Tuesday 19 August 2008

Sea Cliff Nature Walk


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When I was at Portland a few weeks ago, I went for a stroll along the Cliff Top Nature Walk at Cape Nelson. It was a wet and windy day with occasional glimpses of blue sky. Not the best bird watching weather but I saw all the usual suspects in the coastal heath: superb blue wrens, New Holland honeyeaters, little wattlebirds, crimson rosellas and grey currawongs (black-winged form). None of which had the grace to perch long enough for me to operate my camera with my frozen fingers, you understand. So you'll just have to take my word for it.

The walk is about 3 km long and passes through a range of heath types as it runs from the centre of the cape to the coast and back again. Here's the short version, without the squalls that arrived, unimpeded, from Antarctica.

Grass trees near the start of the track

Flame heath (Astroloma conostephioides) brings a splash of colour to the scrub

The endemic soap mallee (Eucalyptus diversifolia)

Echidna mission statement — we take digging seriously

Wallaby tracks

Close to the cliff top, the trees get shorter and shorter until you feel as if you're entering Liliput

The Nature Walk joins the Great South West Walk on the Cape's west coast

Looking north towards Bridgewater Bay

Ballart (Exocarpos) catches the sun

Correa in the shadows

Out of Liliput and into the Shire

Where the rosella wasn't