February 16-18 Beaufort Lake is a delight

 Beaufort Lake is a delight – its history is something I want to explore because it is in fact a reservoir rather than a lake. I have a postcard with a monochrome photo of the lake dating back to the turn of the C19th – family links! 

Looping around the lake is a fitness track 

Centre image is Snake Island - we didn't see any!

The narrow channel beside Snake Island is lined with Goodenia 

Hop Goodenia (Goodenia ovata) native to this region.

Many tracks wind around its shores, tracks which take you passed many species of eucalypts and acacias as well as native grasses and aquatic plants. Around the lake there are areas of swamp which are home to a huge diversity of species – frogs and their tadpoles, insects and their larvae, invertebrates of many kinds – and that of course brings the birds in to feast. 

At water's edge hardy aquatic plants force their way through cracks in the mud 

Numerous species of birds feasted in this marshy place.

It’s a veritable smorgasbord particularly as it dries out leaving eggs buried in mud and plants becoming food for a range of wildlife.  It is a place I’d be happy to wander for hours and days.  

Birds galore to watch

A board walk cuts through the reeds giving views of many water birds

The vegetation is marvellous particularly that which grows along the water’s edge. And then there are the fungi and slime moulds – it all provided a perfect challenge for me. 

Among the bullrushes this weird deformity jumped out 

The butterflies were gorgeous

Sunlight through reeds

Lichens of many varieties. Bottom left shows the slow path of a slime mould 

Nature provides many beautiful patterns