A good group of Field Nats
turned up at the Barber Road entrance to Highfields Falls Bushland Park. We
were joined by three young girls aged seven, four and almost three who were
delightfully well behaved.
Oh, the wind! We were hopeful of seeing quite a few
birds in the vicinity of permanent water, but Jan Veacock had some historic FN
bird lists which suggested with such a wind blowing the sightings would probably
not be great. The first part of the walk was through open eucalypt forest with
an understory of grasses and Wombat berry vines Eustrephus latifolius. The latter had orange fruits attractive to
birds; the tubers are reportedly edible and certainly eaten by wombats and other
native root-eating mammals.
Turning a
corner in the path we descended into the creek gully, the vegetation
immediately became thicker and more varied and we were protected from the wind.
It was otherwise a gloriously warm and sunny day. Although there was not a
great volume flowing over the falls it was a pleasure to see and hear running
water and the girls were fascinated with some long-legged ants with gasters
raised over mesosomas or better as described to us “the black abdomen sat very
close to the head and looked almost like a black backpack”. Further along the
path there were steps leading down into the gully below the falls which we also
explored. The steps terminated at a steep bank, so it was not possible to go
further.
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| Pandorea pandorana |
Our group
then headed for Williams Park in Highfields for a comfort stop and the obligatory
refreshments! Jan read out a delightfully apt poem which I believe will be
reprinted in this newsletter. Klein Creek appeared totally dry, but the circuit
walk was shady and the tree ferns still thriving. There were a few interesting
plants as well, some of which illustrate this article. The Wonga Wonga Vine Pandorea pandorana is a common
attractive climber. The flexible wood was used for making spears for woomeras
in the Central and Western deserts. One of the trees, perhaps four metres tall
was totally smothered in Headache – Vine Clematis
glycinoides. If the leaves are crushed the resulting aroma can be inhaled
to relieve headaches and stuffy noses but the sap can be an irritant and so must
be washed off straight away. The Native Cherry Exocarpos cupressiformis is a semi-parasitic shrub with reportedly
edible but astringent fruit and a food for various birds and caterpillars.
It is interesting to note that the Highfields Falls creek flows
eastward toward the sea and the waters from Klein Creek – when it has any –
drain inland.
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| Clematis glycinoides |
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| Tree ferns |
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| Wombat berry |
Report and photos by Diana Ball
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