TASMANIAN FIELD NATURALISTS CLUB INC.
established 1904.
BULLETIN
http://www.tased.edu.au/tasonline/tasfield.html
Editor : Don Hird. (email dgh@dodo.com.au )
Bulletin No. 314 (quarterly) April 2004
Contact Genevieve Gates (6227 8638) for further information or write to GPO Box 68, Hobart, 7001.
Programme
General Meetings start at 7.45 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month, in the Life Science Building at the University of Tasmania. Outings are usually held the following weekend, meeting outside the to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery entrance in Macquarie Street. Bring lunch and all?weather outdoor gear.
If you are planning to attend an outing but have not been to the prior meeting, phone to check as to the timing of the excursion (with Genevieve Gates; 62 278 638 or Don Hird; 62 289 702). Unforeseen changes sometimes occur.
Thurs. 6 May 7.45p.m.: Our President Genevieve Gates will revive an old club tradition by speaking about our extended Easter Camp 2004 on Tasman Peninsula.
Sunday 9 May excursion 9.00a.m. Depart from the Museum for Bruny Island and on to Quarantine Peninsula. This is an area of formerly Commonwealth-owned bushland which, partly at our instigation, is being formally reserved. The peninsula is dry scleropyll coastal woodland.
Thurs. 3 June 7.45p.m.: Peter McQuillan will talk about Moths and their
relationship to plants.
Sat. 5 OR Sunday 6 June excursion 10.00a.m. This will be to a nearby
location, possibly Waterworks Reserve. Day will depend on prospective
weather.
Thurs. 1 Julyl 7.45p.m.: David Leaman to talk on Some insights into
Tasmania's Water Problems.
Sat. 3 OR Sunday 4 July excursion 10.00a.m. TBA.
Thurs. 5 August 7.45p.m.: Sarah Monks will talk on – The Ecology of the Platypus in Tasmania.
From the Treasurer: A reminder that subs were due at the beginning of
January. If you haven't paid yet for 2004 you will find a red "X" on the
top LH corner of your Bulletin envelope. Any queries please phone Anna
on 62396326 or email on Anna.McEldowney@utas.edu.au
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1080 poison use is a controversial issue in Tasmania. A new website
has been developed by the Browsing Damage Management Group (an Agricultural
Research and Advisory Committee constituted under terms of reference of
the Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research). This on-line resource
is for anybody looking for information about 1080 poison, it's alternatives
and what research is being done. It provides data on quantities used, copies
of official reports, and links to other sites in Tasmania, Australia
and New Zealand. It was created by Andrew Walsh at Forestry Tasmania, who
is extremely busy trying to find ways to grow trees without 1080, but often
receives requests for information about his work. The URL is http://www.browsingdamage.org.au
.
Excursion Reports
Outing to Hartz Mountains, February 2004
Kevin Bonham.
About 14 Field Nats attended the year's first outing. Despite
days of heavy rain leading up to the outing the day itself was fine and
pleasant. Most of the Longley contingent headed for Hartz Peak while
the remainder of us did three short walks - Lake Osbourne, Arve Falls and
a forage around the start of the old Hartz Peak track and the demolished
remains of the old Hartz Hut.
The Lake Osbourne walk is very easy and has been upgraded to a very
high standard as one of Tasmania's "60 great short walks". The track
passes through short subalpine rainforest (including King Billy pines)
and subalpine eucalypt scrub, with patches of open sedgeland and moorland.
One of these patches is dotted with several "roche moutonee" - rugged glacial
rock formations formed by glaciers flowing over them. The lake itself
is fringed with small pencil pine. Along the way we saw some impressive
Milligania
in
flower, as well as a single specimen of Prasophyllum alpinum
(a
common high-altitude leek orchid). The burnt remnants of the old
Hartz Hut contained numerous fungi, the snail Caryodes dufresnii
(this
species is attracted to charcoal), and a reddish alpine huntsman-like spider.
A large wolf spider was seen nearby sitting on top of an ant nest.
We wondered if it had been feeding.
On the Arve Falls track a snake was seen going under an obstacle shortly
before a lizard emerged from the other side prompting the comment "It's
gone in a snake and come out a lizard!" Also on this track a nice
stag beetle was found, but it proved to be the common Lissotes obtusatus.
Genevieve and David compiled a reasonable fungus list for the conditions.
I had never thought of the Hartz as all that good a snail locality,
but on the Lake Osborne walk I decided to quickly search around one of
the roche moutenee formations and was very surprised to find the semi-slug
pictured. This is, at least, a new genus - one totally unlike anything
else known in Tasmania, and which has not yet been placed to family.
The shell is 5 mm long and the animal at full stretch is 18 mm. Unfortunately
I found only one specimen, and two searches since have yielded nothing
but four eggs thought to probably be of this species. The full snail
list for the day was: Roblinella sp. "Tahune"*, Stenacapha vitrinaformis,
Pernagera kingstonensis, Roblinella curacoae*, Planilaoma luckmanii,
Semi-slug "Lake Osbourne"*, Caryodes dufresnii and Allocharopa
legrandi* (southern white form).
