Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park

Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park

Website of the Friends Group – Information about working bees and monitoring projects. As well as flora and fauna pictures and descriptions

Category: Plant Identification

Mid Winter Walk Report

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On Sunday July 10th we held our first Mid Winter Walk with the aim of learning more about some of the ferns, mosses, liverworts and lichens that are often overlooked features of the biodiversity in Tarra-Bulga National Park. If you want to see the full complement of photos from the day check out the Tarra-Bulga National Park project on iNaturalist. You may be even be able to help with identifying some. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?q=Mid%20Winter%20Walk%202022&search_on=tags Otherwise you can check out the photos here to get an idea of what we saw. Although we were not specifically looking at fungi we did also come across a lot of photogenic fungi so some photos of them have also been included.

Note that it can be difficult to identify Mosses and Liverworts (both different groups of plats) in the field, some species need microscopic examination to see their features. Ferns are a bit easier as they are larger and although they dominate the landscape there are only around 40 species in the park. Lichens are not actually plants but are are organisms composed of fungal and photosynthetic partners.

Lichens
LIverworts
Mosses
Ferns
Fungi

Eusthenia venosa (Stonefly)

2022 Bioblitz Report

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Volunteers spent the day and night On Saturday February 5th using a range of techniques to see what living things could be found. From the day a whopping 428 observations were added to the Tarra-Bulga National Park project on the citizen science website www.iNaturalist.org. A number of plant and fungi species were recorded, but the vast majority of records were for an amazing array of insects and other invertebrates. Many finds that were uploaded to the website are still to be identified but so far, we can confirm that we have recorded at least 215 different species for the day, roughly 60 of them had never previously been recorded at Tarra-Bulga.  

The day’s focus was mainly on invertebrates, other planned activities for the year aim to add to the flora and fauna records for the park, these include a fungi foray in May, a mid-winter walk looking at ferns and mosses, and a plant identification day as well as bird survey in spring. As well as these activities, Friends of Tarra-Bulga hold regular working bees and are always on the lookout for people interested in joining our crew of volunteers that staff the park Visitor Centre.

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Megalopsalis stewartia – A Harvestman
Megalopsalis stewartia – A Harvestman
Eusthenia venosa (Stonefly)
Eusthenia venosa (Stonefly)
Telephlebia brevicauda – Southern Evening Darner (dragonfly)
Telephlebia brevicauda – Southern Evening Darner (dragonfly)
Circopetes obtusata – Grey Twisted Moth
Circopetes obtusata – Grey Twisted Moth
Xenomusa monoda – Caterpillar that feeds on Austral Mulberry bushes
Xenomusa monoda – Caterpillar that feeds on Austral Mulberry bushes
Eupithecia aphanes – Very rare species – very few previous records for Victoria
Eupithecia aphanes – Very rare species – very few previous records for Victoria
Austrosaropogon nigrinus – (A Robber Fly)
Austrosaropogon nigrinus – (A Robber Fly)
Tipuloidea spp. (Cranefly)
Tipuloidea spp. (Cranefly)
Only one mammal was recorded on the day – (This Koala)
Only one mammal was recorded on the day – (This Koala)
Archephanes zalosema – A moth, its caterpillars feed on Mountain Pepper
Archephanes zalosema – A moth, its caterpillars feed on Mountain Pepper
Musotima nitidalis (Golden Brown Fern-moth)
Musotima nitidalis (Golden Brown Fern-moth)

The following Table shows the range of lifeforms we recorded on the day.

Table shows the range of lifeforms we recorded on the day.

Bioblitz – Sunday February 14th

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For anyone that is interested, Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park are going to hold a Bioblitz on Sunday February 14th. The day is intended to be a fun and casual way to start off our activities for the year. We will aim to use cameras to record anything of interest we find. The results can then potentially be added to Citizen Science apps such as the Tarra Bulga National Park project on iNaturalist https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/tarra-bulga-national-park . If the weather conditions are suitable, we will also run a light sheet to attract moths and other insects on the Sunday evening. 

Anyone is welcome to attend, no prior experience or knowledge is necessary. The official start time is 10am at the Visitors Centre but you could potentially join in at any time on the day. Just bring along any food or drinks you need for the day as well as any cameras, phones, binoculars etc you may have lying around. For more information or to register your interest in attending you can contact 0488 035 314 or email: friendsoftarrabulga@gmail.com You can also register via ParkConnect https://bit.ly/39VtMRV

Image showing a range of different species.

