With spring fast approaching and a break in the windy weather, a wander in the box/ironbark bush at Glenmaggie was called for to investigate the state of play. With the general lack of invertebrate life last season, regular surveys will be in order to see if there is any improvement. Despite the warm sunny day there was little to see in the way of insect life, and no spiders were noticed. The Golden Wattle is in flower but despite extensive searching only an occasional flower fly, Lauxaniidae species was found feeding on pollen.

There was little to be seen in the leaf litter, a fast moving Red-headed Spider Ant, Leptomyrmex erythrocephalus was finally snapped,

And after a short pursuit this small Tortricid, Sciaphila debiliana was also on the card.
The larvae of this moth, as with many similar, feed on dry gum leaves on the forest floor, helping to recycle and reduce fire risk.

Bird life was also very sparse, with a small party of White-winged Choughs the most noticeable. The final photo for the trip was bird related with this found deep in the bush. With the Heyfield golf course three kilometres away, a powerful drive would be out of the question, the culprit therefore has to be a Little Raven discarding what it thought was a tasty egg. This is a common occurrence, golf balls are regularly picked up in the home paddock, purloined by the resident Little Ravens from the local course 1.5 km away. One was also picked up at the base of a fence post at the riverside reserve, with the cover well pecked.

The flower spikes of the grass-tree are an important food resource for birds and insects.
On one spike ants and the odd  hoverfly were busy, the latter though eluded the camera.

On one boundary of the park there is an area rich in terrestrial orchids. It had been burnt, but not as fiercely, bordering farmland it is possible that it had been a back burn to protect the farm. Orchid leaves were easy to find on the bare ground,

Greenhoods, Pterostylis sp.

Small Gnat Orchid, Cyrtostylis reniformis.

Waxlip Orchid, Glossodia major.

At this location Pterostylis striata and Pterostylis concinna grow together, and the named hybrid P. xToveyana also occurs. We found a good number of striata flowers, but concinna was just coming into bud, striata flowers from April to August, concinna from May to October. They are pollinated by fungus gnats, that, with other orchid pollinators are severely impacted by burning of the bush, causing a lack of pollination, diminution of seed, and the consequent fading away of orchid populations.

Pterostylis striata.

Many species of orchid are found living happily in the shelter of a log or tree, this tree for example was very much to the liking of striata. Click to enlarge.

References and further reading,

Orchid Pollinators of Victoria, Rudie H Kuiter
Wild Orchids of Victoria, Jeanes and Backhouse