Desert in Bloom

Most people would never associate an arid landscape with a variety of plants and flowers, well I didn't until I started my internship at Arid Recovery in outback Australia! Over the past few weeks I have been pleasantly surprised at the colourful flowers I have seen on the Arid Recovery reserve, and the surrounding area in general, which have began to bloom following the rain just before I arrived. And, not only the variety of plants overall but the differences in plants you see between dunes (some of which can look almost identical) and the swales (flat area between two dunes). Everyday I seem to come across a new flower so I have built up a small collection of photos which I thought I would share with you here. 

Gorgeous purple flowers of the Bristly sea-heath (Frankenia serpyllifolia) contrasting against the orange swale and blue skies. This plant is found on clay soils and on gibber plains (a desert pavement).

Delicate white flowers of the native stock plant (Blennodia pterosperma). 

The above three pictures are of South Australia's floral state emblem, the Sturt desert pea (Swainsona formosa). These photos weren't taken on the reserve but a large patch just outside of Roxby Downs. Although I have seen small clumps on the reserve. The Sturt desert pea is a short lived- perennial that flowers after winter rainfall and is  commonly found next to roads as this is where water collects (the peas need water to germinate). The most common colouration, and the most striking, is red with black centres however you can also get all pink ones (like the picture above) or occasionally white flowers.

Reece Pedler (Bec's partner) in a seas of poached egg daisies. Poached egg daisies dominate sand dunes after heavy rains in the winter months. This photo was taken in Stuart's Creek when we were on a camping trip but I have seen similar, but not quite as impressive, seas of poached egg daisies in the reserve.

Poached egg daisy (Polycalymma stuartii). Other common names revolve mainly around eggs; the fried egg daisy and the rather humorous ham and egg daisy (your guess is as good as mine!)

Smooth loose-flower rattlepods (Crotalaria eremaea ssp. strehlowii).  In the reserve I have mainly seen this plant on dune habitat. Regeneration occurs from underground roots.

Lamb's tails (Ptilotus polystachyus). Flowers can be white, green or cream.

Serrate goodenia (Goodenias cycloptera). A tiny flower (only 15-20mm) that I noticed for the first time when bending down to take a photo of a poached egg daisy.

Parakeelya (Calamdrinia sp.). A beautiful small purple flower which gradually opens up in the middle of the day - hense why it's also known as the noon flower.

Billybuttons (Pycnosorus pleiocepahala). The latin name sounds more like a dinosaur! Like poached egg daisies billybuttons are often found in large clumps, often alongside poached egg daisies. 

The beautifully delicate Silver bush (Ptilotus obovatus). Other common names include cotton bush, fluffy top, smoke bush and cats paw. 

Pop saltbush (Atriplex spongiosa). A swale species often seen around the road. This bush is relatively small, only about 250mm high.

This image just shows that with death you can also find new life! This image was taken at the dinner table of a wedge tailed eagle (Aquila audax) (Australia's larges bird of prey), as evident from the mass of animal bones and reptile skins. The flowers in the background are the noon flowers also pictured above.

One of my favorite flowers I've seen on the reserve, the vibrant Orange Darling Pea (Swainsona stipularis). The flowers are very small, only 10-11mm long.

Trachymene (species unknown) with tiny flowers that form a globe.

Flower of the pearl bluebush (Maireana sedifolia) which is one of the dominant swale species on the reserve. The flowers which range in colour from yellow to red, or as the one above a mixture but despite their small size (only about 10mm) really stand out againts the blue/grey leaves.

Plants were identified using the book Field Guide to the Plants of Outback South Australia by Frank Kutche and Brendan Lay which is an excellent book with great photographs to help with ID.

Week 6 of Arid Recovery

Remember last week I was telling you that we needed to catch Sepia (the quoll) this week to retrieve the GPS collar, and I stated that it should be an easy job…Well I regret stating this now, I well and truly jinxed it! After a moderate level of searching for Sepia (one of our quolls) on Wednesday we found her…great. However the warren she was occupying was rather large and as we only had access to 4 burrow traps Sepia did not fall for the stinky (now 6 day old green and slimy chicken necks) this time. The next morning we were not only left with the disappointment of empty traps, but also that Sepia was nowhere to be found. She had well and truly done a runner. The following day (Friday) we dedicated the majority of the morning to tracking Sepia and eventually found her in a warren with multiple exits. But this warren also had an additional complication, it was situated underneath a bullock bush (Alectryon oleifolius). Not only does this make inserting burrow traps around roots difficult but it also provides branches so more escapes routes for quolls if we were to use the fenced in pen trap method (the pen traps is where you surround the warren with a fence and set burrow traps in the walls of the perimeter – the idea being animals will run around the fence and try to exit via the ‘holes’, into a trap). But we really wanted to catch Sepia! We were faced  with a difficult decision on whether or not to attempt to construct a very large pen trap (which was unlikely to succeed but could maybe work) in 37 degree heat, which would take at least a couple of hours. Relating to the theory of animal behaviour which states that “animals behave in a way to achieve a net gain of benefit over cost” the likelihood of catching our quoll was slim so we decided that the best course of action was to wait until Monday when Sepia will have taken a wander into a nearby, one holed burrow which can easily accommodate a burrow trap…okay, maybe a bit idealistic but you never know…Definitely jinxed myself again there! 

