March activity details - Friday 07 March 2025 and Sunday 09 March 2025. Parks across North Toowoomba

CLUB MEETING: Friday, 7th  March, 7 pm - 

Golden-shouldered Parrot country

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

“The Golden-shouldered Parrot, a retrospective on its discovery and field research” presented by Mark Weaver. During the 1970s and 1980s, Mark was based in Cairns as a District Wildlife Ranger. While there, he undertook numerous field trips into the Cape York Peninsula region 

and became involved in opportunistic field research on this endangered parrot.

CLUB OUTING: Sunday 9th March 2025. Parks in North Toowoomba

Meeting Time: 8.30am

Where: Horn Park in Stuart Street

Description: A tag-along tour which will include the Rifle Range, Mt. Lofty, several small parks and finish in the recently upgraded car park off Range Road at the Boyce Gardens. Morning tea along the way and lunch in the Boyce Gardens. 

Activities: This outing will be to some of the Council Parks across North Toowoomba. This will enable people a chance to assess Council plantings and to make suggestions about the vegetation and management of our large and small parks.

Level of Fitness: easy access and easy walking for all

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.

February Outing Report - two properties in the Grantham area, 09 February 2025

Varied Eggfly butterflies,
one female and several males
Photo: B. Weller

 Adapted from the TFNC March 2025 newsletter report of P. Allen.

The Garden of Eden - 19 members and guests set off for the butterfly farm owned and run by Ray and Delphine Archer. A large, fully netted butterfly enclosure was alive with hundreds of butterflies, predominately Common or Varied Eggfly Hypolimnas bolina of both sexes. There was a variety of other species in smaller numbers and a few members were lucky enough to see a female Cairns Birdwing Butterfly Ornithoptera richmondia. The variety of food and nectar plants, including both vegetables, exotic and native plants was in itself fascinating and a few of us were clearly planning to add some to our own gardens. 

Inside the butterfly house
Photo: B. Weller

Ray explained that the huge predominance of the Common Eggfly is deliberate as this is the butterfly most likely to land on both plants (and people) which makes photography easier for the many visitors. A glassed-in room at the end of the enclosure was good for observing the breeding of various butterflies.

We enjoyed our morning tea under shady trees outside where the owners had planted other butterfly attracting plants, like Pigeon Pea Cajanus cajan and Plumbago sp. The latter attracting numerous species while we were there.

We then moved on to the next property at the edge of the Helidon Hills. This 40 acre property included a variety of ecosystems, including open grassy areas, a man-made rainforest area but mostly a steep, hillside leading down to a creek, which was where most of the locally endemic plants were found.

Autumn Cluster Moth
Dichomeris capnites
Photo: M. Simmons

As usual the Natters scattered, some down to the creek while several members were fully occupied exploring the small but fascinating rainforest area that the owners had created. With two ponds and a variety of plant species this area was alive with interesting creatures including numerous dragonflies and  damselflies. An intriguing moth which had settled in huge numbers on some leaves of a tree was later identified as the Autumn Cluster Moth, Dichomeris capnites.

Species list for the day, compiled from members' observations:

Butterflies: Chequered Swallowtail, Large Grass Yellow, Small Grass Yellow, Common Eggfly, Lemon Migrant, Caper White, Common Crow, Brown Soldier, Black Margined Yellow, Monarch, Australian Wanderer, White Banded Plane, Small Green Banded Blue, Plumbago Blue, Tailed Emperor, Orchard Swallowtail, Richmond Birdwing.

Moths: Joseph's Coat Moth, Autumn Cluster Moth.

Spiders: Ant eating Jumping Spider, St Andrew's Cross Spider, Christmas Jewel Spider, Giant Golden Orb Weaver, Nephilidae pilipes; Tent Spider or Tent-web Spider, Cyrtophora moluccensis.

Birds: Straw necked Ibis, Brown-cuckoo Dove, Pale-headed Rosella, Striated Pardalote, Brown Honeyeater, Grey Shrike-thrush, Willie Wagtail, Spangled Drongo, Peaceful Dove.

Flora: White Cedar, Meila azedarach; Helidon Hills White Mahogany, Eucalyptus helidonica; Acacia podalyriifolia; Acacia hispidula; Acacia penninervis; Bailey's Stringybark, Eucalyptus baileyana; Soap Tree, Alphitonia excelsa; Native Coffee Bush, Breynia oblongifolia; Yellow Buttons, Chrysocephalum apiculatum; Moreton Bay Ash, Eucalyptus tessellaris; Dogwood, Jacksonia scoparia; Poison Peach, Trema tomentosa; Barbed wire Grass, Cymbopogon refractus; Kangaroo Grass, Themeda triandra; a Geebung, Persoonia sp.; Barbed wire vine, Smilax australis; Cupid’s Lipstick (?); Long leaved Bitter pea, Daviesia wyattiana.

February activity details - Sunday 09 February 2025. Butterfly Farm and McGarvas Road, Grantham

CLUB MEETING: 7 pm, Friday 07 February 

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

Five speakers ‘from the floor’ on ‘Close Encounters of the Natural History Kind.’

CLUB OUTING: Sunday 09 February 2025. Butterfly Farm and McGarvas Road, Grantham

$5.00 entry fee (cash only – no credit card availability) 

Time: 9.00am

Where to meet: James Norman Hedges Park at Helidon. This is the park on the left (northern) side of the Warrego Highway immediately before crossing Lockyer Creek at Helidon.

