CLUB MEETING: 7 pm, Friday 6 June 2025 St. Anthony’s Community Centre, Memory Street, Toowoomba
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Tomatoes Photo from Wikipedia: Creative Commons Attribution |
Where: Withcott; the car park beside the Freedom Fuels Service Station
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Ashlands Drive |
CLUB MEETING: 7 pm, Friday 6 June 2025 St. Anthony’s Community Centre, Memory Street, Toowoomba
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Tomatoes Photo from Wikipedia: Creative Commons Attribution |
Where: Withcott; the car park beside the Freedom Fuels Service Station
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Ashlands Drive |
One of the dams on Minglen Photo: L. Beaton |
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Natters in the Hirstglen Valley Photo: L. Moodie |
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Austral Toadflax Thesium australe Photo: L. Moodie |
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White-banded Plane Phaedyma shepherdi Photo: M.Weaver |
CLUB MEETING: 7 pm, Friday 2 May 2025 St. Anthony’s Community Centre, Memory Street, Toowoomba
Leon Steinhardt will speak to us on the 'Fossils of the Esk Formation, Brisbane Valley'. Leon Steinhardt
Photo: Leon's Facebook page
Where: The Lions Park on the corner of the New England Highway and Freyling Road, Hodgson Vale.
Adapted from the TFNC May 2025 newsletter reports of C. Stephenson & D. Ford.
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Skeletal remains of the victims Photo: K. Crompton |
This property of hoop pine dominated softwood scrub, bordered on three sides by predominantly eucalypt State Forest, was enveloped and destroyed by a huge fiery cloud. Tall, skeletal remains of the victims of the fire towered over the lush, green re-growth. Only two of the hoop pines remained, damaged, but alive. The steadfast work of the owners in clearing lantana, and planting hoop pine and other native seedlings is showing positive results. However, steep slopes and aggressive growth of invasive lantana will be an ongoing challenge.
Over
300mm of welcome rain in March has aided in the rapid regeneration of
pioneering species, especially green wattle. (up to 6 metres high). The
resilience of eucalypts is evident from the obvious coppicing from the base of
burnt trees. Naturally regenerating hoop pine seedlings were seen as we
meandered along the walking tracks close to the creek.
Of great interest was the spectacular array of abundant fungi
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Chocolate Tube Slime Stemonitis splendens Photo: B. Dyke |
In the creek bed was a tiny waterfall, formed by a buttress root, all that remained of a large fig tree, that had been incinerated in the all-consuming fire. Many thanks to our hosts for their welcome, and willingness to share their property. Their provision of maps, species lists and marked, maintained tracks was most helpful and very much appreciated. We wish them success in their endeavours to reawaken this special place.
Deongwar
species list - 06 April 2025 (Collated by C. Stephenson)
Birds: Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (in vicinity of Hampton Information
Centre), Rainbow Lorikeet, King Parrot, Welcome Swallow, Laughing Kookaburra,
Eastern Yellow Robin, Golden Whistler, Rufous Whistler, Grey Shrike-thrush,
Spectacled Monarch, Leaden Flycatcher, Rufous Fantail, Grey Fantail, Willie
Wagtail, Eastern Whipbird, Superb Fairy-wren, Yellow-throated Scrub-wren,
White-browed Scrub-wren, White-throated Gerygone, Brown Thornbill,
White-throated Treecreeper, Lewin’s Honeyeater, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Brown
Honeyeater, Eastern Spinebill, Striated Pardalote, Silvereye, Red-browed Finch,
Pied Butcherbird, Australian Magpie, Pied Currawong, Torresian Crow.
Reptiles: Yellow-faced Whipsnake.
Insects: Grass Dart or skipper Ocybadistes sp., Australian Emperor, Yellow Migrant, Wandering Percher, Evening Brown, Blue Skimmer, Brown Ringlet, Hibiscus Harlequin Bug Tectocoris diophthalmus, Monarch Butterfly.
Toowoomba Field Naturalist members went on a NSW camp in March - Armidale & Myall Lakes National Park. The report will be posted later. Watch this space!
Cattle Poison Sawfly Lophyrotoma interrupta Photo: Glenda Walter |
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Greater Gliders have been recorded at Deongwar since the fires Permission to use this image is under the GNU Free Documentation License, owner benjamint444 |
Where: Hampton on the corner of the New England Highway and the Hampton-Esk Road.
TRC Parks of North Toowoomba
This outing had been
rescheduled courtesy of the much vaunted Cyclone Alfred. The Field Nats
assembled at Horn Park on a fine dewy morning, heralding a warm day to follow.
Others joined in as the morning progressed. (Dr. Alex Horn had donated this
land to Council in the early 20th Century.) Our attention was first drawn
to 6 to 7 Black Kites Milvus migrans, just soaring above the trees
adjacent to the Bridge Clubhouse. We could ascertain no reason for this
aggregation, other than that they were also enjoying their early autumnal morning
….McKenzie St Lookout, Toowoomba
Our second stop was at the end
of Henry Street to visit a huge Moreton Bay Fig just inside the former Rifle
Range Reserve. This tree was planted by Eric French prior to his enlistment in
the AIF in 1916. He survived the war but lived the rest of his life as a
dentist in Brisbane. I was surprised that it was such a huge tree for its 110
years.
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Hoop Pine Araucaria cunninghamii at Boyce Gardens |
A drive to the very northern end of Mackenzie Street brought
us to the eastern edge of the
range where the waterfall from the end of Rifle
Range Road was still trickling after the recent rain ….
Lunch was relished in the shady gardens overlooking the original pool and water feature of Boyce Gardens. Not everyone took the rainforest walk, but with the recent UQ and Boyce Trust upgrade with historical markers, it concluded a warm sunny day enjoyed by all.
All photos: B. Weller
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Golden-shouldered Parrot country |
Where: Horn Park in Stuart Street
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Varied Eggfly butterflies, one female and several males Photo: B. Weller |
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.
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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.
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Autumn Cluster Moth Dichomeris capnites Photo: M. Simmons |
Please note - As butterflies are not active on cloudy and rainy days, this outing remains subject to change at short notice.
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Hell Hole Falls with columnar basalt. |
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.