We utilise our recently arrived weed team to remove the Ice Plant, Mesembryanthemum crystallinum, that has become a nuisance weed. They also assist with rope & fence repairs and trimming overgrown tracks.

By the afternoon a strong southerly has blown up, sand and salt streaming inland followed by light rain, which was welcome.

A full moon rises over Mt Josef a large sand dune south east of the main building.

About 6mm rain fell overnight but by lunchtime the sky had almost cleared. Time to explore the Horse Paddock from long ago. The old growth mallee is doing well with a good covering of moss across the surface. The old West Track was once an access route but has not been used for many years and despite the time passing by, the mallee has not yet reclaimed this track, loss of biocrust a likely cause of the slow recovery.

Plenty of flowers to photograph and dunes to explore. A number of these are introduced species. Cakile maritima was first collected in Western Australia by Richard Helms, botanical collector on the Elder Exploring Expedition of 1897. The genus name Cakile is from the Arabic qugulleh, said to be the name of the plant, which was named in 1772. The species name maritima means growing by the sea. Despite their introduction they contribute to dune stabilisation.

Birds of prey enjoying the break in the rain and have been seen chasing mice and enjoying a bath in the bird bath.

Sea Spurge, Spurge, Euphorbia paralias L. (Introduced)