Here is a patch of dunes immediately to the west of our shack. Most of the plants were propagated from local seeds*.
Rabbits have been and are the enemy. It has taken a quarter of a century to revegetate this one small section: a reminder that natural systems are easier to preserve than restore.
The dunes stretch north and south; there is plenty of work to do….more than enough to last a lifetime. But I am encouraged to note signs of progress. Olearia seedlings are popping up here and there. The Isolepsis (renamed Ficinia, for reasons unknown) – or Knobby Club Rush – is spreading. Coastal spinifex and Muntries put out their long shoots.
The seed bank is restored, to some degree – and looking south-west towards Rapid Bay Head, I can almost imagine I am back in the late 1950’s, when the dune system was relatively untouched….
*Knobby Club Rush (Ficinia nodosa); Pigface (Carpobrotus rossii): Coastal lignum (Muehlenbeckia gunnii); Seaberry Saltbush (Rhagodia candolleana); Dune Fan-flower (Scaevola calendulacea); Coastal Wattle (Acacia sophorae); Coastal saltbush (Atriplex cinerea); Muntries (Kunzea pomifera); Cushion Bush ((Leucophyta brownii); Coast Daisy-bush (Olearia axillaris); Coastal Spinifex (Spinifex sericeus); Spreading Flax-lily (Dianella revoluta); Coast Bitter-bush (Adriana klotzschii).
