Rare fern in Sunny Creek

Few people are possibly aware but a local reserve is home to a delicate and critically endangered fern.
Tucked away next to a waterfall at Gippsland Water's Sunny Creek conservation reserve at Trafalgar are two small patches of Filmy Maidenhair fern (biological name: Adiantum diaphanum) that the water authority's environmental team has been actively monitoring and protecting from weeds, pest animals and other disturbances for several years.
Dark green in colour the fern that is protected under a conservation covenant has tufted fronds that can grow up to 35 centimetres long.
The two small colonies at the Sunny Creek reserve are no more than four square metres each.
Filmy Maidenhair fern only exists in Victoria in a handful of locations in the Strzelecki Ranges and is more commonly found in warmer parts of the country as well as New Zealand, Norfolk Island, southern China and Fiji.
It prefers wet rock faces and riverbanks near waterfalls where humidity is higher and natural protection from bushfire is provided.
The Sunny Creek reserve is also home to populations of koalas and superb lyrebirds.