Species marked * are new records for the Hartz.
On one of the return searches I found three specimens of what turned
out to be a new Pernagera species. This had been collected
in the Hartz before, but previous material wasn't good enough to determine
if it was a species. Ironically, the first specimen of this new Pernagera
may have been a juvenile snail I saw on my first ever Field Nats outing,
way back on May 9, 1987.
It was also a very good trip for millipedes. My samples included
one specimen of a very rare undescribed small white knobbly millipede resembling
the genus Asphalidesmus and previously known only from two records
(one from the southern caves, one from Warra) and specimens of an unclear
and possibly new medium-sized reddish-brown form similar to the common
Tasmaniosoma
armatum.
 |
 |
| Mountain Grasshopper Photo SeungAh Yi | New species of Semi-Slug (photo: David Ratkowsky) |
The T.F.N.C. Easter Camp at Koonya, April 9-13th.
Good Friday, 2004, saw the biggest gathering of the T.F.N.C. for many an excursion. The damp locks and bleary eyes were indicative of the enthusiasm for the 9am start to Bangor, the Dunbabin property at Dunalley. By the time we had reached Bangor, had a footy match, collected the keys to unlock all the open gates we had lost one car and acquired a dog. The lost car finally turned up (thank you Gilbert for going back to find Pam and Mary) and we were able to drive on to Lagoon Bay for the group photo of this historical outing. After much regrouping of this bunch of overexcited Field Naturalists we had to do a retake when Gilbert sauntered into view. A quick dispersal into fast, slow and very slow groups and we were afield. The “fasts” galloped off to Tasman’s Monument, the “slows” meandered to Cape Frederick Hendrick, taking Gypsy, that great canine footballer with them and the “very slows” beachcombed the sandy beaches. After a wonderful day, the unfortunates who had to return to Hobart departed and the rest of us proceeded to Tasman House, the University Field Station at Koonya.
The curse of McGregor’s was making its presence felt as early as 8.30 am on Saturday morning. Geoff was repeatedly trying to point out that we were intent on taking the wrong road to the start of the climb to McGregor’s Peak. This was awkward as we were meeting Robyn, George and Zoe there at 9.30 am. Fortunately, they had followed the correct instructions to the wrong road perfectly and were on time so we could all go together to the Forestier Forest Reserve Road (the right road). After a fair bit of up-hill exertion and much botanical discussion all 22 of us reached the beautiful rainforest at the peak and regrouped for lunch (and No. 19 was with us). After the usual fall out into “fasts” and “slows” we continued on, the rear party consisting of snail and fungi seekers and No.19, a ring-in from the mammal survey group. All was well, numerous and fascinating species of fungi were bursting out impressing our overseas visitors as was the interesting flora, the warm sunshine and the stunning views. Then without warning, the curse of McGregor’s struck again. Not really? Yes, I didn’t do it deliberately!
The president had charged off to add to the fungi list whilst the photographers were at the scenic viewpoint. Luckily (for her), she stopped to wait for them to catch her up. After a very, very lengthy wait and puzzling about why they were taking so long she heard Warwick calling “Genevieve, you are on the wrong track”. “No I am not, it’s a proper track with tapes and triangles”. “Yes, but you are going back the way we came!” Oh, boy, wondering how she was going to live this one down they rejoined the worried group……. “Thank goodness she’s been found” or was it “ it’s a pity she’s been found?”
Surely we would get out of this place now without further mishap but this was not to be.
“ What a lovely Cortinarius, I must take a photo!……….Oh no, David I have lost the digital camera.” The air was thick with unspoken “I told you sos”. This time the gods were with us as sharp-eyed Warwick had rescued it caught on a branch but didn’t let on, just biding his time to watch the fun and games (lots of brownie points to Warwick). Only one further minor accident occurred when Machiel put his foot in a tangle of roots and went for a short trip --- easy to do on the steep descent. Aren’t the cars a welcome sight at the end of this long but rewarding walk?
The Saturday night activities were preceded by Marc’s football clinic for girls and rugby players and after a jolly B-B-Q held in the warm (weak) glow of the head torches we sat around the fire to discuss Club business i.e. a name for the History book. Suggestions were coming thick and fast, the level of the wine cask was dropping and the double entendres were becoming very cryptic.
