Ringwood Field Naturalists Club Inc.

THE RINGWOOD FIELD NATURALISTS CLUB Inc. NEWSLETTER

Issue No.15 - October, 2002

EDITORIAL
In recent months, a number of important conservation issues have been raised. Naturalists can help to influence the policies and actions of government by their active involvement in projects at local, state and national level. The Club has for some years helped to keep down weed infestations in Warrandyte State Park and this year included Hochkins Ridge and Currawong Bush Park in this program. In addition, members have written letters and worked hard to support the protection of special areas such as the Mullum Mullum Valley, Goolengook and the Box-Ironbark forests. With determination and persistence, it is extraordinary what even a small number of people is able to achieve. Sometimes the results can be spectacular. We need to remain vigilant to ensure that such precious places are not lost forever.

PRESIDENT’S ANNUAL REPORT - 2001-2002
After reporting at the last AGM on the comprehensive preparations in hand for the Club’s 40th Anniversary, it is with great pleasure that I begin the 41st Annual Report with the news that the year commenced with the highly enjoyable 40th Reunion Dinner held at the Karralyka Centre on 15th September 2001. It was evident from the constant buzz of conversation throughout the evening that everyone there found lots to catch up on and that their membership of the Club had been an important part of their lives. All our current Honorary Life Members were present, together with a number of Foundation members. Our Guest Speaker for the evening, Professor Robert King, provided an entertaining and informative talk on some of the less well-known aspects of the Club’s activities over the years. It is appropriate to move a vote of thanks to the members of the organising committee (and others) for the many of hours of work they put in preparing displays, decorating the venue, contacting past members and many other important tasks which were essential to the smooth running and success of this memorable event.

After all the excitement was over, the Executive Committee got down to running the regular programme of Speakers and Excursions for the next twelve months.

Talks at meetings covered a range of topics and as usual, members made important contributions. Two speakers gave us a taste of adventure in the Australian outback: Graeme Goods -Trekking in the Great Victoria Desert at the February meeting this year, and Robyn Baillie - Back of Kakadu in May. We also heard of the important work in natural history research and conservation carried out by other organisations from Chris Tsaros - The Threatened Bird Network and the Swift Parrot; Ray Gibson - the Vic Field Nats Fauna Survey Group, and Andrew Picone - The future of East Gippsland Forests.

In October, 2001, Tim O’Hara spoke on Victorian Marine Diversity. Bruce Fuhrer continued the marine life theme with a talk about the Intertidal Zone, on the evening when we re-located to the Ringwood Uniting Church Hall in March this year. Our outdoor meeting in November at The 100 Acres was preceded by a walk led by Murray Bourchier and a good bird list was recorded. The December meeting included the traditional members’ night and in January we repeated the popular Show and Tell presentations by several members. Geoff Christensen and Marion King presented at the Members’ Night for the July meeting.

Excursions took us to some familiar places, as well as to some new ones and were generally attended by upwards of twenty members. In October, a group of 29 accepted the invitation of Doug Alkemade and his son David and explored the bush near David’s home in Christmas Hills, finding a wonderful display of orchids. For various reasons, a very small group of just three joined another three members of Upper Goulburn FNC in November for a walk in the McKenzie Flora Reserve at Alexandra, followed by a visit to Molesworth and another walk along the banks of the Goulburn River.

In January, 2002 we returned to Lake Mountain with an enjoyable ramble across Echo Flat for the flowering of the alpine plants.The trip in February to The Gurdies and Corinella led by Friends of Bass Valley was another very popular excursion with a variety of interesting sightings from orchids to sea birds and geology, plus a quick dash back along the beach just too late to race the incoming tide. In March, our second visit to Mt Lofty in Warrandyte State Park was also memorable and provided much satisfaction when we successfully made the climb to the summit. After a pleasant walk along the Yarra an afternoon cuppa was very welcome.

In April, we visited the Glenburn Field Centre and had a marvellous day being shown over the property by Alan Reid, whose generosity and enthusiasm were boundless. The highlight of the early morning excursion to Badger Weir in May was a prolonged recital by a male lyrebird of his extensive repertoire of bird calls, before we set off on walks through the diverse fern gullies. Our first visit to the Banyule Wetlands in June produced an extensive list of water-birds, including a Shoveller and a buff-banded Rail, and a pair of Tawny Frogmouths headed the bush birds. In July, we re-visited Lysterfield Lake Reserve after an absence of many years and enjoyed the walk around the lake, through the Acacia Nature trail, attaining a bird count of 24 species. Our August excursion to Greens Bush explored the vegetation of the Mornington Peninsula, with discoveries of Greenhood orchids, a group of Imperial White butterfly chrysalises, on the point of hatching, and a Bassian Thrush on a nest. Several members then moved on to Flinders and visited the President’s native garden, just coming into early Spring flowering.

