The Tasmanian Field Naturalists Club encourages the study of natural history and supports conservation. We issue our journal The Tasmanian Naturalist annually in October. People of any age and background are welcome as members.

Phone Janet Fenton (03 6239 6443) for further information, or write to GPO Box 68, Hobart, 7001.

General Meetings start at 7.45 pm 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 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, please check details. Phone Janet Fenton 03 6239 6443 or email Don Hird. Unforeseen changes sometimes occur.

Early in September we heard that Julia Scott was in hospital with a badly fractured leg. A naturalist even under the most trying circumstances, Julia, leg up in plaster, was noting the birds she could see or hear from her hospital window. The bird count reached 9 while she was in Calvary. Julia has now moved to St Johns in Cascade Rd South Hobart - visitors welcome! Mary King made some glorious native flower arrangements which we gave to Julia on behalf of the TFNC. Julia, the Club sends special wishes for your recovery.

"Rocks, Plants, Soils - What Grows Where and Why", the Australian Plants Society 2006 show promises to be better than ever. The topic gives TFNC a chance to make a display featuring life important to the soil and life found under rocks. These animals and fungi tend to be out of sight and out of mind for most people.
This wildflower show will be our "excursion" for October, so please come and visit the TFNC corner. If you can volunteer 2 hours of time to man the display, please ring Janet Fenton, who is coordinating the roster, on ph. 6239 6443

[Report by Anna McEldowney]

A group of 12 Field Nats met on a cold misty morning near Margate to visit what Kevin had assured us was definitely NOT a World Heritage area. At first the plant list was mainly made up of introduced and weedy species, while the wildlife was predominantly goats and horses . The track follows the creek closely and several large dams beside the creek remain from previous farming activities. It was in one of these that we saw a platypus, seemingly unconcerned by our presence and our inevitable noise. However, after the track crossed the creek the vegetation became more "native" despite skirting several residential properties and as it climbed higher was less disturbed. Just before the end of the track was a "Fairy Dell", a delightful mossy spot by the creek with ferns. Robyn and I walked back from here (35 mins) while the others did a car shuffle. Janet, Geoff and John continued on up Nierinna and Tabors Roads to Tramway Hill, where they lunched at "Sheila's Shed", a facility provided by the Tramway Hill Landcare group. They followed a short path in the Tramway Hill Reserve, where there was a large Eucalyptus globulus with an E. obliqua growing out of it (mis-labeled). Janet reported grand views of the Channel from the top of the hill.

Thanks to John for the bird list, Kevin for the snail list and Janet and Geoff for the creek invertebrates and the Tramway Hill report. Come back Genevieve and David! – the best we can do is say there were lots of fungi although we did manage to identify a large area of Marasmius on fallen bark at the base of a large eucalypt and a cup fungus (Plectania?)

People attending:
John Reid, Geoff and Janet Fenton, Don Hird, Robyn Kramer, Kevin Bonham, Abby Throssel, Michael, Penny, Sam, Harry and Ben Driessen and Anna McEldowney

Bird list:
Starlings, Blackbirds and Silvereyes were seen at the start of the walk, and also an immature black swan on the dam below Burnaby Drive.
Native hens were calling around the second dam.

Birds seen in the bush around the track:
Grey Shrike Thrushes
Forest Ravens
Green Rosellas
Blue Wrens
Strong-billed Honeyeaters
Black-headed Honeyeaters
Yellow-throated Honeyeater
Tasmanian Scrubwren
New Holland Honeyeater
Female Golden Whistler
House Sparrows and Silvereyes
Beautiful Fire-tailed Finch
A Wedge-tailed Eagle

At Tramway Hill:
Eurasian Coots
Pacific Black Duck and an Australasian Grebe in the local dams
Plenty of Tasmanian Native Hens
Masked Lapwings
Scarlet Robin.

Creek invertebrates:
Mosquito larvae were seen in a pool in the creek's lower reaches, while further up the creek at the "Fairy dell", several different species of Trichopteran larvae and two different chironomids were found as well as some high spiralled aquatic snails likely to be Potamopyrgus.