Description: This will allow birdwatchers time to wander around the creek before leaving at 9.30 am for the ‘Garden of Eden’ Butterfly Farm 6 kilometres from Helidon on Conners Road. There is a $5.00 entry fee (cash only – no credit card availability) to this peaceful sanctuary owned and run by Ray and Delphine Archer.

Please note - As butterflies are not active on cloudy and rainy days, this outing remains subject to change at short notice.  

On leaving the Butterfly Farm we will continue along Conners Road to McGarvas Road which rises high to a sandstone plateau. We will a property where the owners are enjoying a ‘tree change’ and happy for us to have lunch and wander around. There is much to see for those with limited mobility and a more strenuous walk down a creek for those so inclined. There is suitable access for all vehicles. 

Non-members: Please email us if you have any queries.

Level of Fitness: Activities to suit all levels.

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.

November Outing Report - Glen Lomond Conservation Park, 03 November 2024

Hell Hole Falls with columnar basalt. 

Adapted from the TFNC December newsletter reports of M. Compton and B. Gundry

Our outing was a special day, one seemingly suspended in a kind of dreamtime. It was a glorious spring day in which to have an almost “Hanging Rock” timeless experience in Glen Lomond Conservation Park at the southern end of the escarpment.

We are all used to the indications of serious volcanic activity in the Toowoomba vicinity, especially obviously so with the flat-topped cone of Tabletop. But how about the other way round - a reverse cone down into the earth? For our November excursion we visited the very impressive mouth of a volcano in this park at the south-east corner of the eastern range. Here, we stood at the edge of this geological phenomenon and gazed deep into the funnel created when the boiling magma blew out of the depths and into the air. Giant basalt columns line the sides of the mouth, while a modest creek has cut a “V” in one side, trickling over as Hell Hole Creek and making its way to join Flagstone Creek. The ancient history of the area is palpable, and its impressive grandeur makes a great impact. 

Close by is an open area of grassland about the size of a cricket ground, with shelter sheds. Of course, the field nats set themselves up very comfortably in one of these and proceeded to enjoy the day “spaced out” in a naturalist kind of way. 

Some members set off for the walk to a waterfall deep within the park, returning with enthusiastic reports of the experience, but saying quite honestly that it wasn’t an easy walk. 

The “falls” occurred over exposed, hexagonal columnar basalt and the scatter of rocks of the plunge pool were likewise of basalt, but there was some softer material which initially was thought of a type of tuff. On further investigation it was a mass of matted biotic materials. Where there is water, there will be a living response. Here, plants, living and dead, clung to the moist basalt, creating a matted vegetative layer, in places only half a centimetre thick, but the more central masses may have been 10-20 centimetres thick. The entire mass was about 5-6 metres high at the apex and about three metres wide across the base. The entire moist biotic mass may have weighed over 1 tonne and looked something less than stable.

Meanwhile others, in the wont of Natters, scattered into the area adjacent to the shelter shed to enjoy their naturalizing.

Species List; Glen Lomond Park, Middle Ridge, Toowoomba (compiled by R. Hobson from members' observations)
Birds: Australian Brush-turkey, Wonga Pigeon, Crested Pigeon, Eastern Great Egret x 1 (overhead), Dollarbird, Peregrine Falcon x 1 (dead), Little Corella, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Rainbow Lorikeet, Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Satin Bowerbird, White-throated Treecreeper, Superb Fairy-wren, Noisy Friarbird, Brown Honeyeater, Lewin’s Honeyeater, Noisy Miner, White-browed Scrubwren, Striated Thornbill, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Common Cicadabird, Rufous Whistler, Grey Shrike-thrush, Eastern Whipbird, Pied Currawong, Australian Magpie, Spangled Drongo, Torresian Crow, Leaden Flycatcher, Eastern Yellow Robin, Mistletoebird, Silvereye Amphibians: Common Green Treefrog Litoria caerulea Reptiles (lizards): Scute-snouted Calyptotis Calyptotis scutirostrum, Lace Monitor Varanus varius Dragonflies and Damselflies: Australian Emperor Anax papuensis, Australian Emerald Hemicordulia australiae; Blue Skimmer Orthetrum caledonicum Grasshoppers and Crickets: Hedge Grasshopper Valanga irregularis, Field Cricket Teleogryllus commodus Cicadas: Black Tree Ticker Cicada Birrima varians Butterflies and Moths: Orchard Swallowtail Papilio a. aegeus, Chequered Swallowtail Papilio demoleus sthenelus, Dainty Swallowtail Papilio anactus, White Migrant Catopsilia pyranthe crokera, Yellow Migrant Catopsilia g. gorgophone, Caper White Belenois java teutonia, Scarlet Jezebel Delias a. argenthona, Lesser Wanderer Danaus petilia, Monarch Danaus plexippus, Common Crow Euploea corinna, Glasswing Acraea a. andromacha, Meadow Argus Junonia v. villida, Tailed Emperor Charaxes s. sempronius, Grey Ringlet Hypocysta pseudirius, Common Grass-blue Zizina otis labradus Beetles: a small green beetle Diphucephala sp. (very common esp. on Soap Tree Alphitonia excelsa) Ants: Giant Bull Ant Myrmecia gulosa, Green-head Ant Rhytidoponera metallica, Daemel’s Spiny Ant Polyrhachis daemeli, Southern Meat Ant Iridomyrmex purpureus