Our Field Care activity was expanded this year when we added a second venue to our regular Smilax eradication project at Warrandyte State Park. In July, eight members attended on the scheduled day to clear the area adjacent to the Sandy Bay car-park of the weed and three more attended the following week. In August, eight members came to Hochkins Ridge reserve where we pulled out quantities of Acacia elata and Pittosporum undulatum as well as other weeds. Members of the Management Committee were delighted to receive our offer of assistance and we were pleased with our efforts as the areas treated regained a much more natural appearance when we had finished. The Executive will follow up this initiative to determine how it may be further developed.
To raise our profile in the general community, our Secretary was interviewed on the local radio station earlier in the year, and another display promoting the Club’s activities has just been set up at the Croydon Library.

Unfortunately, I record with regret that the Club lost another of its long-standing members during the year with the death of Elva Clark. We were pleased that she was well enough to attend the 40th Reunion festivities.

As always, there are numerous people to thank for their outstanding contributions throughout the year, because this Club functions as the result of group effort, not as a one-person band. There are the various speakers at meetings and leaders of excursions, without which the interesting and varied programme we have would not be possible; the members who are always willing to lend a hand when needed, setting up the hall and putting away afterwards, providing refreshments, and so on, as well as those who keep us informed of important events in the field of Natural History through members’ reports, slides, exhibits, and other means, keeping meetings lively and entertaining; Loris Peggie who again agreed to audit the Club’s books; Alison Rogers who has assisted with the projection equipment and slide presentations.

Once again, I wish to thank all members of the Executive for the invaluable work they have carried out during the year. Marion King for arranging the projection of members’ slides and speakers’ presentations. Our Librarian Jean Neville and her assistant, Jean Moy. Our Public Officer and Property custodian, Phil Daniell. Our extremely hard-working Secretary, Peter Rogers, and Treasurer, Ruth Christensen. A very special thanks to the two retiring members of the Committee, Doug Alkemade and Geoff Christensen. I have greatly appreciated their help and support during the past few years. I wish the new committee and the Club all the best for the coming year. (jvc)

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Guest Speakers
Our speaker for May was Robyn Baillie speaking on “Back of Kakadu”. Robyn prefaced her talk by saying she has been visiting Kakadu, especially the stone country, for many years and has a passion for the area. She treks about the stone country where the normal tourist does not venture. In addition, she regularly leads walks/treks through the stone country. This area is up on the escarpment that is laced with waterfalls, cliffs and gorges.
Robyn broke her talk and slides into a number of categories:
· Where it is and how to get there (basically by 4WD to the foot of the escarpment and then climb and walk),
· The Rocks (covering the age, the stage of erosion, the shapes, forms and colours),
· Flora (with examples including Eucalypts, Acacias, Bladderworts, Grasses, Grevilleas, Pandanus, etc),
· Fauna (covering a small sample of the wildlife including crocodiles, goannas, birds (Magpie Geese, Rainbow Pitta), green ants, beetles etc),
· Water and Aboriginal Art (showing various waterfalls, rock pools and waterways along with a selection of outstanding, and sometimes unusual, rock paintings).
She concluded by saying there have been changes over the years, mainly due to burning, but it is still a beautiful country. It is best seen in June to Sept and has outstanding sunsets. She finished her talk with one such beautiful sunset.

Our speaker at the August meeting was Andrew Picone, who works for Greening Australia, and his topic was "The future of East Gippsland Rainforests". Andrew concentrated on Goolengook, 10,000 hectares of luxuriant forest in far east Gippsland. This area supports some of the most important stands of the various types of rainforest along with old growth forest. Andrew provided details and showed slides on:
· Various rainforests and what identifies them,
· The methods used by the Govt. for logging, fire and ecological management,
· The research being undertaken to identify fauna in the area, the work for publicity and recognition to achieve protection for certain areas,
· How the general public can assist in the preservation of the area.

