Field Trip to Smiths Lake, Central New South Wales

Yesterday, I returned from a field trip at Smiths Lake, around 250 kilometres north of Sydney on the Central Coast. Smiths Lake is salt water, and periodically naturally opens to the sea.

View Smiths Lake Field Station in a larger map

The annual field trip is a large component of a second year ecology unit run by Macquarie University, and I was there as the plant science tutor. As well as vegetation pracs, the trip included pracs on bird communities, plant-dwelling invertebrates, benthic diatoms, fish communities and benthic invertebrates. It's the first time I've formally taught in biology, and just loved the experience. Out in the bush, there were plenty of snakes, including a Death adder, Acanthophis sp., one of the most venomous snakes in the world, but we made plenty of noise in the bush to keep them at bay. No students lost, happily.

Pelagica, one of the university's research boats. 

I didn't spend much time on our boat Pelagica, since my pracs were in the bush. But I did get to enjoy a boat trip on the final day.

My passion for terrestrial orchids grows unabated! Isn't this a cutey?

Calochilus paludosus,
Red Beardy ground orchid

A frequent visitor to the field station, a young male
Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Macropus giganteus.

This fellow was on his own, so has probably been forced out from his mob by the dominant male, and is wandering about looking for his own mob to start.

Lomandra confertifolia ssp. rubiginosa, a delicate sedge. 

An Australian Pelican, Pelicanus conspicillatus. 

My tent was close to this spot. Pelicans were gliding past my tent at dusk. There are hundreds of them on the lake, and given the massive numbers of fish we saw, it's hardly surprising. It's a fish smorgasbord.

A beautiful place, and a fabulous field trip! Such diversity of species. Bliss.