This is the third - and last - of my postings based on our delightful weekend (last weekend) in Kosci, as it's affectionately known here. The high country in summer is rich in flowers and insects (birds are a bit limited, as there are easier pickings lower down), but we were a bit late to get the full benefit of that. Accordingly a couple of the pics below are from a working trip I did there a couple of years back.
This will basically be just a gallery.
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| Hoary Sunrays Leucochrysum albicans above Lake Cootapatamba. This daisy grows widely, including down around Canberra. However more than twenty species of plants are found only in the park. |
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| Brachycome obovata growing entirely in water. Cold feet! |
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| Ribbony Grass Chionochloa frigida.This is primarily a New Zealand genus, with only a couple of species in Australia. |
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| Alpine Gentians Gentianella muelleriana, above and below. One of the last of the summer flowers. |
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| The lines are guides for pollinating insects. |
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| Purple Eyebright Euphrasia collina. Eyebrights were supposed to cure eye afflictions - Milton mentioned that, though he still went blind, poor man. They grow in association with root fungi, and can't be cultivated; another reason to go to the mountains in summer! |
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| Alpine Mint-bush Prostanthera cuneata. A lovely shrub, but only a couple of flowers were left. |
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| Snow Beard-heath Leucopogon montanus. Lower down it grows as a shrub, but up here it, like many other species, lies as a mat on the ground to avoid the wind. |
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| Grasshopper on Xerochrysum apiculatum. (Taken on an earlier trip.) |
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| Bidgee-widgee Acaena novae-zelandiae. The purpose of the burry fruits is obvious in the picture below. My boots are just substituting for a wombat's fur! |
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| Metallic Green Damselfly Austrolestes cingulatus. (Also taken on the earlier trip; too cold for insects last week!) |
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| Little Ravens Corvus mellori prowl the meadows (and the village!) searching mostly for insects. |
Well that's it for today, and for this topic - for now anyway, we intend to be back there a bit earlier in the season next summer.
Speaking of summer, yesterday it officially ended here yesterday (we use the meteorological definition here) - and a cold wet miserable last day of summer it was too. Personally I regret its passing but every season has something for a naturalist.
BACK ON MONDAY
