see what was around. By chance, a small manmade waterhole happened to be adjacent to us. As we approached the waterhole we could see that the banks were glowing red. Drosera pygmaea was present in the thousands!

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As the area was incredibly dry around the waterhole, only the dead remains of Drosera auriculata and typical D. peltata were found.

I did see an interesting moth though-

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After heading back to town for lunch we then headed north. The northern parts of the park are much drier than the south and we did not locate a single live CP, but we did see our only dead specimens of Drosera macrantha ssp. planchonii. The views were good though as we climbed Mt. Stapylton and a couple of orchids made things interesting.

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A Spider orchid, Caladenia tentaculata-

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Next we headed over Mirranatwa Gap and into the central valley of the ranges. On the way through we encountered a nice small growing species of orchid, the Bronzey Caladenia, Caladenia iridescens-

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We then moved down into the valley. The first thing of interest that we came across was this grump little fellow sunbathing in the middle of the road, the Shinglebacked or Stumpytailed lizard, (Trachydosaurus rugosus)-

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Past the lizard the road turned to dirt and we headed into dry Eucalyptus forest that had not been burnt. Here we found a couple of orchid species and Drosera peltata that was past its best. One of my highlights of the trip occurred here-

A couple of habitat shots first-

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Caladenia clavigera, the clubbed Spider orchid-

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The highlight, some Drosera bugs hunting on the leaves on Drosera peltata-

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Further up the valley in another heathy area we found a couple of small swampy waterholes by the dirt road. Here we found a very small growing form of D. binata as well as Drosera peltata var. gracilis and Utricularia tenella.

The habitat-

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Further up in a rocky dried area besides a large swamp we found huge (for the species anyway) plants of Drosera pygmaea which grew to almost an inch in diameter-

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In an open area of River Redgum woodland we found the remains of an old waterhole that was all but bone dry. Amazingly, many flowers of the lowland form of Utricularia dichotoma were found. My only shot taken of these didn't turn out but you can see the habitat here-

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Out onto the open road we headed for a huge swamp which bounds the Henty Highway. Unfortunately due to the drough tof the past 10 years, the area was completely dry. We drove back a bit to a river and cut along a 4 x 4 track until we could get close to the river. We headed down by foot and found our first and only specimen of Drosera glanduligera for the weekend. Also found growing closeby was the tall growing form of Drosera peltata, closely related to Drosera peltata var. foliosa but not clump forming and much taller-

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We then headed home through what was all but a wasteland. The fire had been so intense here that many of the trees that have evolved to cope with fires were obliterated and dead.

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A grasstree in the area-

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And a Southern Rock scorpion-

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Final day was the sunniest we had so back up Mt. William to get some shots of the highland Utricularia dichotoma.

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Steve Fretwell taking photos of the U. dichotoma which grow in the natural gutters of the roadside-

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Another orchid, the Musky Caladenia, Caladenia gracilis-

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Next back down to near where we first found the D. binata a small track led us into the open swampy area and luckily drove straight through it. We found some great things in here.

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Firstly, in the dry verge of the swamp, a rare Leek orchid (Prasophyllum elatum) in flower. This species generally only flowers after fire-

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We'd heard of a pale form of D. binata occurring here and were hoping to find it. At this location we did, and it was quite common. This was another highlight as the only form found in this part of the country is generally the small red form pictured earlier.

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Nice Drosera spatulata also grew here-

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Lovely forms of Utricularia were abundant.

The typical colour-

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A white form-

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A pale form with purple margins. A real little gem-

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A very pale form with no purple colouration around palette-

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We then headed for home via a final track. Here we found dead Drosera only but a couple of great orchids.

Firstly a habitat shot-

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Then the orchids-

Then the orchids-

The Spotted Sun orchid, Thelymitra ixioides-

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The Leopard Sun orchid., a rare species I was rapt to discover in great numbers-

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Another rare Leek orchid, Prasophyllum sp. aff fitzgeraldii I think-

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And finally a Hornet orchid, Diuris sulphurea-

DiurissulphureaJimmysCreekrdGrampians06.JPG

Once again, sorry for the massive volume of pics. Hopefully you enjoyed them.

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What a sensational post - Brilliant !!!!

Im still trying to find those bradiwood whittakeri..LOL

Wish this species had migrated more into NSW.

Fantastic pics and sense of being there for all us who wern't.

CP's seem so more abundant in Vic than NSW ( species )

regards Belinda

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What a sensational post - Brilliant !!!!

Thanks.

CP's seem so more abundant in Vic than NSW ( species )

regards Belinda

Not necessarily, just at this location. The drought has badly affected most other areas of the state- including this one in many of the drier habitats. The fire certainly helped reinvigorate the habitats that it cut through.

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Stunning Sean, keep them coming and thank god for broadband!

I'm glad you found the D. binata - I just read your article in the latest VCPS Journal about last years trip in seach of D. binata the other day. It looks like the weather was kinder than last year too! :)

Cheers

Vic

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Wow! Wow! Wow! Feel like a child again :wink: !

I'm speechless! Thank you for such an amazing trip report!

The binata shots and the orchids -among others- are absolute beauties.

Friendly,

François.

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Thanks for the show, Sean!