April, 2002 Excursion to Glenburn Field Centre
Our excursion to Alan Reid’s property at Glenburn was a revelation. Alan, a well-known naturalist and radio broadcaster on natural history, spent the day showing us around. Four hundred acres of farmland are being regenerated to bushland: dams have been built, fencelines relocated and cattle excluded. The Centre is housed in a polygonal three-storey building supported by telegraph poles and environmentally compatible, complete with kitchenette, balcony for viewing surroundings, reference library, computers and projection booth.
We climbed the ridge for a panoramic view of the whole area before returning for afternoon tea. Forty+ species of birds were seen. We had a marvellous time and even before we’d left, we were already talking about a return visit.

May, 2002 - Excursion to Badger Weir
Around 20 members left home in the dark and headed eastward to Healesville, with panoramic views of the mountains blanketed in cloud at sunrise. We arrived in the car-park at Badger Weir Reserve and soon a fire was going and frying pans of eggs, bacon, sausages, and tomatoes were wafting delicious aromas over the picnic area. Well fed and refreshed, as we prepared to explore, right on cue, a male lyrebird perched in a nearby shrub performed his impressive repertoire of bird calls for us, quite unperturbed by his enraptured audience. We were able to identify whipbird, kookaburras, currawong, rosellas, king parrot, eastern shrike-tit and even scrub-wren and thornbills. We then set off to walk to the weir, taking the Lyrebird Track through pristine wet sclerophyll forest. A list of twenty-seven fern species seen on a previous Club excursion acted as a guide and some members became engrossed in finding as many different species as possible. Doug and Ella Thomas were on hand to explain the finer points. Ella is well qualified as her intrepid forays off the beaten track in the past ensured that specimens of Jungle Bristle Fern and Oval Fork Fern were sent to the Herbarium; the first records of these species for Badger Weir Reserve. Ella explained the distinguishing characteristics of a number of the more unusual specimens, including Long Fork Fern, Veined Bristle Fern, Finger Fern and Kangaroo Fern. We struggled valiantly to take it all in. By the time we returned to the car-park, one member was able to claim with some confidence: “We could just about recognise Strap Water Fern now, even with a fork in the end”!
After a cuppa and a very early lunch sitting in the autumn sunshine, members dispersed to follow their own inclinations. A small group explored the Stringybark Track, coming out on the track beside the aqueduct. We were rewarded with finds of several interesting fungi and then found ourselves surrounded by numerous bush birds: golden whistler, eastern spinebill, grey fantail, scarlet robin, actively working their way through the branches overhead, filling the crisp air with their calls. We made the trip to the weir a second time, eventually identifying all but three of the ferns on the list, and adding five new species. As we returned by the Lyrebird Track, we came across a female lyrebird collecting nesting material, a new experience for some of us. The pronounced curve of her tail feathers suggested she may have already been sitting on a nest, returning to the forest floor for more material to add the finishing touches.

July, 2002 - Excursion to Lysterfield - Leaders, Ruth and Geoff Christensen
On Sunday 14th July, 24 members met for lunch at the Spotted Gum picnic area on the eastern side of Lysterfield Lake. Despite a cool wind, lunch was enjoyed mostly in sunshine. Then we set off in a clockwise direction to walk round the lake, seeing a Purple Swamphen, Coots and Australasian Grebe. After traversing the dam wall, where numerous plants of the white-flowered Epacris impressa were in bloom, a short uphill section through Black Wattle (Acacia mearnsii) and Sheoak (Allocasuarina sp) brought us to the start of the 1 km Acacia Nature Trail. Conspicuous here were many dead Black Wattles, possibly killed by the Fire Blight Beetle. A detour down to a jetty nearby yielded a very good sighting of a Darter drying off on the jetty rail. This was one of the 25 bird species seen or heard on the walk. A swamp wallaby was also seen.
Much of the forest near the margins of the lake consists of regenerated Eucalypt plantations, which are mostly growing well. As a result of this form of land use, the understorey and ground cover is not particularly diverse, containing Gahnia, Themeda, Cassinia and smaller wattles. One of the FungiMap target species (Schizophyllum commune) was observed growing on the trunk of a Black Wattle. There were some introduced weeds, including Spanish Heath, some Smilax, Sweet Pittosporum and others. Otherwise, the vegetation in close proximity to the lake is Prickly Tea-tree (Leptospermum ) and Swamp Paperbark (Melaleuca squarrosa) which largely obscured views of the lake except where there was access to the occasional jetty at the lake’s edge. The end of the 5.5 km walk back to the picnic ground brought us to a plantation of Southern Mahoganys.
All in all, a very pleasant walk on a beautiful afternoon.