Snail list:
Caryodes dufresnii, Prolesophanta nelsonensis, Elsothera ricei, Roblinella gadensis, Paralaoma caputpinulae, P.halli, P. mucoides. Most of the Caryodes in the gully at the western end of the walk were very old. Kevin has seen populations like this before, but not often. Also saw the introduced slugs Deroceras reticulatum, Lehmannia nyctelia and Limax maximus, and we collected an odd-looking pseudoscorpion.

Plant list:
Introduced species:
Waterlilies
Erica lusitanica
Rubus fruticosus
Crocosmia
Vinca major
Typha sp.
Poplars Populus sp.
Willows, Salix sp.
Conium sp. (hemlock)
Cotoneaster
Acacia retinoides

Native species:
Eucalyptus globulus
Eucalyptus obliqua
Eucalyptus viminalis
Pultenaea juniperina
Goodenia ovata
Acacia dealbata
Coprosma quadrifida
Bursaria spinosa
Exocarpos cupressiformis
Acacia verticillata
Ozothamnus spp.
Dicksonia antarctica
Polystichum
Clematis aristata
Cassytha spp.
Melaleuca squarrosa
Epacris impressa
Olearia argophylla
Acaena novae-zelandiae
Pteridium esculentum
Pomaderris apetala
Acacia melanoxylon
Viola hederacea
Necklace fern
Bedfordia salicina
Lomatia tinctoria
Dianella tasmanica
Gonocarpus spp.
Coprosma hirtella
Pimelea nivea
Banksia marginata
Diplarrena moraea
Lomandra longifolia
Tetratheca pilosa
Acacia myrtifolia
Leptospermum spp.
Distichlis distichophylla
Correa reflexa
Pultenaea daphnoides
Callistemon pallidus

[report by Geoff Fenton]

Twenty-four of us were shown over Mt Canopus Observatory by Dr Stefen Dieters, a physicist at the University of Tasmania, specialising in optical and x-ray astronomy. The observatory is near Mt Rumney to the east of Hobart.

The most notable feature as you arrive at the site is the aluminium dome. Stefan ushered us all inside under the dome – we all fitted in surprisingly easily – and introduced us to the main instrument, a 1 metre aperture Cassegrain telescope. The telescope is up on a massive polar mount that was made in the 1960s by an ordinance manufacturer in Victoria. Stefan explained how this mount is used to keep the telescope pointing steadily at any desired star or galaxy while the earth rotates on its axis. He also pointed out safety to prevent the astronomer – at the end of along tiring night – from accidentally crashing the telescope into fixed parts of the mount; and arrangements for keeping the opening in the dome synchronised with the telescope’s line of sight.

The sensor at the ‘small end’ of the telescope is 512x512 pixel CCD array similar to that in digital camera, but extremely sensitive and with no imperfections. The CCD is cooled to –50 degrees C by anti-freeze solution and a Peltier effect cooler. This enables 10 minute exposures to show down to 19th magnitude stars. This is 13 magnitudes more sensitive than the naked eye – and the sky glow from Hobart is the limiting factor.

The telescope is actually controlled from a little room (which couldn’t fit us all at once!) full of computers and electronics. Our two youngest naturalists were privileged to push the buttons to move the telescope a degree or two.

The telescope is used for various astronomical research projects. Perhaps the most exciting at present is collaboration in a Paris based planet search for extra-solar planets. These have only been known of for about ten years. In this case the "micro lensing" technique is being utilised, where the gravity of a star along the line-of-sight acts as a giant lens to help focus light from an object even further away.

Another recent project was measuring the extent and properties of Pluto’s atmosphere, and yet another is observing a binary star whose period is changing in an unexplained manner.

Stefan showed us the spectroscopy room with its massive frame on isolation mounts for supporting optical components. This is currently being upgraded to be fed by an optical fibre from the telescope and for the light to be recorded electronically.