Outing Report - Purga Area, 17 February 2018

FFNC members on the boardwalk at Purga Nature Reserve

The picnic table behind gives an idea
of the scale of the Melaleuca irbyana

This was definitely a botanical outing. Our first stop was Purga Nature Reserve a conservation area for Swamp Tea-tree Melaleuca irbyana. It occurs naturally only in south-east Queensland, and is characterised by 8-12m high paper-bark thickets with an open canopy of eucalypts overhead. The very fine leaves spiral up the branches, and the seed capsules are miniscule. It makes you wonder how those seeds ever manage to germinate and grow a tree! Tick Orchids (Thumb-nail Orchid or Tongue Orchid) Dockrillia linguiformis were abundant. No flowers at this time of year but quite a discussion about how they manage to hang onto a tree with such loose bark. The undergrowth is mainly grasses - native and exotic, sedges and herbs with many pest weeds - Trailing Lantana Lantana montevidensis, Prickly Pear Opuntia spp., Narrow-leaf Cotton Bush, or Milkweed Gomphocarpus fruticosus, and Lantana Lantana camara to name a few. Also in the leaf litter we saw a few red fruits of the native Winter Apple, Eremophila debilis. 

Small dam at Harding's Paddock

Harding’s Paddock is another Ipswich City reserve and is 6km due east of the Purga reserve as the crow flies. We walked the Bush Tucker Trail which is a series of gardens with some of the local plants used by aboriginal people for medicine, weapons and tools, fibre, shelter, and food. There were self-explanatory signs. It was interesting to see the Rose Wattle or Rosewood (Acacia fasciculifera) which is native to eastern Queensland. It grows in dry scrubs like brigalow, and supposedly the township of Rosewood is named after it. Butterflies, cicadas, bugs, grasshoppers and Spangled Drongos kept everybody occupied with photography. At the end of the walk was a small dam with waterlilies including Water Snowflake (Nymphoides spp.) in full flower. We spent some time here trying to identify the many dragonflies.

Purga Nature Reserve, Birds: Laughing Kookaburra, Sacred Kingfisher, Rainbow Bee-eater, Noisy Friarbird, Grey Butcherbird, Pied Butcherbird, Australian Magpie, Spangled Drongo, Torresian Crow, Mistletoebird. Butterflies: Orchard Swallowtail, Clearwing Swallowtail, Common Grass-yellow, Wanderer, Lesser Wanderer, Common Crow, Evening Brown, Grey Ringlet, Common Eggfly, Meadow Argus, Glasswing. Dragonflies: Blue Skimmer Dragonfly (♀ & ♂). Mammals: Eastern Grey Kangaroo. Spiders: Biting Jumping Spider (Opisthoncus mordax) - with ant prey.

Harding’s Paddock, Amphibians: Cane Toad - toadlets hopping around the dam. Birds: Australian Wood Duck, Bar-shouldered Dove, White-faced Heron, Masked Lapwing, Pale-headed Rosella, Laughing Kookaburra, Dollarbird, Superb Fairy-wren, Weebill, White-throated Gerygone, Striated Pardalote, Noisy Miner, Scarlet Honeyeater, White-throated Honeyeater, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Little Friarbird, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Cicadabird, Olive-backed Oriole, Grey Butcherbird, Pied Butcherbird, Australian Magpie, Pied Currawong, Spangled Drongo, Willie Wagtail, Torresian Crow, Magpie-lark, Eastern Yellow Robin, Mistletoebird. Bugs: Hibiscus Harlequin Bug (Tectocoris diophthalmus), False Cotton Stainer (Aulacosternum nigrorubrum) – mating adults, and 5th instars, Eucalyptus Tip-wilter Bug (Amorbus alternatus). Butterflies: Orchard Swallowtail, Lemon Migrant, Common Grass-yellow, Small Grass-yellow, Wanderer, Lesser Wanderer, Blue Tiger, Common Eggfly, Glasswing. Dragonflies: Scarlet Percher (Diplacodes haematodes), Blue Skimmer (Orthetrum caledonicum), Graphic Flutterer (Rhyothemis graphiptera), Australian Tiger (Ictinogomphus australis), Common Glider (Trapezostigma loewii). Scats: Common Brushtail Possum, Koala. Spiders: Golden Orb Weaver (Nephila plumipes male & female).