Bird List - Lysterfield Park - July, 2002
Magpie; Red Wattlebird; Yellow Robin; Silvereye; Kookaburra; White-throated Treecreeper; Brown Thornbill; Grey Shrike Thrush; New Holland Honeyeater; Bell Miner; Yellow Tufted Honeyeater; Darter; Purple Swamphen; Wedge-tailed Eagle; Australasian Grebe; Whistling Kite; Grey Fantail; Whip-bird (heard); Coot; Grey Currawong; Golden Whistler; Grey Butcher-bird; Superb Fairy Wren; Raven; White-eared Honeyeater.

NATURE NOTES

LIFE in the GARDEN by Ken Clark

If it flies, we spray it!
If it crawls, we swat it!

Poor insects, what a time we give them, and they have done so much for us. Our garden flowers, the fruit and vegetables we eat, we owe them all to insects.
Not all insects are ‘goodies’; it’s just that the ‘baddies’ get the publicity. So I would like to give a few hurrahs for the insects we can welcome into our gardens.
Who doesn’t welcome butterflies? They bring added colour to our flower beds. The caterpillars of most butterflies feed on native plants; pest caterpillars are nearly always moths.
Honey bees are always welcome, although they are European migrants. For me, their busy buzzing is a measure of my gardening success.
The sound of cicadas links my garden with the bush. Cicadas live in harmony with the eucalypts that sustain them. On summer nights, they burst from their shells and serenade us with their loud, sometimes too loud, singing. Female cicadas are mute. A few years back some wit wrote, “Blessed are the cicadas lives, for they have voiceless wives!” He must have been henpecked a lot!
“Ladybird, ladybird, DON’T fly away home!” Those nursery-rhyme beetles are welcome garden guests world-wide. Watch out for the spiky young grubs that devour aphids as easily as their parents do.
Assassin bugs stab their insect victims and suck them dry. Their weapon is both a dagger and a tube for feeding. Not to be confused with the closely related sap-sucking bugs, as they feed largely on juicy caterpillars. So remember - they’re on our side!
Around my garden pond, dragonfly help to balance insect populations. They perch, like birds, scanning around with enormous eyes, then dart out to seize flying insects in mid air.
Robber flies look fierce, fly fast and buzz loudly, but they won’t hurt you unless you hurt them first! Like dragonflies, they are part of nature’s system of checks and balances.
Spiders are not insects - on the contrary, they are the gardener’s most efficient insecticide! Most are harmless to humans and deserve our respect. So leave them alone to get on with the job.
The usefulness of some insects is often overlooked - take wasps and ants. Introduced European wasps are a disaster, but native wasps are a different matter. Most of them are solitary and harmless, good pollinators and deadly foes of caterpillars.
Ants can be a nuisance in our garden, but in many parts of Australia they play a similar role to worms, turning and aerating the sun-baked soil.
They preying mantis ambushes insects on foliage, reaching out spiky front legs to snatch them when they venture near. Perhaps my favourite insect, the mantis is one of Nature’s best examples of biological control. Nature has been using biological control for millions of years, balancing life against life, species against species, to create harmony and equilibrium.
August de Morgan’s well known couplet (1872) recounts: ‘Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite ‘em. And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so on ad infinitum.’
It’s fascinating to watch Nature at work; to see each fighting for survival.
We see it all in our gardens.

(This article has appeared in the Ringwood Garden Club (Inc.) Newsletter, The Four Seasons May-June-July 2002, in a regular series entitled 'The Clark Report')

ANNUAL FIELD CARE PROJECT - WARRANDYTE STATE PARK, 20TH JULY 2002
An ominous forecast of morning showers preceded this event, and the early rain undoubtedly discouraged some from participating. Nevertheless, eight intrepid members joined Park Ranger David van Boekel and his two children to dig out Smilax in the area adjacent to Sandy Bay car-park between 10:00 am and 12:00 noon. Mercifully, the rain held off until we were all finished and enjoying a well-earned cuppa in the shelter. Then the heavens opened once more and we were joined by a pair of Black Duck wanting to get in out of the rain! After refreshing ourselves, it was agreed to waive the usual walk and depart. Within minutes of our arrival home, loud claps of thunder and plummeting temperature followed by gale force wind, torrential rain and a carpeting of hail underlined the wisdom of that decision! Many thanks to David Barkley, Ruth and Geoff Christensen, Marion King and her grandson, Tim Hill, Hazel and Alan Veevers for their efforts on the day. Around 17 bags of the weed were removed. Three other members, Joan Broadberry, Cecily and Reg Falkingham, who were unable to be present on the scheduled day, chose better weather the following week and collected a further six bags. (jvc)