What better way to practice social-distancing than a day of boating? My parents, the dogs and I headed out to Boundary Island, a small island within the Peel Inlet Estuary. While we saw no one there as we walked around the area, we noticed human impacts (namely, litter), which we carried with us and deposited after our exploring. The first image is of a small Tecticornia lepidosperma (samphire, which is also a native bush tucker plant), which is a known salt-tolerant coastal species (the red/pink colour of the plant indicates the level of salt in the plant). Sadly, I think this sapling is a little too close to the waters edge, and may perish from the high salt levels of its surrounding environment. The Peel Inlet is home to a variety of marine organisms, and we are lucky enough to see Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) almost every time we visit the estuary. This time was no exception, as we spotted some dolphins playing in the shallow waters with calves. The estuary is always such a magical place, and with the picturesque flat seas and barely any boats in the water, this was a much-needed break from the stresses and media overload of Covid-19 the past few days.
References:
1) https://tuckerbush.com.au/wa-samphire-tecticornia-lepidosperma/
2) https://www.riverguardians.com/projects/dolphin-watch/dolphin-watch-mandurah
