September Outing - Gatton Region, Sunday 5th

Wildlife on Lake Galletly

Time: 9.00 am. 

(Car-pooling is available from the Neil Street carpark nearest Herries Street at 8:15 am.)

Where: Meet at the park in Williams Street, Grantham.

Directions: Follow the Warrego Highway from Toowoomba to Helidon, then turn onto Gatton-Helidon Road to Grantham, avoiding the Gatton bypass. Turn left opposite the Floating Café in Grantham. We will travel in convoy approximately two kilometres toward Gatton, turning left at Placid Hills/Old Toowoomba Road.

 
Activities: Viewing birdlife on Karrasch’s Dam and other suitable sites from the roadside on our journey. 

We will continue to Lake Apex parking at the Dry Rainforest Arboretum. Friends of Lake Apex maintain the Arboretum at Lake Apex. It was planted by volunteers on several National Tree Days, and is being added to frequently by the FOLA team. The Arboretum features many species of trees endemic to the area. Following morning tea, there are several options for independent walking around the two lakes and Arboretum area. 

We will gather for lunch and discussions of flora and fauna observed. There is the option of continuing our drive to the University of Queensland Gatton campus to view birdlife from the bird hides of Lakes Galletly and Lenore.

Facilities: toilets at Grantham and Lake Apex.

What to Bring: The usual – binocs, cameras, field guides, all food and drinks, chairs, picnic tables, sunscreen, hats, raincoats, wear sturdy shoes, etc., etc., etc.

Please register your interest if you are not a member (email address in right-hand margin) so we can contact you if there's any changes.

Please follow current COVID-19 restrictions 

and stay at home if you have any flu-like symptoms.

September Meeting Details - 7 pm Friday 3rd September

Time: 7.00 pm

Location: St. Anthony’s Community Centre, Memory Street, Toowoomba

Guest Speaker, Andy LeBroque from USQ on "Grasses and Climate Change"

Andy has taught biology, ecology, conservation and sustainability at USQ since 1996. He has extensively researched and published in the areas of plant-environment relationships, biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes, and plant-fungal relationships. He has served/advised on a number of local natural resource committees in the Darling Downs region and helped establish USQ’s environment and sustainability committee and the Gumbi Gumbi gardens. Prior to his appointment at USQ, Andy has also worked as a botanist, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, conducting vegetation assessments.

Followed by supper.

Current COVID-19 regulations apply 

Outing Report - Sunday, 8 August 2021 Merritts Creek

Black Bootlace Orchid
(Erythrorchis cassythoides)

This weird-looking specimen is a Black Bootlace Orchid found on the Toowoomba Field Naturalist Club's August outing to the Merritts Creek area. 

This is a climbing orchid that grows on eucalypts, stumps and logs in near-coastal areas and nearby tablelands from central Queensland to southern coastal NSW. 

It’s a plant with no leaves at all. Its black bootlace-like stems come up from roots which are getting all the food the plant needs by being parasitic on soil fungi. 

It was first formally described by Richard Cunningham who sent a specimen and hand-written description to his brother Allan. He wrote that he had called the plant Dendrobium cassythoides, because on first impression it resembled the genus Cassytha, not only beings leafless and having short racemes of flowers, but in its peculiar bronze or japanned (black) pimply stems. In the 1980s it was changed to Erythrorchis cassythoides. The name Erythrorchis is derived from the Ancient Greek words erythros meaning "red" and orchis meaning "testicle" or "orchid".

The characteristic black, pimply stems

The flower (from a plant
in Perseverance Forest)

                                           

Acknowledgements

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythrorchis_cassythoides   
https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/534400-Erythrorchis-cassythoides
http://toowoombaplants2008.blogspot.com/2011/09/black-bootlace-orchid.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythrorchis

Photographs: F. Mangubhai

Fauna

Birds: Australian Wood Duck, Crested Pigeon, Straw-necked Ibis, Galah, Cockatiel, Rainbow Lorikeet, Musk Lorikeet, Pale-headed Rosella, Pheasant Coucal, Laughing Kookaburra, White-throated Treecreeper, Superb Fairy-wren, White-throated Gerygone, Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Spotted Pardalote, Striated Pardalote, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Noisy Miner, Scarlet Honeyeater, Striped Honeyeater, Grey-crowned Babbler, Golden Whistler, Grey Butcherbird, Pied Butcherbird, Australian Magpie, Grey Fantail, Willie Wagtail, Torresian Crow.

Mammals: Probably Pale Field Rat (Rattus tunneyi) – burrows only.

Flora discussed or taken note of on the day (not a comprehensive list): * introduced species 

Grasses: Stout Bamboo Grass (Austrostipa ramosissima), Kangaroo Grass (Themeda triandra).

Orchids: Black Bootlace Orchid (Erythrorchis cassythoides). 

Shrubs: Coffee Bush (Breynia oblongifolia), *Lantana (Lantana camara).

Trees: Silver Wattle (Acacia nerifolia), Forest She-oak (Allocasuarina torulosa), Spotted Gum (Corymbia maculata), Grey Gum (Eucalyptus biturbinata), Narrow-leaved or Red Ironbark (Eucalyptus crebra), Yellow Box (Eucalyptus melliodora), Tallowwood (Eucalyptus microcorys), Blackbutt (Eucalyptus piluralis), Sydney Blue Gum (Eucalyptus saligna), Native Cherry (Exocarpos cupressiformis), Crow’s Ash (Flindersia australis), Scrub Wilga (Geijera salicifolia), Sandalwood (Santalum obtusifolium).

August Outing - Merritts Creek, Sunday 8th August

Time: 9.00 am. 

Car-pooling is available from the Neil Street carpark nearest Herries Street at 8:15 am.

Where: Merritt's Creek. 

Directions: Take the New England Highway north from the Blue Mountain Hotel, Harlaxton towards Crows Nest for approximately 23 km. Turn left into Merritts Creek Rd. Park in cleared area 100 m on the left.

 
Activities: The outing is on private property and we will compare the native vine and shrub areas inside the property fence and on the road areas.

Morning tea at Chapman Park, Hampton (Hampton Visitor Information Centre)

11.30 am Hanrahan Rd, Merritts Creek - walk in regrowth vegetation.

Lunch at Bullocky's Rest, Crows Nest and walk along Apple Gum wetland reserve along the course of Crows Nest Creek.

Facilities: toilets and picnic tables at Chapman Park and Bullocky's Rest

What to Bring: The usual – binocs, cameras, field guides, all food and drinks, chairs, sunscreen, hats, raincoats, wear sturdy shoes, etc., etc., etc.

Please register your interest if you are not a member (email address in right-hand margin) so we can contact you if there's any changes.

Please follow current COVID-19 restrictions 

and stay at home if you have any flu-like symptoms.