Kara Healey’s – Collection of Mosses and Liverworts

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One of the stunning features of Tarra-Bulga National Park’s cool temperate rainforest gullies is the amazing array of mosses and liverworts. These delicate plants are often tiny and identifying them can be a significant challenge. Kara Healey was a renowned caretaker(Ranger) in the Tarra Valley in the 1950’s. She dedicated a lot of her time to collecting specimens of a wide range of lifeforms in within the park and sending them off to herbariums and other institutions to be identified and catalogued. Her efforts resulted in the Tarra Valley having one of the most comprehensive lists of its flora and fauna out of any park in the state. We have recently obtained some scans of collections she made way back in the 1950’s. It is incredible that they are so well preserved after all this time. Enjoy! and for anyone who is into studying mosses and liverworts out there – this might be a very useful resource.

Tarra-Bulga National Park on Bowerbird.org.au

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With the rise of information technology and social media there is now an assortment of worthy projects that volunteers or “citizen scientists” can join in with. One of the best in our estimation is www.bowerbird.org.au which is a wonderful tool for uploading any photos of flora or fauna that you may encounter. Not only can other users of Bowerbird assist you by using their knowledge to aid you with the identification of unfamiliar sightings you upload. Once fully identified to species level the sightings are then included as permanent records on the Atlas of Living Australia (ala.org.au) and which has an online searchable database with an amazing range of features, Bowerbird now has over forty thousand species records with peoples’ images from across Australia loaded onto the site and in its own right has virtually become a free online field guide.

Bowerbird users come from all over Australia with a strong representation from people in Gippsland so it is a great way of seeing what other local people are finding including a range of fascinating insects and fungi. There is the opportunity to create your own projects on Bowerbird and henceforth we have created a project for Tarra-Bulga National Park. To date we have around 320 sightings uploaded and identified with 5 different contributors. Morwell National Park also has a project which impressively has now over 1200 diverse records. So if you are a budding naturalist or just like looking at cool images of things like fungi, plants and insects check out http://www.bowerbird.org.au/projects/5665/sightings  and if you feel inclined please feel free to add your own.

Bowerbird Project
This is an screenshot of our Tarra-Bulga National Park Project Page on Bowerbird.org.au from earlier this year.

Pittosporum bicolor - Banyalla

Rainforest Fruits

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While there is not much flowering activity at present at Tarra-Bulga National Park. Plenty of species are laden with fruit which must make it a time of abundance for a range of our bird species. Had a walk around yesterday and found the following fruits on offer.

Tasmannia lanceolata – Mountain Pepper
Hedycarya angustifolia – Austral Mulberry
Billardiera longiflora – Purple Apple Berry
Dianella tasmanica – Tasman Flax-lily
Polyscias sambucifolia – Elderberry Panax
Coprosma hirtella – Rough Coprosma
Coprosma quadrifida – Prickly Currant Bush
Pittosporum bicolor – Banyalla
Sambucus gaudichaudiana – White Elderberry

Related Posts

Asplenium’s (The Spleenworts)

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Asplenium’s or Spleenworts are a very interesting group of ferns and at Tarra Bulga there are three species that can be found. One of them is common in Rainforest gullies while the other two are harder to find. It is not hard to tell each one apart although there may me some hybridisation happening between two of the species which can be confusing.

 

Mother Spleenwort  – Asplenium bulbiferum subsp. gracillimum 

This is common in the park mainly in rain forest gullies, it grows as epiphytes on tree and fern trunks as well as on shady banks, and among rocks.  It can be potentially confused with other ferns that grow in this habitat such Shiny or Leathery Shield-fern.  An impressive feature of this fern is its ability to reproduce via bulbils that can form on the tips of the fronds, giving rise to its common name “mother” as well as the Latin one. A good way to distinguish it from other ferns is to locate the linear to oblong shaped sori on the margins of the underside of the fertile fronds and to look for the many tiny brown scales on the surface of the stem and the fronds.

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Weeping Spleenwort – Asplenium flaccidum subsp. flaccidum 

Weeping Spleenwort is very uncommon in the Park, hopefully there is more hidden away in some gully that we don’t know about, but we only really know about one living plant that currently exists here. Compared to Mother Spleenwort it has linear to oblong pinnules that are not lobed.  The pinnules are widely spaced on the long Weeping Fronds. It only has a few scattered scales.

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Necklace Fern – Asplenium flabellifolium

Necklace fern is unlikely to be found in the Cool Temperate Rainforest areas in Tarra Bulga, it is more often in sheltered shady spots (e.g.) along road cuttings in more exposed sections of the park. It is more common at lower altitudes in the district, e.g. in the Warm Temperate Rainforest of Macks Creek. It is easily distinguished from the other local Asplenium species with its small slender green fronds having fan shaped leaflets (pinnae), forming what could be described as a necklace.

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Possible Hybrid???

According to some sources Aspleniums are known to hybridise across species. Several plants that I photographed along the Fern Gully Track at Bulga Park, seem to have features somewhere intermediate between Mother Spleenwort (Asplenium bulbiferum) and Weeping Spleenwort (Asplenium flaccidium).

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