OUTING REPORT 07 February 2021

 

After morning tea near Jessie's Cottage at Murphy's Creek we drove via Fifteen Mile Road to the Land for Wildlife property on White Mountain Road belonging to Greg and Diane Spearritt. We were met by Greg and his guests, Martin Bennett and Joe Blatchly, who were already adding to the property's extensive plant list in the area around the on-site caravan and adjoining buildings.

Because the day's heat was increasing, a quick decision was made for some to start a walk of over three kilometres down a dry sandstone gully some distance off (reached first in vehicles) to the main creek channel, and then back up the hillside to the others. This would allow a review and extension of the existing plant list, while certainly stretching participants' legs. Remaining Nats would explore the flatter areas where we had gathered first. Those who did the latter reported a very small bird list that included a bedraggled kookaburra, on a post, that had fallen into an open tank earlier in the day. Vegetation was observed and photographs taken. Little was flowering at this time of year but mauve to purple Hairy Fan Flower (Scaevola ramosissima) with its five-petalled blooms was making a fine summer display. The Australian Native Plants Society advises that, though not long-lived, (three or four years at most), this plant makes an attractive rockery feature and grows readily from cuttings.

Eventually the trekkers and rockhoppers arrived back, several puffing or worse, but with very impressive additions to the plant list, thanks largely to Martin's and Joe's expertise. The shade of Greg's part-sandstone 'living room' made a welcome spot for lunch and later, for a wide-ranging talk on local geology by Dougal Johnston. His presentation spanned hundreds of millions of years, from the origins of the underlying old, mostly metamorphic rocks, to local Great Artesian Basin aquifers, and lastly to the course, cross-bedded pebbly sands seen in the Spearritts' creeks on our walk.      

                                                                                                                             (Report by Diane Pagel)

 Bird Report - White Mountain

While not exactly the Helidon Hills, White Mountain is not far from that area. The Hills are notoriously poor in bird species, but of course there are hundreds of plants. Those of us who stayed behind at the cabin in the shade if not the cool saw only a few species of birds and the trekkers saw or heard only one. A Kookaburra kept watch from a stump fairly close to the cabin for quite some time. A female King Parrot was seen and heard but there was no sign of the brightly colored male. A Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike pretended to be a dollar bird by perching on the very top of a dead tree [this is a favorite place for dollar birds]. A Currawong flew overhead. There was one other species seen but I have quite forgotten what it was. White-throated Treecreepers were detected by the intrepid walkers. A photograph of a white-throated nightjar seen by our host recently was circulated.

(Report by Jan Veacock)

 Plant List - at 202 White Mountain Road, White Mountain, Queensland by Greg Spearritt

Adiantiaceae	Adiantim hispidulum	rough maidenhair fern		LC
Apiaceae	Platysace lanceolata	shrubby platysace		LC
Apocynaceae	Marsdenia coronata	corky milk vine		V
Apocynaceae	Vincetoxicum ovatum	bowmans milk vine		LC
Araliaceae	Astrotricha latifolia	white leaf		LC
Asteraceae	Cassinia laevis	cough bush		LC
Asteraceae	Cyanthillium cinereum	vernonia		LC
Asteraceae	Sphaeromorphaea australis	nutheads		LC
Asteraceae	Sigesbeckia orientalis	indian plant		LC
Bignoniaceae	Pandorea sp.	Wonga vine		LC
Bignoniaceae	Tecoma stans	yellow bells	Y
Caesalpiniaceae	Chamaecrista nomame	sensitive pea		LC
Campanulaceae	Lobelia purpuracens	whiteroot		LC
Casuarinaceae	Allocasuarina littoralis	black she-oak		LC
Casuarinaceae	Casuarina cunninghamiana	creek she-oak		LC
Cupressacaea	Callitris s glaucophylla	white cypress		LC
Cyperaceae	Fimbristylis dichotoma	finger rush		LC
Dilleniaceae	Hibbertia monticola sp. aff.	Showy Guinea Flower		LC
Elaeocarpaceae	Elaeocarpus obovatus	hard quandong		LC
Fabaceae	Crotalaria brevis	dwarf rattlepod		LC
Fabaceae	Crotalaria lanceolata	lance leaved rattlepod	Y
Fabaceae	Daviesia villifera	prickly pea		LC
Fabaceae	Glycine clandestina	trailing pea		LC
Fabaceae	Glycine tabacina	trailing pea		LC
Fabaceae	Hovea planifolia	broad leaved hovea		LC
Fabaceae	Hovea lorata	short leaved hovea		LC
Fabaceae	Tephrosia rufula	tephrosia		LC
Lamiaceae	Teucrium argutum	native Germander		LC
Laxmanniaceae	Laxmannia gracilis	wire lily		LC
Laxmanniaceae	Lomandra laxa	wide leaved mat rush		LC
Laxmanniaceae	Xanthorrea johnsonii	grass tree		LC
Malvaceae	Sida sp	sida		LC
Mimosaceae	Acacia maidenii	maidens wattle		LC
Myrtaceae	Angophora woodsiana	smudgee		LC
Myrtaceae	Eucalyptus helidonica	helidon hills stringbark		LC
Myrtaceae	Corymbia trachyphloia	red bloodwood		LC
Myrtaceae	Eucalyptus baileyana	Baileys stringybark		LC
Myrtaceae	Eucalyptus fibrosa	large leaved ironbark		LC
Myrtaceae	Eucalyptus major	grey gum		LC
Myrtaceae	Eucalyptus microcorys	tallowood		LC
Myrtaceae	Eucalyptus pilularis	blackbutt		LC
Myrtaceae	Eucalyptus taurina	helidon hills ironbark		E
Myrtaceae	Leptospermum trinervium	flaky barked tea tree		LC
Oleaceae	Jasminum simplicifolium subsp. Australiensis	stiff jasmine		LC
Phyllanthaceae	Phyllanthus similis	phyllanthus		LC
Poaceae	Capillipedium sp.	scented top		LC
Poaceae	Digitaria breviglumis	digit grass		LC
Poaceae	Entolasia marginata	bordered panic		LC
Poaceae	Entolasia stricta	wiry panic		LC
Poaceae	Eragrostis sp.	a love grass		LC
Poaceae	Oplismenus			LC
Proteacaeae	Persoonia sericea	hairy geebung		LC
Pteridaceae	Cheilanthes sieberi	mulga fern		LC
Pteridaceae	Pellaea falcata	sickle fern		LC