The dunes are the habitat of some special animals - like the marsupial mole, a golden-coloured silky-haired marsupial equivalent of our European mole that 'swims' through the sand dunes, but makes no burrows because the soft sand falls in behind it. Marsupial moles are subterranean, but many of the other animals are also nocturnal and difficult to see. However, like everywhere in the Red Centre, plants are in full bloom. The dunes are typically covered in low shrubs ...
... but like elsewhere, there were many blooming herbacious plants, ...
... including several red and pink species which seem to have been chosen with reckless disregard for the colour scheme:
All of the flowers are species that I have only seen growing on the dunes. Some seem to especially like the open sand, and I wonder in what proportion of years they flower:
Those photos are just wonderful. Can't pick one in particular that I like the best other than maybe the second and forth. Though I love the shadow that the last one has made in the sand.
ReplyDeleteHow often do they flower in those conditions. It's just amazing that they manage at all. :O)
chp.
I think I like the last one best - both as a photo and the way that this flower was managing to grow in open sand. It really was a special year in terms of seeing the desert in flower - something I'd heard about for a long time in biology/ecology courses, but still amazing to see :- )
ReplyDeleteThat last pic has got to be in with a chance in a photography competition.
ReplyDeleteHi Alastair,
ReplyDeleteYou snuck in while I wasn't looking :-) (I've had a couple of goes at setting up e-mail alerts when someone adds a reactie, without success. Just had another go. Here's hoping it works this time :-)
I love the flowers growing in the bare sand, too. I wonder if they flower in normally dry years - although I was quite happy to have the chance to see everything in bloom.