April Outing Report - 12 April 2026, Laidley

 Adapted from the TFNC newsletter report by B. Dyke.

Old Man's Beard
Photo: M. Simmons

The 13 members of the club who attended the outing to our hosts’ property in Laidley could only admire their achievement in terraforming their denuded steep urban block into a living, vibrant ecosystem. The property is a ‘Land for Wildlife’ refuge with predominately native species from the area. All plants on the property are encouraged to self-seed and consequently a rich understorey of vegetation covers the property beneath larger and taller trees. All these plants being able to thrive on poor, shallow, sodic soils is down to the natural vegetation and water management which allows maximum retention while channelling excess without erosion.

Bird life is plentiful and active and our host said she didn’t mind the Currawongs in the garden as they were good ‘seed spreaders’ and the garden is designed with many habitats for smaller birds to escape the currawongs and raptors. Brush turkeys are part of the landscape but are controlled and limited to a certain area of the property by controlling their access to nest-building mulch. Snakes are also very welcome (but not so much i

Stonework to manage the storm water
Photo: M. Simmons

n the house!).

Many different tree species were encountered including Eucalypts, Melaleuca, Brachychiton, Pittosporum, etc. A number of delightful native Bauhinia (with the much smaller leaf than the introduced common species) was appreciated by many of the group.

The group then retired to Cunningham Crest Lookout for lunch and to take in the relaxing panorama of Laidley and its valley.