Chasing Ephemeral Lakes August 31, 2009
Posted by broomegirl in SKIPA Excursions, wetland plants.Tags: boab, trips, wetland plants
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Ephemeral beauty
It is quite remarkable how an innocuous bit of pindan bush, glimpsed as a blur from the window of your car, can in fact harbour a wetland wonderland. Ephemeral water systems (lakes, marshes, swamps, wetlands) are so called for their cycle of filling and drying with the seasons. These areas are incredibly important habitats for a host of plants and animals – some of which may not survive without this water.
SKIPAs and Broome TAFE went chasing ephemeral lakes in the central Dampier Peninsula on the last weekend in August ’09. We started east of Beagle Bay. A short walk through tall dry cane grass, startling a family of quail and donkeys on the way, revealed a wetland wonderland.
As the Dry intensifies this marsh will retreat until the rains return
Creamy flowered marshworts speckled the silvery water, grasses and herbs thrived, paperbarks and freshwater mangroves were in bloom, while the air hummed with insects and bird-song. The claypan was alive. And by looking closely you could find tiny treasures growing in the spongy ground.
Nymphoides beaglensis, an aquatic Marshwort, is limited in the Kimberley to waterholes close to Beagle Bay
The clumping herb Eriocaulon cinereum has small flower heads atop its narrow leaves making it look like it’s wearing Martian headgear.
Peppered through the grass were delicate flowers, which looked like they had escaped from an English meadow but in fact were deadly hunters; Byblis liniflora and Drosera petiolaris have sticky leaves perfect to catch and digest insects.
The best view of these beauties is up close on hands and knees and if you are lucky you might spot what they’re having for dinner. There were several different types of these plants, sometimes called Sundews for the way the light catches the sticky hairs.
These sticky leaves trap ants and small flying insects for dinner
Insect hunter Byblis liniflora
Nectar laden blossoms on the Freshwater mangrove
Red or lime green blossoms covered many Melaleuca nervosa. Their slender warped trunks showed signs of past fires.
The next lake we visited was much more substantial and permanent. Lake Louisa (will try to find the Aboriginal name) was as big as a footy field. At first glance it was as green and grassy as one, and in a trompe l’oeil it looked like small sheep were grazing too. It was in fact a lake of grassy water chestnut and grey-blue waterlillies above the green!
Lake Louisa, looking like a paddock with its sea of grass
It didn’t take long for a few keen SKIPAs to pull off shoes and socks and wade into the cool clear water to a chorus of Red-Tail Black Cockatoos and flocks of ducks.
Doc digging up water chestnut
Carmel and Cupar enjoying the fresh water
River red gums, complete with tide marks and some with unusual aerial roots, paperbarks and Freshwater Mangrove Lophostemon grandiflorus dominated the lake edge, along with Nardoo Marsilea mutica, a fern masquerading as a four-leave clover which enjoys wet spots. There were messy stick nests in a number of trees, plenty of bird life from Flycatchers to Egret, and it’s probable that Brushtail possoms had hollows high up in the trees. This area would have been very important to Aboriginal people living off the land, as well as animals, during the hot dry season as it offers both refuge and sustenance. It was a perfect place to dry off and enjoy a cuppa.
An unusual, and unidentified aquatic plant. Seems to have four bladders to hold flower head above water, but the black capsules in its root system were a mystery. Can you help?
A vast area of aquatic plants cover Lake Louisa
We visited another two seasonal wetlands and enjoyed identifying the range of trees and small plants. The sheer amount of water still around at this time of year surprised us.
Donkeys are clearly prevalent in this region, judging by the amount of dung and animals we saw. On the way into Lake Louisa we saw two adults and a foal. Further south, towards Nillabubicca, wetland systems accessible to cattle showed significant signs of hoof damage. Some SKIPAs members expressed concerns about the damage feral pigs would cause in these fragile wetlands.
Unrelated to ephemeral lakes, was the big boab we came across, close to the coastal marsh that borders King Sound. And this boab was HUGE!!! It had a three pronged girth and wild branches as big as tree trunks, which sprawled in an ungainly manner to the ground.
Ancient, massive and craggy. This big boab has seen a lot of Dry seasons
SKIPAs member, and author of The Boab Tree, Pat Lowe declared it the biggest boab she had seen in all her trips out bush, and she was very quick to scramble up inside, using the knobbly bark as hand holds.
