at the lake

If I go to the lake without a camera, I see with more clarity, filing pictures in my mind that I can’t share, but capturing everything with crisp lucidity.

The clear blue expanse above, wrapping my shoulders in the afternoon kiss of winter sun. Endless glassy depths, smooth and tranquil in their watery glory.

The flooded gum reflected in rising waters, encircling a majestic trunk. Seedlings marching toward inundation at the lake’s edge. Girding their roots to withstand the long dry summer, only a memory in these chilled and waterlogged months.

The click and chatter of random frogs, interloping on their diurnal neighbours, waiting for sundown to fully awake a crescendo of song.

A swan’s black arch repeated in reverse of graceful symmetry, gliding smooth and imperceptible. A whistling kite grazing silent loops on a current far from the water’s opaque lacquer.

My brain remembers this idyll by noticing more, a wide vista of serenity.

These photos were taken another day under cloudy skies, but when the water was as glassy smooth.

autumn rain

Overnight on Friday Perth had 18mm of rain and the mud island in the middle of Lake Gwelup is no more. The waters are rising with this good start to winter.

water level through the seasons

The dog helps me take photos when we pass the water level markers at Lake Gwelup.

In autumn March 2015 the water is close to its lowest point. Two birds sit on a partially submerged log next to the furthest marker. (Click to enlarge.) The first marker is hidden behind the gum tree.

sedges at the lake

Machaerina articulata (formerly Baumea articulata) is native to Perth and the South West and grows at Lake Gwelup.

high waters in summer

In recent years Lake Gwelup was an ephemeral lake which dried over summer. Historically this wasn’t the case:

“In the previous 32 years prior to 2000, the lake was recorded to dry out twice, since that year the lake barely remained wet once over the summer in 2005/2006.” [1]

a walk around the lake

take a walk around my local lake with me

we start on the boardwalk which gives a perfect view across the water

rain at the lake

Winter is definitely on the way now that I’m hearing my favourite night time song, the evening chorus of frogs at Lake Gwelup. I love the call of Pobblebonks (Limnodynastes dorsalis) also known as Banjo frogs. Their call sounds like a plucked banjo string, other males reply and it seems to echo back and forth across the lake. Motorbike frogs (Litoria moorei) and squelching froglets (Crinia insignifera) add to the cacophony.

checking the levels at the lake

The dog and I enjoy walking at Lake Gwelup. He runs like a mad thing, while I delight in the wide expanses of nature, beautiful scenery and wildlife. Most years the lake dries over summer (although historically it didn’t). After heavy rains last spring* there’s still water, although every day the level drops. I found a spot on our walk which is nicely framed by the branches of flooded gums and I took photos of the water level throughout summer and autumn.