Seven Mile Beach NP greenhood orchid extravaganza : August 16 2025

Got a different day lined up for a clear blue sky day. Meeting a friend to walk Seven Mile Beach NP. Lucky break is my wife's friend will drive her to her lunch date - no taxi duties

You can tell it is going to be different when you find two chickens scratching around in a National Park

Been a long while since I have walked track with someone else - two pairs of eyes help

More than two pairs as we were accompanied by Dave, the service dog in his uniform. That was a new idea - walking a NP with a dog and his permits

Two sets of eyes found the first orchid - nodding greenhood

Side on - pterostylis nutans

Found a colony of this greenhood on my side of the track - this is a handy ID challenge - pterostlyis we know.

Oblonga vs erecta is the debate. The Latin name is a clue - something is longer . Colours are a clue. The angle of the helmet and the length of the point is a clue - especially before the flower forms fully. We saw a lot of super long points.

A big colony of at least 20 flowers- not seen them this close to the start of the walk - I see short points. Going to say pterostylis oblonga per my Alan Stephenson guide. This was his patch

Front on - subdued colours and elongated helmet

Fern growing out of a tree stump in memory of my primary school friend - Robyn Langage - RIP. I think of her each time I see a fern like this

A little mushroom and mould action on a fallen tree

The mission for today was two greenhoods - this one is one. An enigma. Two things are clear - labellum has a small twist. Labellum has a red ridge line

Will the rosette help? A longish pedicel and quite large eucalyptus shaped leaves

Definitely a twist in the labellum and a red ridge line. The twist says blunt greenhood - pterostylis curta

Next in the ID challenge - these are maroonhoods - look the same as the others we saw

Side on the curve of the helmet is shorter- maybe pterostylis erecta. Need DNA to know if they are different- morphology has too many similarities

Next test - rosette time

And the labellum test. Twisted? A little. Not red? -Yes

No doubt of the twist here - pterostylis curta- blunt greenhood

Side on - a bit nibbled

Matching rosette - short pedicels

Next test. Twisted labellum? No. Red ridge? Yes. Yep it is different

Leaf structure is different too - long stalks to the leaf

Conclusion - different - pterostylis hildae

• rainforest greenhood. Not common and found north of Nowra. This one is at the southern edge

Found a lot more maroonhoods both sides of the track. Fully formed they look similar - in budding form some of them have way longer points to helmet

These elongated helmets on some

Pea flower- climbing up high - a long way to the top

I always talk about the car park test. I did walk the whole edge of this park when I waited for my friend. Did not find anything. Saw these when we finished the walk. A cluster of greenhoods and acianthus orchids in the lawn. Blunt greenhood open

Twisted labellum showing

One budding.

Turned into a good walk to show an experienced orchid spotter - found 5 orchids inside 2 hours

Chose to head home for lunch and an at home afternoon. Body is fending off her cold - chose not to go to my son's place. Chose also not to go to friends for drinks with my wife. I want to nail this incoming cold/flu. Also used the time to do investing accounting and make dinner

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Daily Activity, House Chores, Photowalking

Height 183.0 cm		Weight 90.0 kg		Body Fat %
Waist cm		Thighs cm		Chest cm