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moloch05

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Last Spring, I visited Dharawal Nature Reserve on several locations. This reserve is only about a 20 minute drive from Wollongong. It is a great place for frogs, lizards and flowers. In this post, I will include photos of reptiles and flowers and in the next post, the incredible frogs that I found in the reserve.

I visited two parts of this park. One area was in the vicinity of Maddens Falls.
maddenFalls1.jpg


maddenFalls2.jpg



... there is a gap behind the waterfall and it is big enough to crawl into
maddenFalls3.jpg



I found a few Eastern Water Dragons (Physignathus lesueurii) in the vicinity of the falls.
waterDragon2_29Aug.jpg


waterDragon3.jpg



... I found this one asleep in a shallow crevice one night when I was searching for frogs:
waterDragon1.jpg




The most common reptile along the creeks was the Eastern Water Skink (Eulamprus quoyii).
waterSkink1.jpg



... an "affectionate" pair. The rock was big but they appeared to want to be in contact.
waterSkink3.jpg





Three-toed Skink (Saiphos equalis)
ThreeToe1_23Aug.jpg



Red-throated Skink (Acritoscincus platynotum).
RedThroatedSkink1a_29Aug.jpg


RedThroatedSkink2a_29Aug.jpg



The second area that I visited was drier. I followed a road that passed along sandy ridgetops with outcrops of sandstone.
habitat5.jpg


habitat7.jpg


habitat6.jpg



I saw different reptiles here. Among them was this Cryptoblepharus sp. Dharawal is the nearest place to Wollongong where I have seen this skink.
crypto1-1.jpg



Copper-tailed Skinks (Ctenotus taeniolatus) were only seen in the dry, sandy areas on the ridgetops.
coppertail1.jpg



Mountain Heath Dragons (Rankinia diemensis) were found both here and along the track to Maddens Falls.
jacky2-1.jpg



Jacky Lizards (Amphibolurus muricatus) were also widespread and occurred in both the riparian and drier habitats.
jacky1.jpg


jacky2.jpg



I found this basking Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis) early one morning. It appeared to be cold and ignored me for several minutes.
brown2.jpg


brown3.jpg


brown4.jpg



Scorpion Fly with its victim.
cranefly.jpg



The spring flowers were spectacular. Here are a few of the species that I observed.
Spotted Sun Orchid (Thelymitra ixioides)
orchid2.jpg



... their flowers would close in the late afternoon
orch6.jpg



a Finger Orchid
orch4.jpg




Members of the pea family were particularly abundant. Many of these were spectacular.
wattles26Aug.jpg


pea_28Aug.jpg


pea8.jpg


pea6.jpg


pea5.jpg


pea3.jpg


pea1.jpg




The Protea family (Proteaceae) was also well represented
grevillea1.jpg


grevillea1.jpg


grevillea2.jpg


waratah1.jpg


waratah2.jpg




A stunning Boronia
heath3.jpg


flower5.jpg



Others, such as this fan flower (Scaevola sp.):
flower2.jpg



Pink Wax Flower (Eriostemon australasius)
waxflower2.jpg



Hybanthus sp.
flower3.jpg



Ricinocarpus sp.
flower1-1.jpg



Fairies Aprons (Utricularia dichotoma) -- an insectivorous plant
fairyapron1.jpg


Sundew
sundew_29Aug.jpg


sundew2_29Aug.jpg


The best of the flower season spanned from the end of August to the end of October.
 
nice pics!!! btw the second jacky photo is actually a mountain dragon
 
Thanks for the comments.

W.T.Buy,
What feature are you using to separate the two?


serpenttongue,
Yes, along Darkes Forest road. The walk to the falls commences from a parking lot opposite an apple orchard. The dry country area was further west along Darkes Forest Road and along a sandy track.


Regards,
David
 
One of my favorite places, though I havn't seen many snakes there, well compaired to the amount of frogs in the area you'd think there would be more?? I probably went down there 30 times last season, a good short walk for the kids.
 
Stunning pics as always. Would have been lovely to see the entire shrubs of the Grevilleas and Telopeas. Also one of my favourite Eriostemons, extremely hard to grow in a nursery environment. Where there any of the white australasius?

I believe those to be Grevillea bronwenea Grevillea longifolia and Telopea speciosissima.
 
Deffinatly Telopea speciosissima. The caladenia looks like Caladenia carnea. Love the erect Drosera, not sure on the species, we get a similar species but much less robust here, D. pelata
 
Thanks for all the comments and then help with the plant identifications (and lizard id correction).

Sassy,
I don't think that I have any full plant shots but here are a few others.

These two are from Heathcote but I believe that they are the same species as those at Dharawal
grevillea.jpg


grevillea3-1.jpg



... from Dharawal
grevillea1-2.jpg


grevillea2-1.jpg


myrtaceae1.jpg



... a waratah from Wollongong
teleopea1.jpg



Regards,
David
 
Great pics as always David. Mountain Dragons can be distinguised from Jackys by the presence of tubercles at the base of the tail.
 
Thanks, MrBredli. That feature can easily be seen in these photos.

Regards,
David
 
the big red flowers...i think JasonL..aslo had some in his thread?
wow...didnt think i like red that much?
 
Thanks.

Dragonlady,
Waratahs (big red flowers) are spectacular in the spring. Several years ago, there was a fire along the top of the escarpment just west of Wollongong. For the next couple of years, the waratah display in the spring was incredible. Now, the other plants have regenerated and they crowd and overtake most of the waratahs. I could still see flowers last spring but many of the flowers seemed stunted and the display was not nearly as spectacular.

Regards,
David
 
far out, those are stunning photos of flowers!
so much colour in the photos, would love to see them in real life.
: )
 
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