Peak season

A strong group tackled FOBIF’s October walk around the Fryers Ridge yesterday in fine cool weather. The walk started at the junction of the Fryers Ridge and Fryers-Taradale roads, and wound down some nameless tracks and around to gullies on the western side of the Ridge. Although wattles are off their peak, everything else seems to be bursting out in this part of the forest right now: Pink Bells are having their best season for years, Flat-pea is prominent, along with Grevilleas, Large-leaf Bush-pea and numerous other wildflowers carpeting a ground storey still green from recent rains.

One of the highlights of the walk was finding a Bird Orchid. Photo by Peter Turner

Our thanks to Christine Henderson for guiding the group around some superb corners of this wonderful bush: places hard to find, certainly not shown on any standard map.  There’s no substitute for expert local knowledge! Frances Cincotta also shared her botanical knowledge about numerous plants along the way.

Our thanks to Bronwyn Silver for managing the walks program through a tricky year, and to all our very flexible leaders. Watch out for the 2022 program!