Although cps are closest to my heart, the orchids and grasstrees are just fabulous. Also "common" plants like D. pygmaea really are impressive en masse.

Its always nice getting a look at the whole habitat, and the spots you visited seem to wonderful ones.

Thanks again,

Christer

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Great pics!

I've never heard of a "Drosera bug" before. Is this kind of like a traveling Assassin bug? In one of the pics, it looks like they are drinking the Sundew's... uh.. dew. Do they do this?.. :clubbed:

Anyways, have you ever seen any Triops out there in the pools?

Thanks for posting that! :wink:

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Wow. The pictures are great as always and a plenty of them!

Most interesting are the bugs on Drosera. I heard that in South Africa similar bugs live on Drosera plants, too. Perhaps Andreas Fleischmann can tell us more about this...

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Stunning Sean, keep them coming and thank god for broadband!

I'm glad you found the D. binata - I just read your article in the latest VCPS Journal about last years trip in seach of D. binata the other day. It looks like the weather was kinder than last year too! :)

I'm thankful that I was the one compiling this post as my modem crashed a couple of weeks back leaving me with dial-up for the moment. I reckon the photos would still be downloading for me.

The weather was fantastic this time around. It was drizzling the first time we found the D. binata- hence the lovely glistening dewdrops, but was great after that.

Err... wow!

A nice illustration of how important fire is to much of the Australian flora.

They may not be carnivorous, but the flowering grasstrees are a spectacular sight.

I really wanted to get an elvated view for a better illustration of how many there were. Unfortunately, most of the trees were destroyed and those left were impossible to climb- I didn't fancy covering myself in ash for a couple of shots.

The grasstrees seemed to go on for ever. Kilometre after kilometre there were fields of them in full flower. Absolutely amazing!

Great pics!

I've never heard of a "Drosera bug" before. Is this kind of like a traveling Assassin bug? In one of the pics, it looks like they are drinking the Sundew's... uh.. dew. Do they do this?.. :clubbed:

Anyways, have you ever seen any Triops out there in the pools?

Thanks for posting that! :wink:

I';ve seen them on a few occasions in the past and always on Drosera peltata var. foliosa. I'm not sure where they go when the plants go dormant in summer and how they find the plants during the growing season. I've just done a search on the genus (Setacoris spp.) on the internet and have come up with almost nothing. A great candidate for some research it would appear.

I've never seen any Triops while on a fieldtrip, but once in a small manmade pond just across the road from my childhood house thousands of them appeared during summer from nowhere! I'd never seen them before this and have never seen them again. At the time I had no idea what they were. A freeway now runs over the small pool I found them in.

In the pond pictured, there were swarms of large tadpoles though. I have no idea where they'll head off to when the pond dries in summer. There is no shelter for them at all.

Wow. The pictures are great as always and a plenty of them!

Most interesting are the bugs on Drosera. I heard that in South Africa similar bugs live on Drosera plants, too. Perhaps Andreas Fleischmann can tell us more about this...

AANNDDRREEAASS WWHHEERREE AARREE YYOOUU???

Hi Sean

Absolutely stunning plants and scenery , how frequent are the fires ?

Steve

Smaller fires occur reasonably frequently, especially in large areas such as the Grampians. These are usually contained fairly quickly. Large fires like this one however are almost a once-twice in a lifetime thing. In my life this is the only time this has occurred. This fire raged for a couple of weeks and threatened the only major town of the ranges- Hall Gap, which nearly went up. Several people lost their lives trying to fight or flee the fires.

One annoying aspect of the trip was that many of the main tracks and areas were closed off an innaccessible (over half of them actually). This was the case with one of the main areas we wanted to visit which has a massive swamp. I'm sure we would have found even more of interest had we been able to get there.

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One annoying aspect of the trip was that many of the main tracks and areas were closed off an innaccessible (over half of them actually). This was the case with one of the main areas we wanted to visit which has a massive swamp. I'm sure we would have found even more of interest had we been able to get there.

Same here Sean in our National parks -Probably partly to stop the idiots who pinch everthing not nailed down ( treeferns , bush rock etc) and to make it more difficult for people to deliberately light fires - its a lot harder to escape the heinous act if one commits it on foot.Personally i think its great a lot of the fire trails are now locked off , not good for responsible people like you and i. But better for the parks long term .

regards Belinda

( btw im not suggesting that fire was deliberately lit - alot are tho )

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Same here Sean in our National parks -Probably partly to stop the idiots who pinch everthing not nailed down ( treeferns , bush rock etc) and to make it more difficult for people to deliberately light fires - its a lot harder to escape the heinous act if one commits it on foot.Personally i think its great a lot of the fire trails are now locked off , not good for responsible people like you and i. But better for the parks long term .

regards Belinda

( btw im not suggesting that fire was deliberately lit - alot are tho )

Hi Belinda,

Actually the tracks are normally open but have only been closed since the fires. The reasons are that many of the bridges have been burnt to the ground, safety checks have yet to be performed on overhanging trees and the tracks in general have been severely damaged. Because so much of the park was ravaged it is taking a significant amount of time for the Parks Officers to work their way through each track. Next year all should be good though.

I'm pretty sure that the fires were deliberatley lit. They usually are unfortunately (or fortunately for those who appreciate CPs and orchids :D).

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