GEELONG NATURALIST Vol. 37 No. 1 
May 2001 
3 
Manna Gums and a few lovely 
flowering Yellow Gums. There was 
a good section of Kangaroo Grass 
grassland, through which passed an 
ant highway, about 1 cm in depth, 
quite clearly defined. 
Plenty of sun orchid leaves, single, 
lanceolate, about 10 cm and a good 
colony of greenhoods — maybe two 
species. 
A vulnerable . species, Clover 
Glycine, grows here. It looks like a 
clover with purple pea flowers on top 
of bare stalks. 
In season, other pea flowers worth 
looking for — Showy Bossiaea, 
discovered it can be prickly, 
Creeping Bossiaea and the 
Handsome Flat-pea, a good sized 
shrub. with obvious lance-shaped 
leaves. 
Some Yellow Bluebells 
Wahlenbergia luteola, were 
flowering, easily distinguished from 
the others by the colour on the 
outside of the flowers. 
Found a bird’s nest on the ground, 
twigs with outside covered with 
moss, still growing! 
22.5.99 Newtown 
Swift moths — a welcome spell of 
wet weather with good, soaking 
rain. About 8.00 pm they 
appeared at the lit kitchen 
window. 
Outside into a warm night and 
we found one which had just 
emerged from the ground 
‘pumping’ up its still crumpled 
wings. 
And the frogs — everywhere 
there seemed to be calls 
celebrating the arrival of the rain. 
26.5.00 Newtown 
There must have been something 
good io eai on the Roseraie de 
Hay. As soon as we drove in we 
noticed 8 Silvereyes clustered 
around the top of the rose bush 
carefully picking over the few 
remaining autumn-tinted leaves. 
Another great photo opportunity 
supposed they were after aphids. A 
big tick! 
28.5.99 Ironbark Basin, Anglesea 
We entered via Bells Beach 
Southside, through the windy 
heathland, very few flowers, and 
then into the Basin. We were there 
to catch the Ironbarks in flower and 
the feeding birds, but were a few 
days late. There seemed to be 
more flowers on the ground than on 
the trees, probably caused by the 
stormy weather over the last week. 
(or Parrots?) Enough left to admire 
their beauty — finding the occasional 
pink tree was a special treat — 
‘blossoms are usually creamy-white. 
We found a couple of Banded 
Greenhoods, a lot of Tall 
Greenhoods and many tiny Small 
Mosquito Orchids. 
As you would expect, the Correa 
was flowering and the view across 
to Point Addis was as rewarding as 
ever. 
two cupped hands size, mainly fine 
MAMMAL GROUP REPORT 
We called a meeting at short notice on Tuesday 24.5.01 
combining with the Biodiversity Group, with the aim of 
developing a plan for the next 12 months’ trapping. This 
needed to be set so that the club can apply for renewal of its 
licence to trap from the DNRE after it expires on 30 April. 
Last weekend, 28 — 30 April, was 3 months from our first 
Bellbrae trapping. Look for the report of the results in next 
month’s Magazine. 
On the Queen’s Birthday weekend in June, we will trap 
Barramunga in the Otways — there will be a notice in the June 
Geelong Naturalist. 
Another site we will trap is Bells Beach — Pt Addis heathlands. 
There's another Drysdale Basin trapping due in June; we 
haven't decided on a date yet but it will be late in the month. 
Please contact Trevor Pescott (03 5243 4368) if you are 
interested in joining in with the group’s activities. 
<p> 
lost — they looked superb! We 
Cheers! 
BA 
Eight raptor species in a day — 
Pm rapt! 
On Thursday, 19 April | had the good fortune 
to go on the Mid-week excursion to the 
Melbourne Water Farm, Werribee, where | 
was able to add fourteen new birds to my 
beginner’s count. Polly's report is elsewhere in 
this issue, but | personally was thrilled to 
observe a Hobby with prey, many many Black- 
shouldered Kites at close range, Kestrels, a 
Brown and a Peregrine Falcon, a Whistling 
Kite with prey (a fish) and a Marsh Harrier. 
Great viewing for those interested in birds of 
prey. 
On driving home with Craig Morley we decided 
to detour via the abattoir in the hope of 
spotting Marilyn's recent find, but three 
Kestrels don’t make a Spotted Harrier, so we 
were somewhat disappointed. 
Not to be outdone, | ventured down to the 
Zillah Crawcour Park and there in its regular 
tree was one of the ‘resident’ Little Eagles, 
taking my tally to eight species for the day. 
Rob Ganly 
