Excursion to Gellibrand Point, 8 Aug 2009
Excursion to Gellibrand Point, 8 Aug 2009
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Studying a shrub near Gellibrand Point. GF |
Crested terns on The Spit, and a Silver gull in the foreground. JD |
Black-faced cormorants and a couple of Great cormorants on The Spit; a Pied oyster-catcher in the foreground. JD |
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Remains of crabs, including Pie-crust Cancer novaezealandiae and Decorator Naxia aurita. GF |
Horehound stink bugs Agonoscelis rutila clustering on horehound, an introduced weed, near the dam behind The Spit. GF |
Flame robin, near Mitchells Beach. JD |
Also near Mitchells Beach, we came across an echidna burrowing into the soil. This is its tail, showing some damaged quills. Robyn Gates informed us that the pattern of broken tail quills can be used as a means of identifying individual animals. GF |
Kelp gulls off the windward western shore of the peninsular. JD |
Coast hounds-tongue, Cynoglossum australe, It is officially listed as 'rare' though club members have found it in many coastal areas of Tasmania. GF |
There were many colonies of Gorse spider mites Tetranychus lintearius shrouding the spiny branches of gorse in white webs before feeding on the leaves. A microscope view, where it looked as though some individuals were semi-upside-down and stationary, spinning web, while others dragged the silk line and stretched it across the plant.
GF
LF |
Amblyopone australis. LF |
Beach jumping spider (Salticidae) well camouflaged among grains of sand. LF |
Labidura truncata, a native earwig - 15mm long. They are found under rocks in the grass and on the shore at high tide level, and have pale sides in coastal areas but darker inland They feed on crickets and caterpillars held in their ceri (large posterior pincers). LF |
Photos by John Dargue, Geoff Fenton, Lynne Forster |