Outing Report - Helidon Hills, 17 April 2021

Tent spider in her web

Tent spiders build horizontal webs.
Here the spider is on the outer limit of her web
 and the dome of the tent is seen rising
on the right-hand side.

Tent spider egg sacs
above her web

 

We had a marvellous day in the Helidon Hills. It is not an area that the Fassifern Field Nats have visited in the past. 

We were quite surprised at how many wildflowers were blooming at this time of year and put it down to the recent rains. Mistletoe was one of the flowering plants and they were attracting plenty of birds including one we don't see at home, the Fuscous Honeyeater.

Scaevola sp.

 

Flat-stemmed Wattle
 (Acacia complanata)

Rough Bush-pea (Pultenaea scabra)

Are you sure it's a ..........

Pretty sepals of the Pomax umbellata

Close-up of Pomax umbellata

It wasn't only natural things that were interesting.
This antique steam crane left over from earlier quarrying days
of the beautiful Helidon sandstone caught our members' attention.

Discarded piles of Helidon sandstone

Helidon Hills Species Lists, 17 April 2021

introduced species = _*

Fauna

Birds: Peaceful Dove, Bar-shouldered Dove, Rainbow Lorikeet, Little Lorikeet, Pale-headed Rosella, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Brush Cuckoo, White-throated Treecreeper, Buff-rumped Thornbill, Brown Thornbill, Spotted Pardalote, Striated Pardalote, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Fuscous Honeyeater, Noisy Miner, Scarlet Honeyeater, Brown Honeyeater, White-throated Honeyeater, Noisy Friarbird, Little Friarbird, Striped Honeyeater, Eastern Whipbird, Varied Sittella, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Cicadabird, Rufous Whistler, Grey Shrike-thrush, Grey Butcherbird, Australian Magpie, Pied Currawong, Grey Fantail, Willie Wagtail, Torresian Crow, Welcome Swallow, Mistletoebird.

Butterflies: Black Jezebel (Delias nigrina), Orange Ringlet (Hypocysta adiante), Glasswing (Acraea andromacha), Imperial Hairstreak (Jalmenus evagoras).

Damsel/Dragonflies: male Scarlet Percher (Diplacodes haematodes).

Spiders: Tent Spider (Cyrtophora moluccensis), Australian Jewel Spider (Austracantha minax), Flat Rock Spider (Hemicloea major), Leaf-curling Spider (Phonognatha graeffei).

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

Grasses, Sedges, Rushes, etc.: Barbed Wire Grass (Cymbopogon refractus), Kangaroo Grass (Themeda triandra).

Herbs: Daisy Goodenia (Goodenia bellidifolia), Guinea Flower (Hibbertia stricta), Lady’s Slippers (Hybanthes monopetalus), Slender Bottle-daisy (Lagenophora gracilis), Purple Fan-flower (Scaevola ramosissima), Fringe Lily (Thysanotus tuberosus),

Vines, Scramblers & Climbers: Rusty Tick-trefoil (Desmodium rhytidophyllum), Glycine cyrtoloba, Barbed Wire Vine (Smilax australis).

Mistletoes: Native Cherry (Exocarpos cupressiformis).

Grass Trees: Xanthorrhoea latifolia - sandy or gravelly soil.

Shrubs: Flat-stemmed Wattle (Acacia complanata), Chloanthes parviflora, Four-Tailed Grevillea (Grevillea quadricauda), Dogwood (Jacksonia scoparia), *Lantana (Lantana camara), Lance Beard-heath (Leucopogon affinis), Urn Heath (Melichrus urceolatus), Orange Pultanaea (Pultenaea euchila), Rough Bush-pea (Pultenaea scabra).

Trees: Forest She-oak (Allocasuarina torulosa), Red Ash or Soap Tree (Alphitonia excelsa), Bailey's Stringybark (Eucalyptus baileyana), Helidon Mahogany (Eucalyptus helidonica), Blackbutt (Eucalypt pilularis), Woody Pear (Xylomelum pyriforme).