Ross, the President writes:

Our club has made a solid start to 2024 with our first activity in January (Mt Michael, Blue Tier) followed by a visit to Narawntapu National Park in February and Mt Horror in March. Also in March, our club supported a rice grass eradication activity in Trent Water at Bridport. Thanks to all who were involved in organising and leading those activities, and of course to all participants.

As we move into the cooler months you may have some spare time to consider whether there are special places you would like the club to visit. You may even like to lead an activity, perhaps with the support of another member if you are hesitant to do so by yourself. Regardless, I hope you are all able to get out and enjoy our local natural environment by participating in some of the club activities coming up during the rest of the year.

It’s very likely the May outing will be a fungi foray possibly on the Briseis Water Race. If not there, somewhere in that vicinity.

 

Details of Next Outing – April 13th: East Sandy Cape

Ross has been researching the phenomenon which is the rhizolith – [rhyzo] root, [lith] stone. In the case of East Sandy Cape, it is typically a structure formed when a root becomes encased with calcium carbonate and then exposed when wind blows away the sand.

The route taken on the outing will follow the 4WD track and then head off to explore sand dunes and blows. The first 1.5 km is on firm tracks but from then on most of the walking will be in soft to very soft sand. Total distance (return) is just over 10 km (see map below with distances indicated).  Subject to the rate of movement on the day, we would explore a couple of blows on our outward journey, have lunch on the beach and enjoy the views, then return by the same route back to the cars.

Members need to arrive at the Bridport Hall car park by 10 a.m. and be ready to head off without much delay. There is a lot of walking on sandy tracks, so be prepared as it can be tiring. Bring lunch, plenty of water, sun protection and clothing suited to the weather forecast.

This outing is for the moderately fit person able to handle walking in soft sand and able to cope with 10 km.

Ross’s number is 0417190046 

Click the map for detail

 

Rice Grass Spraying

Two years ago, our Field Nats club became a Landcare group. It seemed the best way for us to get insurance, but an added benefit was that being affiliated with Landcare enabled us to do environmental work if we wished to. Our first project was to work on the eradication of Rice Grass on the Trent Water estuary in Bridport. The first Field Nats to assist went out in their kayaks to photograph the suspected outbreaks. These were then sent to NRE [the old DPIPWE] and slowly, a plan emerged to do the work. It took 13 months from that time until the spraying was carried out last month. It was a real team effort and it wouldn’t have been possible without that team and I’d like to thank everyone who played a part.

Sue Jennings from Circular Head Landcare group, who supervised the spraying, estimates the value of the work to be $10,000.

The full report is in the process of being completed. A link will appear next week on our website.

 

Report from Mt. Horror Outing.

It was the weirdest Field Nat outing in a long time. The weather report was reasonable but as we gathered at the meeting point, people were hunting for their raincoats or bemoaning the fact that they hadn’t brought them. The experts assured us that the sun would eventually come out and burn this heavy mizzle off. So the order of doing things was swapped about hoping if we did that, that we could enjoy the 360 degree views from atop Mt. Horror.

Mike Douglas had a myriad of stories for us at the old township of Forester, 23 km northeast of Scottsdale. Timber cutting had been the reason for the establishment of this once thriving township. Now, the population is 6 !

When we could wait no longer, we drove to the top of Mt. Horror stopping on the way to admire a relict stand of Cyathea australis, the rough tree fern. The person who has the big picture of the botany of NE Tasmania in his head, ian Thomas, explained the relevance when we reached the summit.

The sun eventually shone through as, back down at the base of Mt. Horror, we decided to walk down to the Scout Hut.

For an expanded report with pictures and Ian’s explanation, here is the link

 

Visit by Tasmanian Field Nats.

About 20 TFNats enjoyed a weekend at the Mt. Cameron Field Study Centre, their walks being led by Craig Searle.

We met them in Bridport on their way home to talk about the Trent Water Saltmarsh thinking it might hold their interest for about an hour, but we spent two hours there. There was a lot of interest in the story.

One link:

I wonder how it is that I come across these sometimes very odd things to put in this space. However, I have read this from a number of sources. It’s a bit of fun! Here’s the link!

Lou Brooker