Wild orchids in Manea Reserve, Bunbury, Western Australia

 Hi all, I hope you and yours are doing well. 

I just realised that I hadn't shared any wild orchids with you this year as I normally do during the spring months. So today is the day. 

We have a wonderful bush reserve, the Manea Reserve, about 15 minutes from our home, which we frequent during winter and spring, walking along the loop formed path. 

There are over 400 wild orchid varieties in the south west of Western Australia. These are not the flamboyant flashy Asian orchids - these are tiny delicate orchids - which often blend their colours into their surroundings. Or stun us with a colour so amazing - like the Blue Lady you will see as you scroll down. No I haven't adjusted the colour in post-processing. 

Here are some wild orchids from September - clockwise from top left - Reaching spider orchid, Donkey orchids, Bird orchid, Dancing orchid, donkey orchids, and the Jug orchid. Enlarged below one of the Donkey orchid varieties. 

October - clockwise from top left - Mignonette orchid, Blue lady orchid, Pink fairies, White spider orchid, White spider orchids, Forest Mantis, Enamel orchids, Cowslips, and in the centre the Blue Lady. Enlarged below the Blue Lady orchid. 

and November - really the end of the orchid season - but still a couple coming on - clockwise from top left - one of the blue sun orchids, Leopard orchid, Mignonette orchid, the leaves of the Slipper orchid (just starting to poke up their flower stems, Leopard orchid, and another blue sun orchid. Enlarged below the Leopard Orchid. 

Here is a photo of the Slipper Orchid - from a previous visit during the heat of December.

Just a short post from me today - if you would like to see some of my previous posts from Manea Reserve go here - I can assure you there is lots of colour! 

Manea - December 2021

Manea - July 2022

Manea - September 2012

Manea - December 2020

And Manea is not just about orchids - clockwise from top left -

one of the yellow pea flowers, Summer star flower, Star of Bethlehem, Holly leaved Banksia, Banjine, Orange stars, Wisteria, Pink Baronia, and in the middle Mangles red kangaroo paw. 

There are over 8,000 species of wildflowers in the south west of Western Australia! 

When you hear screeching look up - it is most likely a Forest Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo, found in jarrah, marri and karri forests, it listed as Vulnerable in Western Australia. They love to eat hard seed pods of eucalypts, casuarinas and banksias, using its strong beak to tear them open. Their red/orange stripes on their tail are magnificent to see in flight - but hard to capture with a camera. From what I have read this is a female because of the yellow spots on its head and the yellow/orange stripes on its chest. 

More information at: Birdlife Australia 

You also might see some kangaroos if you walk quietly. Please keep dogs on a lead. 

And please stay on the paths and don't pick the wildflowers.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed this little splash of spring colour in the Western Australian bush. 

I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 
I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

Next time I hope to be back with my continuation of our Coral Coast Western Australia tour. 

If you are looking for a translate button - it's there near the top on the right hand side. 
   

Mosaic Monday @ Soul & Mind & So On

Saturdays Critters - Viewing Nature With Eileen

Peabea's Pictorial Tuesday

Travel Tuesday

Talking About It Tuesdays @ Slices of Life

ThroughMy Lens 
Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity. 
       and Little bird - Pienilintu
Thankful Thursday 

H2O Thursday
Welcome to Nature Thursday

Sky Watch Friday

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

Until then, enjoy your day...Life only comes around once, so do what makes you happy, be kind, and be with people who make you smile. 

Wild Orchid time is starting!

 Hi everyone. I hope you and yours are well. 

Just a short post from me today as we are busy helping our son and daughter-in-law paint their new house. Very exciting times for them. 

It is winter here in Australia and some of the wild orchids are starting to appear in our bushland. Orchid hunting is one of my favourite things to do especially as it gets us out into natural bushland. We are lucky to have a few places to find orchids in our area. 

Last Friday we went walking through the Manea Park Reserve as a fellow orchid hunter had told me where to find the helmet orchid - Corcybas recurvous. This is an orchid we have been unsuccessfully searching for for years. So I really felt lucky to have someone tell me where I might find them. Even with directions it took a little hunting, and then there they were!

They flower from June to September and only in a relatively small part of the south west of Western Australia. We found these in dry leaf litter under tuart and peppermint trees. 

These orchids are tiny, and like to hide in leaf litter so you really need to look carefully and then be careful where you tread. The leaves are only about 8-20mm across. They grow in large colonies, but only a few flower each year, so I think we were very lucky to see so many flowers. 

Please click on read more to continue reading....

Going for a walk? - take your camera!

 Hi everyone. I hope you are all doing well. Just a short post from me today and a reminder - going for a walk? take your camera! as you never know what you might see that you want to photograph. Your phone might be as good as a camera, but mine is not, but it is better than nothing!

