NORTHERN SUBURBS BRANCH EXCURSION REPORT
GOLLY WALK:
I remember visiting the Channel 7 studios for Telethon thirty years ago. How the site has changed! Today the site is being developed as a new housing estate but fortunately, like our GOLLY walkers in May, the residents will be able to explore nature in the beautiful bit of adjacent bushland known as Cottonwood Crescent Reserve or Bush Forever site 43.
This 10 hectares reserve is a remnant of the once extensive bushland in the area and prior to the establishment of the paths, had been protected by being fenced off from the public for 30 years.
A crest of a remnant sand dune, sloping gently to the east, supports a range of vegetation types because of the variations in height and the presence of underlying limestone. For many years the Friends of Dianella Bushland have worked hard to maintain the biodiversity and although the Stirling Council has removed a small mob of kangaroos, a project to reintroduce bats by installing bat boxes has been successful.
The upper story is dominated by the Firewood Banksia (B. menziesii), with some of the tallest individual trees reaching over 8 metres. The Slender Banksia (B. attenuata), WA Christmas Trees (Nuytsia floribunda) and Sheoaks (Allocasuarina fraseriana) plus a few Jarrah trees (Eucalyptus marginata) make up the remainder of the upper story.
Closer to the ground, our eyes were attracted to the early buds and flowers of the Narrow-winged Wattle (Acacia stenoptera), Pearl Flower (Conostephium pendulum), Stalked Guinea Flower (Hibbertia racemosa), Native Violets (Hybanthus calycinus), Damperia sp., Davesia sp. and Hovea sp. The only orchid spotted was a solitary Many-flowered Bunny Orchid (Eriochilus dilatatus subsp. multiflorus) ↓
(D. Poynton).
The reserve contains Lomandra hermaphrodita and Lomandra maritima but it was too late in the year to see any of the endangered Graceful Sun Moths (Synemon gratiosa) whose females lay their eggs at the base of the plants. And it was too early in the year to see the Western Jewel Butterfly (Hypochrysops halyaetus) which feed on Rattlepods (Davesia divaricata), Green Stinkwood (Jacksonia sternbergiana) and Grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea spp.) and has a symbiotic relationship with ants.
Alex Saar was on a mission to find the Gregarious Shells Fungus (Campanella gregaria*)
Gregarious Shells Fungus (Campanella gregaria) ( D Poynton)
having just read in Neale Bougher’s revised version of Fungi of the Perth Region and Beyond that it was ‘…gregarious on fallen logs, particularly on inside of Banksia bark.’ Not only was he successful, but the same fallen Banksia was the host of the slime mould and Fungimap target species known as Icicle Fairy Fans
Icicle Fairy Fans (Ceratiomyces fruticulosa**) ( D Poynton).
GOLLY, so not all slime moulds are yucky!
I expected more birds, though only six species were seen: Grey Butcher Bird, Red Wattlebird, Magpie Lark, Raven, Singing Honeyeater and Willy Wagtail.
Our thanks to Jan Bant, Mary Gray and Rick Denniston from the Friends of Dianella Bushland, who showed us round an area that could have been just another housing estate if it hadn’t been for the dedicated people who fought to preserve the bushland 23 years ago.
Don Poynton
*J-66 in Fungi of the Perth Region and Beyond, ** Z-2 in Fungi of the Perth Region and Beyond