A charismatic flagship rainforest species Left: Southern pink underwing moth larvae, Right: Southern pink underwing moth adult, © Isaac Wishart Walking through the dimly lit subtropical rainforest, you stumble across an unusual caterpillar sitting on a vine. Sensing potential danger, the caterpillar tilts its head downwards, displaying its defence to...
Left: A mob of emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae) gathering and grazing at Ellenbrae. Right: Little pink fairy orchid (Caladenia reptans).
Ellenbrae
Western Australia • TALBOT
We were not always interested in native orchids, even though we always enjoyed looking at wildflowers. Then one day someone mentioned that native orchids are a barometer for biodiversity. That got our attention!
Our property “Ellenbrae” is a wildlife sanctuary of approximately 40-acres of pristine bush. It consists of granite outcrops which are inaccessible by vehicles or tractors and the area where there are no rocks canbe extremely boggy during the wet season, making traditional farming not an option. So, this area was always left untouched and possibly more pristine
than a National Park. During spring we would often wander through this area and enjoy seeing the many different wildflowers growing there. We knew there were wild orchids, thinking there to be five or six different species. When we realised how important indicators of biodiversity terrestrial orchids really are we started to photograph them and to our amazement the more we looked the more we found. Every year without fail we would find several new species hiding amongst the undergrowth and as of now we have filmed or photographed close to 50 different species on our property.
After many years searching for orchids on our property, we learned a few tricks. Most terrestrial orchids in our area have quite a small flowering window with many blooming for a short time and are often grazed by kangaroos so timing is critical to finding them. It is important to have a thorough look once a week and of course it helps if you know what to look for. Books and publications by experts such as Andrew Brown are extremely helpful and local orchid groups such as Western Australian Native Orchid Study and Conservation Group (WANOSCG) are an invaluable source of information.
A must-have for anyone in Western Australia interested in identifying native orchids is the “Key to Native Orchids of Western Australia”—an interactive free online and mobile app developed by members of and with the backing of WANOSCG and based on Lucidcentral technology. It provides descriptions, photos, distribution, flowering times, and conservation status for the state’s known orchids. You can see short videos of the terrestrial orchids growing in our wildlife sanctuary on our YouTube channel, youtube.com/@wildhomevideos in the playlist “Wild Australian Native orchids growing on Ellenbrae”.
Steve and Hedy Krasevac
Members since 2018
