I have an RDO, and the grandkids are enjoying the last few days of school holidays, so why not give mum a break and spend the day with Grandad and Nana. So, we take them off on an afternoon orchid hunt of sorts. First up it’s time to play on the blue metal mounds in our first location, a bit north up the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway.
No orchids seen on the drive into and out of this location, so we move on to Mount Burdett where we take the kids on a mountain climb. Well calling this casual bush bash and granite rock ramble a mountain climb is a bit of a stretch, but it was a good workout, nonetheless. Plus, the bonus was finding some orchids.
Actually, the first orchid blew my mind, as it was a bunny orchid with 16 flowers in its inflorescence. For this location, the White bunny orchid (Eriochilus dilatatus subsp. dilatatus) or the Granite bunny orchid (Eriochilus pulchellus) are the most likely species to be encountered. Neither are listed with 16 flowers; however, the Granite bunny is listed as having up to 10, whilst the White bunny has up to 7 and in rare cases 10. I have posted pics onto iNaturalist Australia site for assistance in identifying the probable species.
At and near the summit of the hill we come across some other bunny orchids in flower. These orchids are growing on the granite, have fewer flowers and a thick stem, which leads me to name these one’s the Granite bunny orchid.
Before leaving the rock, we grab a couple of pics then head back down to the Triton where we have afternoon tea before for the drive home. On a roadside stop we find another bunny orchid, which I will not attempt to ID as I did not grab a photo of its leaf.
What better way to spend my RDO than in the company of my beautiful partner in crime Debbie and 2 of our gorgeous grandchildren, exploring for early season orchids. The amazing warm, sunny weather was the icing on the cake.
