Seeking Out Australian Native Orchids #16

carrinm (70)in #photography • 8 years ago (edited)

Some days the orchid spotter just gets lucky and not always in the ways one would expect. This was such a day

I had headed out for my normal bicycle ride - down the hill into the National Park and do the loop to Apple Tree bay and back up the hill. It is a ride of less than one hour but it does include a good hill climb of about 250 metres (800 feet). I am always on the lookout for orchids though I must say I have tended to focus on looking in the places I have seen them before. This is my most frequently ridden route. And this focus is somewhat reinforced on the steeper part of the ride - on the flatter parts I do need to watch the road better as I travel more quickly.

So I am on the flat section of the road coming up away from the water and I catch a flash of pink right next to me just below shoulder level. I stop and come back to the spot to see this Rosy Hyacinth Orchid (Dipodium Roseum).

I had seen this variety a few days ago on the other side of the hill. This is a first on this side of the hill and the lowest down the hill I have seen any orchids.

It still amazes me where the orchids find a place to grow. The seed for this one has come to rest on a slope that is 45° - i.e., the steep section. The seed has come down with the rain and lodged against a twig or in a crack and has found enough soil to germinate and grow. The power of nature.

A few words about the photography challenge. The next image (of a different flower on the same plant) shows up the photography challenge. There is more light which has made focus difficult. It is quite hard to tell which part of the flower is actually in focus. The top image is so much better as there are several layers of the flower in focus. The depth of field is pretty good as the stuff in the background is clearly out of focus which is the effect we want to see. Still learning.

Had your photographer noticed at the time he took the photograph that there was an ant on the flower behind, he would have taken a very different picture. He only found it when he got home.

There is a bonus right at this orchid spot. A testament to the value of stopping to have a look see.

This is not an ordinary spider's web. This is a nest for the Sydney Funnel Web spider - the most poisonous spider in Australia

Now this story has another bonus - a frustrating bonus. Further up the hill I notice a bicycle tube discarded under one of the crash barriers. It really gets my goat when cyclists discard their dead tubes in the bush. The replacement tube came out of a pocket - the dead one could go home in the same pocket. RANT over

This story has a bonus as I noticed on the other side of the road, also behind the crash barrier, a whole colony of orchids. I had not seen these before as I focus on the side of the road I am riding on. Bonus sighting. As to variety, I am going to guess Bonnet orchids as this colony is directly in line (water flow wise) with a colony further up the hill on my side of the road. Over the next few rides, I will stop and look.