Camp Report - Undercliffe, NSW; 6-8 October 2023

Article adapted from the FFNC newsletter

The annual spring camp was in the Granite Belt at Undercliffe in NSW. Stanthorpe, to the west, is about 20 kms away. We camped close to the northern fence line in clearings between the trees. Our hosts had kindly provided a composting toilet which was very much appreciated. Campers were all set up by afternoon tea on Friday with the bird list already started.

View to the east

The property covers some 69 ha of largely uncleared, though previously logged, eucalypt forest. It is on the eastern edge of the Granite Belt and has a view down onto Rivertree (the upper reaches of the Clarence Valley) and across to the Border Ranges.

Our hosts joined us for the weekend activities. They have been actively removing lantana etc which grew well during the recent La Nina event and have to create yet another fence-to-fence track for fire reasons during the last dry. This made access a lot easier for us.

Friday afternoon we took a vehicle trip around part of the property, trying to get our bearings. This wasn’t helped by the fact that the map downloaded from a New South Wales government website had the property in the wrong location!

On Saturday we rambled along one of the many tracks which criss-cross the property noticing plants such as sedges, cycads, fungi and a black bootlace orchid. After lunch we visited Undercliffe Falls on Bookookoorara Creek where we scrambled around the rocks and took plenty of photographs.

Despite the dry conditions, we were able to safely have a fire in a portable steel firepit but evening discussions around the fire were shortened due to the cold nights.

Sunday morning involved a walk along a creek where numerous holes still held water despite the very dry conditions. Of note were the many trigger plants in full flower. Several of us tried to get the trigger to work but with little success.

Pale-spotted Tiger Moth Amata aperta

Watch out for those nippers

Fauna

Birds: Australian Wood Duck, Pacific Black Duck, Wonga Pigeon, Bar-shouldered Dove, Masked Lapwing, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Square-tailed Kite, White-throated Treecreeper, Superb Fairywren, Bell Miner, White-throated Gerygone, Striated Thornbill, Rufous Whistler, Grey Shrike-thrush, Pied Currawong, Willie Wagtail, Grey Fantail, Magpie-lark, Corvid sp., Eastern Yellow Robin. Marsupials: Red-necked Wallaby. Reptiles: Lace Monitor or Goanna. Frogs: Graceful Tree Frog. Insects and spiders: Butterflies; Lesser Wanderer, Common Brown. Moths; Pale-spotted Tiger Moth,  Others; a dull-coloured long-legged fly, Grey Planthopper, White Wax Scale Ceroplastes destructor. Spider; a red and black spider (Nicodamid species).

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

Fungi; none identified. Cycad; a cycad Macrozamia viridis. Ferns; Maidenhair sp., Rock Felt Fern Pyrrosia rupestris, a fern (Blechnum sp.). Grasses Sedges, etc; Grey Tussock-grass Poa sieberiana, Kangaroo Grass Themeda triandra, Mat rushes Lomandra sp. Herbs;  a Pennywort, Border Ranges Nightshade Solanum limitare, a Trigger Plant Stylidium sp., a bluebell Wahlenbergia sp., Zieria sp.Orchids; Black Bootlace Orchid Erythrorchis cassythoides. Vines & Scramblers; Clematis sp., Pink Bower Vine Pandorea jasminoides, Monkey Rope Vine Parsonsia straminea, Native Raspberry Rubus parvifolius, Barbed-wire Vine Smilax australis. Shrubs; Wild May Leptospermum polygalifolium, Poison Peach Trema tomentosum. Trees; Mountain Grey Gum Eucalyptus cypellocarpa, Forest Oak Allocasuarina torulosa, Youman's Stringybark Eucalyptus youmanii, Ribbonwood Euroschinus falcate, Sweet Pittosporum Pittosporum undulatum, Broad-leaved Cherry Exocarpos latifolius, Tree Heath/Waddy wood Trochocarpa laurina, Green Wattle Acacia decurrens, Lilly-pilly spp., Breynia sp.