Paul Harrison, Recovering from the fire (DOCO 2021)

Between Boxing Day 2019 and January 2020 a huge bush fire devastated the Stirling Range National Park in Western Australia. The park is home to over 1500 species of fauna, at least 87 of which are found nowhere else in the World. I've visited a couple of times since the fire and was delighted to find that many species have survived. The grass trees were growing rapidly and the Red Beak orchids (Pyrorchis nigricans) and their pollinators, the bees, were numerous. The leaf beetles (Paropsisterna sp.) survived on Bluff Knoll along with the Peacock spider (Maratus sarahae). This tiny spider is only found on Bluff Knoll and the nearby Ellen Peak and this was the first reported sighting of it since the fires. The news was subsequently reported across Australia by the ABC who also featured some of my photos. of the spiders.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.