Outing Report - Bunburra, Saturday 17 June 2023

Adapted from the FFNC Inc. Newsletter

A lovely fine winter’s day greeted us when we went to Bunburra in June. We gathered and jumped into 4-wheel drives. Our host led us out the back of his place to “Dingo Creek” – a local name for a gully draining off the highest point on his property.

Birds were rather scarce. But the views were spectacular. And the gully was full of interesting
plants.

A fig in an Ironbark 

A fig (probably Ficus rubiginosa) had lodged about 30 m up in the top of a huge Ironbark (probably Eucalyptus crebra) and had dangled a very long tap root all the way to the ground – a definition of persistence. It will probably develop a bigger canopy and survive long after the Ironbark has died. The gully was dominated by Brush Box (Lophostemon confertus), but there was also a really big Crow’s Ash (Flindersia australis), some Scrub Ironbark (Bridelia leichhardtii) and a Yellow Tulip (Drypetes deplanchei).

Above Dingo Creek

The protected hillside was also dominated by Brush Box, with their lignotubers providing sustenance during harsher times. In some landscapes, a “whip-stick” form of Brush Box can establish – conditions are not good enough for big trees to develop, but just enough for thin trunks to dominate. True to form, Field Nats scattered in all directions .... but hunger got the better of them and they all straggled back eventually.

Looking to the east