DARLING RANGE BRANCH APRIL EXCURSION REPORT

This was a joint excursion with Friends of Jorgenson Park (FoJP) which is a very keen, but smallish, group of volunteers dedicated to restoring the one-time golf course to something like its original bushland status. Their ‘leader’ Joy explained to the 11 members and three people from FoJP what the park originally looked like and what it has become today, using two maps. Quite a transformation; there is much work ahead for the dedicated Friends.

Joy then led the birdwatchers to the most likely areas for bird spotting among the predominantly Marri and Jarrah forest. Late in the morning as it was, our intrepid bird spotter Mike Green was kept busy giving the rest of us a shout whilst vigorously waving an arm in the direction of a bird high up in a tree. And sure enough, there would be a Red Wattlebird or a honeyeater. We got into the swing of it in no time and with the skill of Mike and others we scored a total of 15 birds. No feral species except for the Rainbow Lorikeet. Highlights included a beautiful male Golden Whistler, a male Scarlet Robin, a Forest Red-tailed Black-cockatoo and sharp eyes pointed out the circular scrapes in the leaf litter of Button Quails.

There were exclamations as the team gazed at the remains of a lightning-struck Marri with huge shafts of the trunk scattered far and wide! Not a good place to shelter in a storm!

Unfortunately, the FoJP are banned from using chainsaws to attack the plethora of wattles in the park, so it’s out with sharp hand-saws to eradicate lots of mature Acacias including A. longifolia (very common), A. podolarifolia (attractive silvery leaves ), A. decurrens (Black Wattle) and others—not to mention plenty of ground-covering weeds.

The mild weather meant that we all enjoyed this excursion.

Kevn Griffith