Gippsland Day 7 - Elusive Lake, Croajingolong National Park
2 February 2008
Having visited two years ago and seen some interesting things then,
I thought it was time to once again visit a part of this park along the far east coast of Victoria.
As last time, there were many Jade Hunter dragonflies, Austrogomphus ochraceus.
The males were perching on the sandy shore around the lake (trying not to get blown away by the wind).
There were other common dragonflies around this picturesque freshwater lake near the coast.
The main reason I was here for though were the Fiery Skimmers, Orthetrum villosovittatum.
I found them in the exact same location this time but had more appropriate footwear so eventually,
after about an hour of trying, got close to one
bright red dragonfly.
This was shortly after it had mated with a female.
As the female deposited her eggs in the muddy shallows amongst the reeds the male guarded her by hovering overhead.
I tried to get a photo of the female but this
was the best I could do and after finishing she flew off almost vertically.
Another interesting site was seeing some Australian Sand Wasps, Bembix sp.,
digging their tunnels and catching flies.
I observed them mostly returning with large flies (March Flies), which was good for me as there was less biting involved.
The first time I saw them was in Warrandyte a bit over a year ago.
This time I managed to record a short movie of a Sand Wasp digging.
Towards the end of the day I started heading back but my plans were in turmoil
when I realized I left my bag at the car park.
This was after travelling 40km up a gravel road and was back on the highway.
The bag had all my money in it (quite a lot actually), my wallet (with all my cards, license, etc)
and, worst of all, my camera and memory cards with all my irreplaceable photos on it!
I kicked myself several times (so you don't have to do it) for being so careless.
I raced back down again and over an hour after leaving the car park my back was still sitting there in the open.
Much relieved and glad so few people were around
(and it was probably obvious to you I didn't lose anything otherwise you wouldn't have seen all these photos).
