Category Archives: activities

2015

March

Salt marsh exploration – Little Musselroe Bay

This often forgotten and undervalued habitat has been the subject of recent studies. NRM North and UTAS have identified and mapped Tasmanian Saltmarshes and published their findings. A walk-and-talk in the morning, then some shoreline monitoring after lunch.

April

Sunflats Road to Platts Lookout – Blue Tier

A downhill walk, of 5–6 km on a 4WD track, looking for native berries. Noted were Snowberry (Gaultheria hispida), Native pepperberry (Tasmannia lanceolota), Climbing blueberry (Billardiera longiflora) and Heart berry (Aristotelia penduncularis)

May

Blackboy Plains overhangs – Mt Victoria area

A fascinating day exploring these overhangs which were used for shelter 1600 years BPE. Some of the caves are 10 metres high and extending 10-15 metres into the cliff.

June

Waterhouse Conservation Area

A tour of the country inland from Blizzard’s Landing.The coastal heath on the dunes is dominated by windpruned dwarf oaks (Allocasuarina monilifera), silver banksia (Banksia marginata), sweet-scented wattle (Acacia suaveolens) and various guinea flowers, particularly the silky guinea flower, Hibbertia sericea.

September

Rail trail from Scottsdale to Ling Siding

The trail meanders through farming countryside to the east of Scottsdale. Across wet gullies dotted with tree ferns; through numerous cuttings, and a wet area with buttongrass and Melaleuca gibbosa.

October

Mossing around at Paradise Plains

A sub-alpine area behind Ringarooma. Sean Blake led us on three short walks—to a
stand of Eucalyptus delegatensis (white-topped stringybark); into an open grassland area that was used for cattle grazing a century or so ago and is now undergoing
rapid transition; and through a rainforest that is also undergoing transition, albeit at a much slower rate.

November

Threatened plants

We joined some members of the Threatened Plants Tasmania group who were visiting the Bridport area to survey threatened species. Among the species surveyed were Hibbertia virgata, Pultenaea sericea and Xanthorrhoea bracteata.

December

Blue Derby Field Nats style

Revel Munro showed us the historical and natural elements of some of the new trails – the “Blue Derby” Mountain Bike Trails.

2016

February

Williams Hill and Pearly Brook

Mike Douglas led us on the walk to Williams Hill Stringy Gum Track, which winds through part of the Mt Horror State Forest. After lunch, which was eaten on the rocky bank of Pearly Brook, we walked along a remnant of the Forester-to-Bridport Tramway. From 1913 to 1925 Steam engines hauled sawn timber for shipment to Melbourne on this 30-km, 76-cm gauge line. This walk took us to the confluence of Pearly Brook and the Forester River.

Examiner 1925 article about the tramway

April

Merthyr Park, Lilydale Falls, and train tunnel

Merthyr Park, is a 48 hectare bushland reserve near Lilydale. Rehabilitation of the area has resulted in many native species of birds, mammals and reptiles inhabiting the newly-restored bushland. Predominant plant species are now all natives. These include Prickly Beauty (Pultenaea juniperena), She Oak (Allocasurania verticillata), Black Peppermint (Eucalyptus amigdalina) and the Sag (Lomandra longifolia). There are walks to two waterfalls, with magnificent specimens of Eucalyptus regnans along the way.
The tunnel, near Lebrina, was completed in 1888. An impressive structure, approximately 800 m in length.

May

Visit to Springfield Hatcheries

Springfield Hatcheries is one of three places in Tasmania where brood stock of Atlantic Salmon are held, their eggs stripped, the young produced, grown and distributed to aquaculture ‘farms’ in various places in Tasmania and throughout the world. They have a permit to monitor the wellbeing of Astacopsis gouldi—the largest freshwater crayfish in the world.

September

A walk to Cube Rock

Cube Rock is a well-known monolith perched atop Windy Ridge on the Mt Cameron Range. This range consists of granitoid rocks of Devonian age. These rocks are part of the Blue Tier Batholith, a massive granitoid intrusion at depth that occurred about 380 million years ago, and has since been exposed by erosion of the covering sediments. Cube Rock is a remnant of a much larger expanse of fractured rock.

October

Binalong Bay

Led by botanist Roy Skabo, we looked for wildflowers near Binalong Bay in the morning, then took a longer walk of about 5 km at nearby Doctors Peak Reserve in the afternoon.

December

Groom River Trail – Blue Tier

We joined Lesley Nicklason on a walk that starts at Crystal Hill, drops to the Groom River and follows it to join the Big Tree Track.This area is a treasure trove of unusual plant species, old mining relics, the pristine Groom River and giant Eucalyptus regnans trees. Lesley took us to the ‘Big Tree’—a magnificent swamp gum that has a chest-high girth of 19.4 metres, and is believed to be the widest tree in Australia.

Excursions

Click here for Future excursions and activities

The club has outings on the second Saturday of each month, except January, July and August. In July we have a “show and tell” indoors, and August is the month for our AGM. Outings are led by someone having a particular interest in or knowledge of the area visited.

Suggestions for new places to visit in North-Eastern Tasmania are always welcome for consideration.

Past excursions and activities:

Cancellation of Field Nat. outings.

If there is unpredictable and severe weather, or for any other reason, it may occasionally be necessary to cancel with short notice. Here is the process for cancellation: an outing will be cancelled if the leader considers that the conditions are not safe. If an activity is cancelled, a global email will be sent by 0700 (i.e. 7.00 am) on the day of the outing.
If members are uncertain, it is their responsibility to contact Ann, Lou or the leader.
Note that phone reception is not always available, so you may have to try alternative numbers.

Future excursions and activities