Thursday 7th January 2021. 1250 – 1345

Weather

10 mm of rain in the gauge, Bright and sunny initially but clouding up later with storm clouds increasing. Almost turned back on viewing dark clouds from the road but had umbrella so decided to continue. Traversed walk much faster than usual but heavy downpour commenced when at Stringers Stretch. Took shelter for about 15 minutes under Highway Bridge when it eased off enough to get home without getting soaked.
Track wet and will by now be quite muddy. Water level down 50 mm since yesterday but probably back up again by now. Still raining as I write.

Post

Went out to purchase a plant from Lakeside Nursery and deliver it to Malanda this morning so made an after lunch start to Patrol. Thomas keen to come today in spite of being warned about the weather.
At Allumbah Pocket sighted a Green Ringtail Possum in the tree on the right of the entrance. Very difficult to make it out through dense foliage but the furry bundle appeared too big for a single Possum so came to conclusion that the face seen is that of joey while the background mass is Mrs Green. Reluctant to hang around too long as concerned about weather.
In the tree on the right at the far end of Lloyd’s Suspension Bridge “Popeye” the male Green Ringtail Possum was awaiting us and looking quite perky.
At Horseshoe Rocks a female Eastern Water Dragon was displaying her full length but when I delayed taking a photograph she hid most of herself behind a rock.
The cause of the delay was the sighting on the rocks in front of the Memorial Bench of a moderately sized Saw-shelled Turtle with a tiny relative riding on it’s back. It made a particularly attractive image.
Another Turtle was on the downstream side of the newly fallen tree at Snodgrass’s Pool.
Hurried on pausing only briefly to photograph two more Turtles on the concrete slab opposite Log Jam Peninsula.
Paused again at Platy’s Pool where a Varied Eggfly Butterfly caught my eye as it tasted some nectar.
At Picnic Peninsula a small group had gathered to view a Platypus. The light had by this time become difficult for photography and I was unable to obtain an image but my naked eye impression was that this could well have been “Ringneck”.
As the rain commenced we retreated to the shelter of the Highway Bridge where we were joined by a family from Brisbane who made Thomas’s day by giving him several pats!
While there, a small insectivorous bat flew around several times before perching in one of the bridge joints.
Returned home when the rain eased without any further sightings.