November Outing Details: Glen Lomond Park, McStay Street entrance, Sunday 03 November 2024

McStay St entrance, Glen Lomond Park

Time: 8.30 am

Where:  at the McStay St entrance

Directions: Follow Rowbotham Street to the far end and turn left onto Zupps Road. Turn left again into Dippel Street and park at the McStay Street entrance. 

Description: This is one of Toowoomba’s Escarpment Parks and the least visited of all the parks that make up the escarpment park precinct. The track travels through a grassy paddock that becomes narrower approaching the ridge. It undulates until it reaches a cleared picnic area that offers magnificent views of the range including Table Top Mountain (Meewah).

Activities: We have a permit from the Toowoomba Regional Council to take 3-4 vehicles (preferably 4WD) through the locked gate to the end of the Hell Hole track. It is suggested we put our morning tea, lunch and chairs in the vehicles while most of us walk the Spur track (340 metres) and those less able to take a vehicle ride to the picnic area. (It is not suggested we take the full 2.75 kilometre walk to the Hell Hole Falls.)

Level of Fitness: All levels - see Activities above.

Facilities: benches, picnic tables and shelters but no rubbish bins, so come prepared to carry rubbish back with you. Also no toilets, probably the nearest are at Duggan Park.

What to Bring: suitable clothing and footwear for walking in the bush, sunscreen, insect repellant, water, morning tea and lunch, chair, and the usual naturalist stuff of your choice; binoculars, camera, field guides, notebook, etc.

October Camp Details: Stanthorpe, Friday, 18th - Monday 21st October 2024

Non-members, please contact our Secretary for full details (toowoombafieldnaturalists@gmail.com). 

Members, please see your October newsletter for details.

Nats at Girraween in 2009

Stanthorpe Campout Friday 18th – Monday 21st October 2024. Suggested accommodation (but not essential) Top of the Town Tourist Park where camping, powered sites and cabins are available.

Places we're visiting: Basket Swamp, Boonoo Boonoo, Storm King Dam, Girraween and Old Wallangarra Road. 

Hopefully the wildflowers will still be spectacular.

September Outing Report - Nangwee, 08 September 2024

Adapted from the Toowoomba Field Naturalist Club newsletter, Issue 800, October 2024 

North Branch of the Condamine
Photo: R. Ashdown

Members travelled west out of the basalt hill country onto the black soil plains (originally treeless grassland) of the Condamine River Alluvial Plains. At the property near Nangwee we were welcomed by our hosts and their family; their daughter and son being the fourth generation on the land.

This sustainably managed cereal and cotton property has double frontage along the North Branch of the Condamine River providing habitat for native fauna, including the Endangered

Condamine Earless Dragon
Photo: L. Balmain

Condamine Earless Dragon Tympanocryptis Condaminensis and the Vulnerable Brigalow Woodland Snail Adclarkia cameroni. 

Quality crops of chickpeas, sorghum, wheat, barley and more, assisted by irrigation from water harvesting and alluvial water from the Condamine Catchment Alluvium, are produced on the property.

From along the treed banks of the North Branch of the Condamine and around the homestead and dams, the following list of fauna has been compiled from members' sightings. 