 

During out trek to find Sepia we crossed many dunes and swales but also a large clay pan (shown above).

With high temperatures comes lots of flies! The flies we had to deal with on Friday (the 37 degree day) were unbelievable, hands down the worst I have ever experience during my time here (and in fact ever) making being outside rather unpleasant –another cost in creating a pen trap.

I also have to tell you of a rather hilarious event which happened when digging in burrow traps on Wednesday. To construct a burrow trap the burrow often needs some re-sculpting of the walls to accommodate a burrow trap… and it was whilst carrying out this activity I heard a very loud farting noise. As there was only myself and Bec, who was also in a crouched position shoveling sand to fit a nearly burrow trap, and it certainly wasn’t me, it obviously must have been Bec. However what followed was Bec asking me if I had just farted! Believe me, the noise was far too loud not to own up to, so if it was me I would have had said. Turns out the noise must have actually come from a bettong which was clearly in the burrow behind us! It is thought that bettongs make a fart like sound as a warning. 

Most mornings this week were a lie in – ha, did you think I was being serious! Lisa (the PhD student doing her project on bilbies) had set out a line of 20 cage traps in Red Lake (cat predator expansion) in attempt to catch bilbies (or a bilby at least) to fit transmitters to. We’d agreed to check these for her every morning, a task which need to be checked in the dark. I should state here that I do actually like getting up early (most of my friends and family can back me up on this). Unfortunately we caught no bilbies from the cage trap line; just bettongs and hopping mice...But I did get to see a baby bettong which are adorable! However we were not without bilby’s this week…The burrow trap that Lisa asked us to check did catch us a bilby. I really do have a soft spot for the bilby (I hope you can see why in the photo below).

Measuring the PES (foot length) of one of the bettong we caught in the trap line. The bettong is held in a bag between my knees which helps to keep it calm and restrain it - they can be rather feisty animals!

As you can see this bettong is a male. Measuring the testes makes most onlooker males wince but the diameter of the testes gives an indication of sexual maturity (the larger the more sexually mature).

Blossom in the back of the burrow trap. You have to be really careful with bilbies as they have the tenancy to ram their noses through the cage which can do some damage.

Really clear bilby tracks near to Blossom the bilby.

Releasing Blossom into the burrow we trapped her in.

This week I also had a day long first aid course, which was long, long overdue! Before Tuesday I hadn’t done any first aid training since I was 14, 10 years ago, for Duke of Edinburgh. Turns out, expectedly, that a lot had changed; mainly CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation) which now does not require you to give any mouth to mouth (simply chest compressions is enough to keep oxygen flowing round the body to keep the brain alive). Halfway through the training we had a visit from the local paper Roxby Monitor, which I was utterly thrilled about (it’s hard to convey sarcasm in text but that comment was intended to be read in a very sarcastic tone!) In the 6 weeks I have been here I have already ‘starred’ in the Roxby paper, twice. Recently when I arrived in Roxby I took part in the Desert Dash (a 5 or 10km race) and managed to win the womens 5km, and was compelled to present my face for a photograph which appeared on the front page of The Monitor (the week after the results were revealed in the paper). I also appeared in the group shot whilst Buffel Busting a few weeks back.

I wish that I hadn’t made my reluctance for appearing in the paper so known, as it only encouraged the first aid trainer to suggest I play the snake bite victim patient for the photoshoot…cue face being hidden by my wide brimmed hat! 

Not only am I getting lots of field research experience of mammals; but also experience in education and fence maintenance! Who’d have known that I’d gain so many skills during this internship! Staying at the reserve this week was a group of 15 kids (ranging in age from between 12 and 16) who were very keen on the environment (woo)! These kids were fantastic and extremely willing to learn. Even when we were doing the tedious job of fence maintenance (involving clearing vegetation, laying foot netting, securing the netting with clips and carrying large rocks to hold down the netting) they were so enthusiastic and really got stuck into the job (see photo below). Their enthusiasm continued into the hot afternoon activity of radio tracking. I really enjoyed teaching these kids and seeing how much they gained from the workshops…maybe environmental education is the pathway for me…

Fence maintenance. The upper photo shows the foot netting being rollled out and, also in the lower, secured with metal clips. Foot netting is essential to prevent burrowing animals from getting under the fence into another expansion.

I can’t believe how fast the weeks are going. At the end of next week, when we will have hopefully caught Sepia and downloaded her GPS fixtures (getting an insight into where Miss Sepia the quoll has been roaming), caught Koombana (the other adventurous quoll) and put the GPS collar on her. Then at the weekend we are off to the APY lands to trap the vulnerable black footed rock wallaby (Petrogale lateralis). It seems like only last week I wrote the blog telling you how excited I am to be going on the APY trip! 

The moon is still out when we get up to check cage traps. On one morning this week there was a bright planet next to the moon which reminded me of Turkey or Pakistan's flag.

A baby bettong Bec caught in the trapline with its mother. Unfortunately this was when I was doing my first aid course so I never got to see it but I had to put it in the blog as it was just too cute not too! Photo credit:Bec West

A sand goanna posing against the fence.