“Scratching the Surface” followed by “From Nits to Nats” had us squirming in our seats. “Affairs A field” made me view the tenting parties with much suspicion especially as No. 19 was among them and he likes “Doing it Naturally” (as does Julia) and has “Hankerings for Nature”. By this stage I was not at all surprised by “A century of Field Affairs”. Anna, was “ Not yet out of the Car park” whilst Robert, 100years on was “Still in the car park”. Have we all got “Kangaroos in the Top Paddock?”. “A Threatened Species”, that’s us, or are we rather “Close to Extinction”, going “At a snail’s pace”, leaving “No stone Unturned”, seeing “A Cloud of Butterflies”, having a “Paws for Thought”, eating “Pepper in the Porridge”, crossing “The Fertile Field” (Anna has been brainwashed by years of Agriculture), leaving “Footprints in Nature” whilst viewing “ Nature through the Hand Lens”, answering “Calls of Nature” after finding “Places to Go”, “On the Nature Trail” and I think the police would have been very interested in “The Naturalist Exposed” with “Nature at hand” all “In the Quest for Knowledge”, after all, “In Our Nature”. The well of creativity was dry, along with the wine cask; I staggered hysterically off to bed thinking, “ Naturalists have a one track mind”. Now, how’s that for a title?
We woke to steady rain on Easter Sunday, just the excuse we needed to lie in bed whilst the Easter Pademelons did their thing before Marc and Nicole were ready for action. After a lazy morning, the chocolate took effect and the T.F.N.C. was fired up enough to go to Roaring and Slopen Main Beaches. The mycological sector decided that no visit to Tasmanian forests was complete without an introduction to leeches so we led our unsuspecting visitors along Plummer’s Creek at Clark’s cliffs. I think Seung-Ah collected a record of 11 leeches, well done Seung-Ah!
A busy evening was spent at the microscopes looking at shells, shark eggs and botanical specimens from the day’s outing.
Monday dawned a beautiful day, David took Machiel and Delia on a Cook’s Tour of Eaglehawk Neck and the rest of us were going to Remarkable Cave, the start of our Mt Brown walk as a salute to the T.F.N.C’s Jubilee Camp in 1954. We were heading for Port Arthur when a Jewel beetle green Volvo flashed by with a familiar frazzled woman at the wheel. “It’s Amanda” I yelled, and we stopped for a pow-wow on how to sort this crisis. Clever Isabella had recognized Don’s car so they had turned around to join the convoy.
The trip across the heath with its pretty flowering plants was uneventful until I saw Qug and her copepod net disappearing down the Maingon Blowhole. It was only an illusion as she had found a puddle a few metres clear of the entrance of this heart stopper. The warm weather and sparkling waters enticed the hardy to go swimming and snorkeling after the short but steep climb up Mt Brown. Charles, Isabella and Marc disappeared up the sand dunes only to emerge in a flurry of arms and legs as they tumbled and rolled back down the dunes. Monday night was spent again at the microscopes or doing in depth write ups of each day’s activities along with botanical, zoological and fungi lists that will be in the Naturalist later in the year.
We left Koonya on Tuesday morning. The clean up crew did a great job, Amanda drew the short straw and had to take the garbage (thanks Amanda) but no one else had any room…we were thinking we might have to dismember Kevin to fit him in. Thanks to Geoff for his great navigational skills and panache when swinging the billy. Our visitors had a very entertaining time and will take back with them to The Netherlands many memories of our wonderful forests and of Australians var tasmaniensis. I hope everybody enjoyed their stay, the success of these camps depends on us, the Club Members, so thank you for coming and contributing. One day we may even have another! All those in favour……
By Genevieve Gates (President of the T.F.N.C.)
P.S. some serious suggestions for a title
Neil suggested “A Century Afield --- The Tasmanian Field Naturalist Club 1904-2004”, it’s a bit reminiscent of a cricket team but is dignified, and appropriate and squeaky clean.
David suggested “Field Naturalists----A Threatened Species” which is clever but maybe a bit narrow and not very optimistic.
Isabella suggested “Bushbuffs” which is cute and quirky however if you are running around in the buff ? I even had a few secret admirers for “Pepper in the Porridge” which is taken from Marjorie’s account of one of the camp outs.
Michael Sharland wrote a book based on his newspaper column called a “Pocketful of Nature” and more recently, Don Knowler has done the same thing but his book is called “Dancing on the Edge of the World”. This is just for you to compare two completely unrelated titles to two very similar books. Have we any more suggestions?
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A disappointing aspect of the visit to Slopen Main was motorbikes roaring along the beach. Tasmania, “The Natural State” still sanctions this primeval behaviour. Don Hird
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Have you heard about the Tasmanian Environment Centre? Have you heard about our library? Find out how we can help you!
The Environment Resource Library is a comprehensive collection of resource materials covering a wide range of subjects from plant identification and weeding, to safe paints and grey-water recycling.
The collection is housed in the Tasmanian Environment Centre, whose purpose is to promote “solutions for sustainable communities”.
We would like to know how we can help you with your environmental information needs. Requests via phone, fax, email and post are welcome. phone (03) 6234 5566 fax (03) 6234 5543 email restec@southcom.com.au
website http://www.tased.edu.au/tasonline/tec : open Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm 102 Bathurst Street, Hobart 7000
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