Mangroves

I have always been fascinated by mangroves.  I have enjoyed walking midst them - especially on boardwalks that have been built through them e.g. Wynnum North (Queensland).  There is often an eerie silence only broken by the clicking of something in the midst of the mangroves.  At low tide they are often smelly but you can often see tiny crabs, small fish, birds and insects (especially mosquitoes and midgies!) within the area.

When I moved to Beachmere, I discovered a wonderful collection of mangroves - they are "everywhere". Along the banks of the Caboolture River and in the many swamps in the area, plus my favourite spots along the foreshore.

Something I have seen here are the trees that appear to have grown some distance from the shores and when the tide is in, they look as if they have been planted in the ocean.  I suspect it is more that the tides and storms have swept the seeds further out and/or that there has been erosion that has destroyed those mangroves closer to shore leaving some to grow almost alone in the sea.

These are some of the photos I took in an area just to the north of the little township of Beachmere, Queensland.

There is a great website which has some very interesting facts about Mangroves.  Click here.

The following information is from that site.

"Australia has the third largest area of mangroves in the world after Indonesia and Brazil, totalling around 11,500 km2 representing approximately 6.4% of the world’s total mangrove area. The larger forested areas of Australia’s mangroves, approximately 75%, occur in the humid tropics to the north where human population densities are low. However, there are notable areas of mangroves in temperate regions as far south as Corner Inlet in Victoria around 38° S. This is the most southerly and highest latitude site of mangroves in the world. These southern stands consist entirely of one species, Avicennia marina, a member of the plant family Avicenniaceae."

My grandchildren exploring the mangroves.

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