Looking up into the centre of the boab
It took 19 people holding hands to encircle the boab in a big SKIPAs hug
Thankyou to Beau and Alison Bibby and Phil Docherty for planning and organising the trip.
A secret native garden – Carnot Bay Mound Springs June 22, 2009
Posted by kimberleyplants in SKIPA Excursions, wetland plants.Tags: carnot bay, ferns, mound springs, trips, wetland plants
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Bundabunda mound spring is a green mirage
Gaze across Carnot Bay’s blisteringly white salt marshes, pocked with dead tree stumps and tenacious herbs, and you will see an oasis of green – a mirage on the horizon. But this is no hallucination. It is an incredible freshwater jungle environment, surrounded by salt. It is the Bundabunda Mound Spring.
Mound Springs are dotted along the Kimberley coast, where freshwater close to the surface allows a unique environment to form on the marshlands. The water seeps out across the surface and over the centuries dense layers of vegetation have broken down to form a sloppy black peat in which ferns, trees and vines thrive. It is like a giant hydroponic garden.
Cyclosorus interruptus
Stepping into the thicket brought instant relief from the heat and glare of the salt marshes. It was dark and humid with filtered light, plenty of seedlings stretching for the canopy and mouldering logs. The breeze dissipated.
The black ground was spongy and it was like walking on a waterbed or a trampoline. This was beautifully demonstrated by Beau Bibby who jumped up and down and sent a shudder through the SKIPS group. You could see the vibration, like a pond ripple, through the ferns and up the tree trunks. The ground was so soft a stick was driven right through without effort.
The group trudged through soggy marshy ground, up to our waists in thick ferns. These ferns dominate the floor and on occasion the ‘walls’ of the thicket; Cyclosorus interruptus has tall narrow fronds, the Mangrove or Swamp Fern Acrostichum speciosum is leathery and large leaved, while the delicate Climbing Maidenhair Lygodium microphyllum drapes the trees in tangled curtains.
It was hard work pushing through the snaggle of vines and fronds, sinking into black holes of water or standing on a log only to find it crumbled beneath you. Although some members of the group enjoyed the bounciness and tried out the pillows of ferns for softness.
The Bibby kids try out nature's bouncy castle
The whole ecosystem seemed unstable or fragile. Trees don’t have deep roots in this water garden and often succumb to rot and storms. In parts where the canopy had been opened up to the hot sunshine the stinking passionfruit weed had taken over. Beau Bibby said the Passiflora had increased fivefold in the past 18 years and formed a thick mat up to a metre deep. It was more harmful than the Climbing Maidenhair because it smothered native plants.
Another exotic that had infiltrated the mound spring was the Banana. Contained to a grove at one end of the spring, the Lady Finger banana was planted some years ago to provide fruit for families living nearby.
Often described as a “discreet vine thicket”, these mound springs appear lush and impressive jungles. But the vegetation community is simple and not very diverse. There are just two main tree species Timonius timon and Carallia brachiata. The Timonius had soft corky bark which looked like a crocodile’s back, and according to the Broome & Beyond plant book, its timber was used by Europeans to make ladders. A few Swamp Corkwood Sesbania formosa also grow and around the saline fringes of the spring were Melaleuca cajuputi and mangroves. Other mound springs are known to have Banyan figs and other ferns.
Ferns dominate this patch of sunshine
Again despite its lush appearance wildlife was minimal apart from the cries of Red tailed Black Cockatoos overhead and the buzz of mosquitoes in your ear. Beau said he has seen one water python on all his visits.
Care and management of these special freshwater springs is a grey area. While local indigenous families keep an eye on Bundabunda, there’s nothing official to tackle weed management and no monitoring of water levels. Isolation certainly provides protection – but even the damage caused by our visit was enough for Beau to say excursions should be limited to once a year.
Not a pith helmet or machete in sight
Special thanks to Beau Bibby for leading the expedition and sharing his knowledge, to Phil Docherty, and to Rita & Charles Clements for giving SKIPS permission to visit Carnot Bay.
Some native plant images April 26, 2009
Posted by kimberleyplants in Uncategorized.Tags: Melastoma, Osbeckia, wetland plants
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Added some pics under native plant section, what do you think?