We try to walk every day - and I particularly like walking in the bush. I have always said there is something always flowering in the Australian bush. Did I forget that? Because on Sunday when we went out to one of our favourite walks during spring, Manea Reserve - but it is autumn here now and I only took my small point and shoot camera not expecting to see much other than tall flowering trees. 

Well at least I had a camera, and even though there wasn't much flowering we happened upon a couple of clumps of bunny orchids - Eriochilus.  Looking in my orchid book I think this is the Common bunny orchid - Eriochilus dilatatus - subspecies multiflorus. Particularly as it matches with the month of flowering, the location in jarrah and banksia bushland, and the small single leaf. There are over 1,700 species of orchids found in Australia! 

There are six species and six sub-species of bunny orchids found in the south west of Western Australia. The bunny orchids are the earlliest flowering of the native orchids.  As I didn't have my camera I use for wildflowers, I have had to crop this image. 

As with the majority of Australian native orchids, these are tiny - flowers are 10-15mm long, so you need to have to be looking closely to find them. especially as they blend in so well to the surrounds. 

The other only flowering plant of note which we saw was the Swamp Banksia - Banksia littoralis - which flowers from March to August. The bees were certainly enjoying them, burrowing deep within the flower cones. 

Here you can see some of the stages of the banksia - just starting to flower, flowering, and the cone (nut). I have blogged about them a few times before:

Celebration of the Australian Banksia

Candlestick Banksia - it must be November

When you are in Manea Reserve, please use the foot cleaning station to help curb the spread of dieback which is a sygnificant threat to our native bushland. 

I hope you have enjoyed this little visit to the Manea Reserve today. I have blogged about it before - especially the spring flowering orchids. 

Manea Reserve - December 2021

In search of wild orchids - Manea - September 2011

Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf
Sharon's Sovenirs 
Our World Tuesday
Pictorial Tuesday 
ThroughMy Lens 
Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity. 
       and Little bird - Pienilintu
Thankful Thursday 
Welcome to Nature Thursday

Skywatch Frida

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

Manea Reserve - Down in the Western Australian bush this week

We have been sweltering here the last couple of weeks in Western Australia as we are hit by the summer sun. I have been waiting for a cooler cloudy day to go out to Manea Reserve to see if the summer flowering slipper orchids have opened. Saturday morning was my first opportunity - and I wasn't disappointed. I have always said there is always something flowering in the Australian bush. And this is true for summer.  

We were greeted at the gate with a heavily laden Jarrah tree - Eucalyptus marginata - much prized for it's wood for fine furniture making. 

My goodness there is a lot of yellow in this collage. 

Clockwise below from top left you can see the last of the Orange stars - Hibbertia stellaris. The Holly-leaved banksia - Banksia ilicifolia. Spearwood - Kunzea glabrescens. And bottom left Yellow starflower - Calytrix-angulata

Below here - top row the Western Australian Christmas Tree - Nuytsia floribunda and below that the Candlestick banksia - Banksia-attenuata - both of which I have blogged about before. Please click on the orange links to read more. They are so glorious this time of year. Interesting the Christmas trees were only just starting to flower in Manea, whereas I have seen them in full flower in other areas nearby. 

One little bottle brush was trying to put on a good red Christmas show, there were a few purple Fringe Lily T. multiflorus, and the last of the bushy boronia -Boronia fastigiata - were pretty in pink (though I don't have a definite identification of this one)

Below here is on the top row - Spider smokebush -  Conospermum teretifolium and below that Drumsticks, also known as pineapple bush - Dasypogon bromeliifolius. You can probably see why they are called drumsticks. 

Look at the height of these grass trees spikes! - Xanthorrhoea brunonis. My husband kindly posed so you can get an idea of the height.  There are around 28 species of grass tree endemic to Australia. The one you see below does not have a trunk like the Xanthorrhoea preissii, also known by the Noongar name balga.

Here is some information I found on the net: Bush Heritage Australia - Grass Trees and on ABC - Gardening Australia

But wait - there is more yellow! This is the native broom - also known as swishbush - Viminaria juncea. A large drooping bush 3-5 metres high that likes slightly swampy ground. 

And finally I come to the Slipper orchid - Cryptostylis ovata - the only Western Australian wild orchid that has leaves all year round. I've blogged about them before here - Summer colour in the south west Western Australia

All the spring orchids have finished in Manea Reserve, and I was so happy not to have missed the summer flowering slipper orchid. 

You might also like:

The candlestick Banksia

Nannup wildflwoer walks

Hunting for wild orchids in the Western Australian wheatbelt

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed this wander through Manea Reserve with me. Have you a reserve you like to visit for wildflowers. Perhaps you would like to tell us about it in your comments. 

I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 
I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
   
MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf
Sharon's Sovenirs 
Our World Tuesday
Pictorial Tuesday 
ThroughMy Lens 
Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity. 
       and Little bird - Pienilintu
Thankful Thursday 
Welcome to Nature Thursday
The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.