There has been no time for a wander during the week. Stuff kept getting in the way, plus the weather has been somewhat meh. Today was again forecast to be pretty average. It started that way, and we were hit by pounding rain and hail with thunder booming in the background:
But I needed to get out, so when a dry patch appeared I seized the opportunity. Josh had nipped out one lunch during the week to an old faithful spot in Bunbury, and stumbled across a lone white spider in flower. Raising my hopes when I headed back to the above place:
There were certainly heaps so spikes indicating there will be a booty of spider’s in bloom at some point. Just not today. No matter I was out, and that in itself felt good. There didn’t seem to be too much about, as I scanned the relatively drab scrub for splashes of colour:
With persistence I found a few donkey orchids. The first image being the Yalgorup Donkey Orchid (Diuris porphyrochila). And there are subtle, but sufficient differences to give me the confidence to say the above is a Sandplain Donkey Orchid (Diuris tinctoria):
Other times those little differences can be a huge timewaster. The above is Slender Snail Orchids (Pterostylis crispula), but the one below has had me flip-flopping over different species too many times. The hood and main body shape looked quite different:
But it took a bit of zooming into the image, for me to notice the hairy stem. Allowing me to decide on a Red-sepalled Snail Orchid (Pterostylis erubescens). I was out for about an hour and half. Getting hit by two fortunately short showers, as I continued to scour the ground:
I also got to check out the trick I learnt last weekend to confirm if I had found the Dwarf Pink Fairy (Caladenia reptans) when I found this one, and some others. Sure enough the small leaf at the base had that purple hue on its underside:
All up I came across eight orchid species in flower, so while the spiders weren’t ready it was definitely worth the time. Nothing particularly new, but I thought you may like the images, so I’ve kept the words uncharacteristically brief for me:
Sandbagged 