Wild flannel flowers have burst into bloom in huge numbers in a bushfire-affected area of northern NSW for the second year in a row.
The iconic Australian flowers have created a stunning sight in the Lake Innes Nature Reserve south of Port Macquarie on the Mid North Coast.
The reserve was impacted by a severe bushfire in late 2019 and has received high amounts of rainfall during the past two summers.
National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) senior project officer Geoffrey James said it had created ideal growing conditions.
Last year he said there were more flannel flowers there than he had seen in decades, and the display had surprisingly repeated again this year.
"It looks like there's a lot more than last year but they aren't as tall," he said.
"The flowers look like snow right through the understorey of the vegetation, so it's pretty spectacular and you don't get to see these wildflower displays very often."
'A window of opportunity'
Mr James said the bushfire had changed the vegetation in the area significantly, allowing the flannel flowers to thrive.
"The flannel flowers have taken a window of opportunity.
"The bushfire got rid of the really dominating and shading tea tree overstorey … so now they can see the sun.
"The fire also provided an ash bed, so like a natural fertiliser for them, and now we have had year after year of rain, so it is really great growing conditions for the flowers."
Display unlikely to repeat in coming years
Mr James said it was likely the numbers of flannel flowers in the reserve would gradually reduce over the coming years, and he was surprised to see such a large display this year for the second season in a row.
"I thought they would have slowed down a little bit this year and had more competition from the other plants and started to get shaded out by other plants, but it's great to see.
"They aren't quite as tall as last year, when they were enormous, but there's more of them there ... so there's more of them competing for sunlight and there's not as much natural fertiliser left from the ash bed in the soil.
"People should make the opportunity to go and see them because it might not happen again for another 10 or 20 years.
"We will probably see lower numbers each year, and different vegetation types will start dominating, until we have another fire event that triggers that big germination and the flannel flowers come blooming back into life."
Flannel flowers can also be seen blooming in other NSW regions, especially coastal heathland areas, but are typically not as thick or widespread as the current Lake Innes display.
"It's great to see there's more insects around, so they are really dependent on all these flowers for food, and then the flowers are dependent on them for pollination," Mr James said.
"It's great to see the natural resilience of the bush."
