We drive out to Burnabbie for a bird survey and enjoy the carpet of Button Daisies that are just coming into flower. It’s then up the escarpment to explore and survey the Pannikin Plain, we see some different birds again today.

The lizards are beginning to appear in big numbers, Varanus sp (monitors), Sleepy Lizards, Tiliqua rugosa and Blue Tongues, Tiliqua occipitalis. We find one poor Blue Tongue on the track with a front left foot missing and the upper inside of the front legs covered in ticks. The ticks are removed and wounds treated and we let him go. Dugites are also appearing.

While one set of flowering shrubs fade away another set blooms. We found some really beautiful ones today and some are sweet smelling. Surprisingly these are generally found around the edges of mallee where it’s dry eroded limestone ground, not what you would expect to support such a variety of colour and species.

There are many new flowering plants around the base.