On Saturday 18th of February, Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park held our annual invertebrate Survey (Bugblitz). Conditions were good with temperatures in the low to mid twenties. About a dozen eager participants were ready to go bug hunting. This included a few members of the Entomological Society of Victoria. They were waiting when I arrived at the Visitor Centre just after 2 pm. I was a few minutes late. The Visitor Centre was a great place to start. While they were waiting, some observant people noticed an abundance of insects. These insects were roosting on the walls and windows. It was unusual to see a hundred or more fresh-looking Geometrid moths. These moths turned out to be a species called Chrysolarentia lucidulata (Lucid moth). Most of them were perched on verandah beams.
Once we had admired the visitor centre bugs we set off as a group along Lyrebird Ridge Track. We had a beating sheet with us to catch insects we tried to dislodge by lightly beating likely looking bushes. The sheet was unnecessary to start with. Several sharp-eyed children in our group were very skilled at spotting enough tiny creatures. They kept everyone interested. Their finds included some young Katydids and a variety of caterpillars. We continued our survey towards the suspension bridge. The group eventually thinned out. This was understandable as the younger ones began to tire.
The beating sheet was then put into more use and continued to produce new and interesting observations. By the time we had completed a relatively short loop back to the visitors centre it was around 5.15 pm (so we covered about 2 km of ground in 3 hrs). A few of us stayed around and had some dinner but apart from myself, all the afternoon crew then departed. Before Dusk Ken and Matt from Friends of Morwell National Park (as well as the Entomological Society of Victoria) arrived. I set up a light sheet in the Visitors Centre car park. Ken and Matt set up one at the top of the Bulga Picnic area road. This road is currently closed. The wind had been a little breezy during the day. Thankfully, it became lighter in the evening. This meant less flapping for the light sheets. Out of the two light sheets for some reason the one at the Visitor Centre area attracted more activity. I saw a little more sheet action. Meanwhile, a Boobook owl came to perch nearby Ken and Matt. It observed their activities. Ken and Matt kept their light going until just before 11 pm and I continued recording until just after midnight.
It took a couple of weeks for all of the observations to get added to iNaturalist. Overall, we recorded at least 180 species of Arthropods. On the same activity last year, we recorded 158 species (we had our light sheet in the Tarra Valley). As a result of our efforts, we increased the number of Arthropod species recorded in the Park on iNaturalist. The number rose from 745 to 776. We added 21 new species to the list. The ensuing slideshow has some of the species recorded in Tarra-Bulga National Park for the first time on iNaturalist. To see all of the observations on iNaturalist from the day click here.
Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park 