Mammals: Eastern Grey Kangaroo, European Brown Hare, Red Fox* Birds: Hardhead, Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal, Australian Wood Duck, Australasian Grebe, Rock Dove, Spotted Dove, Crested Pigeon, Dusky Moorhen, Pied Stilt, Masked Lapwing, Silver Gull, Australian Tern, Australian Pelican*, White-necked Heron*, Eastern Great Egret, Australian White Ibis, Little Pied Cormorant, Little Black Cormorant, Pied Cormorant, Australasian Darter, Black-shouldered Kite*, Wedge-tailed Eagle*, Spotted Harrier*, Grey Goshawk*, Whistling Kite, Black Kite, Eastern Barn Owl, Sacred Kingfisher, Laughing Kookaburra, Nankeen Kestrel, Cockatiel, Galah, Little Corella, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Red-winged Parrot, Pale-headed Rosella, Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Superb Fairy-wren, Striped Honeyeater, Noisy Friarbird, Little Friarbird, Brown Honeyeater, Blue-faced Honeyeater, White-plumed Honeyeater, Noisy Miner, Spotted Pardalote, Striated Pardalote, White-throated Gerygone, Western Gerygone, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Rufous Whistler, Golden Whistler, Australian Magpie, Pied Butcherbird, Willie Wagtail, Grey Fantail, Torresian Crow, Australian Raven, Restless Flycatcher, Magpie-lark, Apostlebird, Mistletoebird, Double-barred Finch, Australasian Pipit, Golden-headed Cisticola, Welcome Swallow, Common Myna. Reptiles: Red-bellied Black Snake* Amphibians: Emerald Spotted Treefrog Molluscs: Brigalow Woodland Snail*, Invasive Field Slug Deroceras invadens, Freshwater Mussel Alathyria jacksoni Crustaceans: Common Yabbie Cherax destructor Butterflies: Orchard Swallowtail, Chequered Swallowtail, Green Grass-dart, Small Grass-yellow, Cabbage White, Caper White, Black Jezebel, Lesser Wanderer, Monarch, Common Crow, Glasswing, Meadow Argus, Brown Ringlet, Common Grass-blue. Dragonflies and damselflies: Aurora Bluetail, Australian Emperor, Tau Emerald, Wandering Percher, Scarlet Percher, Blue Skimmer.                            

 * Denotes species seen enroute to and from Toowoomba/Nangwee.

Nats enjoying a break on the September outing
Photo: D. Johnston

Wild About My Garden

Entries in the Wild About My Garden Project are being downloaded onto the Gallery page. Check out the beautiful work that has been submitted.

Deep Listening to Nature: Andrew Skeoch in Toowoomba - 7 September

Don't miss out on this wonderful opportunity to discover nature in a deeper way - Deep Listening to Nature. 
Bookings are essential.

 

July Outing Report - Glencoe Mountain, 07 July 2024

 Adapted from the Toowoomba Field Naturalist Club newsletter, Issue 798, August 2024

Brachychiton x turgidulus
in bloom November 2023
Photo: D. Pagel

When members met at Gowrie Junction they were not deterred by the wind, icy and bracing. On arrival at the property hot drinks seemed in order and while we enjoyed morning tea in a sheltered sunny spot beside their house, our hosts spoke to us about the history of the property, its development and their future plans. 

After morning tea, we explored below the house with our hosts, following various interests. There was no flora expert with us to compile a plant list, though we were provided with a comprehensive list compiled by botanists in 2019. Insects were elusive and many birds were sheltering elsewhere. 

Weathering and soil formation
Photo: D. Johnston

A shallow embankment beside the shed caught the attention of our geologist, Dougal, and those nearby learned from its profile something of the weathering of basalt rock and associated soil formation. The basalt on the property supplies many soluble elements through weathering and with little quartz the thin soil is dominated by dark-coloured swelling clays with organic content. Below, the subsoil has prominent weathered rock fragments and below that again, larger pieces of basalt. On the slopes the thin soil dries out and moves downhill with rainfall, limiting the plants that can grow well there.

When we re-gathered late morning, we drove up the hill to the ridge top. A gate was left open for us to explore remnant dry vine scrub and take in the expansive view to the north-west. A second walk along the road south took us to another open gate and we strolled back along the fence line birding and observing vegetation. 

At lunch, notes were compared and members expressed their appreciation for the hospitality shown them and the opportunity to visit a property cared for and developed with such commitment and passion. The outing did not produce the significant lists it might have done if the weather had been different, but it was certainly stimulating and enjoyable. 

Bird list for the day from members' observations:

Black shouldered Kite, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Nankeen Kestrel, Superb Blue-wren, Brown Honeyeater, Noisy Miner, Striated Pardalote, Brown Thornbill, Australian Magpie, Pied Butcherbird, Torresian Crow, Willie Wagtail, Grey Fantail, Restless Flycatcher, Double-barred Finch, Silvereye (Tasmanian race). A small list but such a windy day. 

Costa's Video

 

 

Take a walk on the wild side with Costa Georgiadis. Popular host of ABC television series Gardening Australia, Costa speaks to us about the "Wild About My Garden" project.