Ready for Spring
The natural regreening of the forest continues, despite the Winter chills.
Morning sun rapidly warms the forest following another near-zero degrees start (9th August, 2021)
Wattles now dominate a burgeoning understorey, almost impassable in places. Eucalypts have formed true branches from their epicormic growth. Leafy vines decorate many standing dead trees. And the Geebungs have never looked healthier!
Yet Winter is not all green. Short days and cold weather encourages flowering in some species. Epacris in its many shades continues to grace patches of the forest, and the white Pimelea flowers have been a constant for months.
That was Winter – it’s all about to change. The scene is set, the actors are warming up.
We watch and wait in anticipation of another extraordinary season. Last year was amazing. I expect this Spring, the second since the fire, will be quite different. Perhaps fewer orchids and forbs, certainly more woody shrubs in flower.
Everywhere, flower buds form. Here and there, a precocious bloom opens. The relatively modest Winter floral display will soon be eclipsed by the myriad colours and shapes of Spring.
With the flowers come the insects. I confess that it is their performance I most keenly await.
The emergence of digger wasps and reed bees. Colourful flower-visiting beetles and bizarre predatory bugs. Delicate damselflies, lacewings and butterflies. Weird and wonderful flies.
Today I spotted my first flower wasps for the season – and so it begins!
Postscript:
One day later and the number and diversity of insects of wasps is rising fast. I’m looking at a busy few weeks ahead!
