Easter spent the right way
I have written about the Tas Field Nats Club before, a couple of times (here and here), and now I am writing about them again. This time in relation to the Easter Camp at Mount Cameron.
Field Nat Easter Camps started way back in the early 1900’s, when they used to load up the horses and carts with big giant tents, and all the women had on their corsets and long flowing dresses (thank goodness that era is gone). Everyone would trek out to some wild place and set up camp for a few days of running around the bush looking at ALL the things.
There have been some slight changes over the century and a bit, but the end game is still the same, running around the bush and looking at ALL the things. The beauty of this modern era is that we can get to the destination in a fraction of the time, and have accomodation arrangements which are much easier to set up. Usually because we stay in something which has been pre built.
This year we ventured up to the far northeast of the state and based ourselves at the Mount Cameron Field Study Centre. The field center is owned and operated by Scottsdale High School and was the perfect base for us. We were lucky enough to have the caretakers, Deb and Craig Searle, not only meet us there to let us in, but take us adventuring to their favourite spots in the area.
I haven’t spent a whole lot of time up in the northeast of the state. I tend to gravitate toward the centre and the west, and leave the east and northeast a bit neglected. I’m definitely making more effort to get back up here though. Holy crap, aside from the perfect weather we had, the landscape here is astounding. Even at the end of summer / start of autumn, which is not the greatest time of year to botanise, it was stunning.
Walking – Field Nat Style
Friday arvo, after having spent the most part of five hours in a car, it was good to get out for a wander to Douglas Lookout. Which is not too far from the field centre. I think the rough average walking time was said to be about ’20 minutes’. Yeah right, 20 minutes walking time perhaps, but you need to always add an extra hour or five to fully appreciate your surroundings. There needs to be time to inspect the debris and logs for small crawling critters, search the foliage for the insects who might be present, stop to look at each and every plant, scour the skies and the canopy for signs of birds. and of course to just stand back and soak in the views.
Mount Cameron summit was on the cards for Saturday. I got to the maze, which was maybe halfway up. I was extra slow this weekend. I was in one of those moods where destinations meant nothing, and it was journeying all the way. A few of us decided to wander back down rather than up, with some little detours along the way.
The bush up there is so fantastically amazing. Sections of giant smooth boulders, rocky woodlands full of little hidden cracks and crevices and outcrops dripping with Dockrilla striolata (Tassies own little rock orchid). Unfortunately they weren’t in flower, which is a bummer because I haven’t seen this one flower in the real world yet. Good excuse to go back really.
Eventually I made my way back down to the field centre, hung out a bit with the few folks that were there and then went off exploring again. Down to the creek, through the obliqua forest poking around in the sandy ground looking at the little herbs, watching the birds (no idea which ones because I am bad at birds) and just sitting around enjoying the silence.
My Favourite Plant…
Because lets face it we all have a favourite plant… Some more than others…. On the way to the top of Mount Cameron we found a couple of little Spyridium parvifolium var. molle, which is one of our rare ones which is confined to the northeast corner and Flinders. Not in flower, and they were looking pretty ratty, but I don’t care, they are still my favourite. I didn’t seem to get a photo of those ones, I seem to be spending more time just looking rather than photoing lately.
I did however get a few shots of Pterostylis atriola, which is another one of our rare orchids. This one is a slightly more widespread, in the sense that it is found along the east coast and also in the south. It was flowering beautifully so I grabbed a shot of that one.
Calochlaena dubia was a new fern for me. Very very similar to Pteridium esculentum (bracken) and was growing mixed in with it, which made it hard to pick out. This is a fairly common fern up in the north/northeast but not so much down south. Perhaps that’s why it is new to me, or maybe I’ve not noticed it hidden amongst the Pteridium.
Until Next Time…
Most people stayed until the Monday and headed home. Unfortunately I had to leave on the Sunday, as I had been away a bit in the weeks leading up and needed some time to do the washing and hang out at home with the family.
Once again, it was a fantastic time away with my Field Nats buddies. I didn’t get to much Field Nat stuff last year, because of life, so it was good to reconnect properly. The best thing about wandering around with the Field Nats is it doesn’t actually matter what kind of mood you are in. You could be feeling super social and wander along having chats. Or you could be feeling less talkative, and then you can just wander along with people and feel no need to talk. They are a pretty damn good bunch.
Easter camps are only every two years, so you will have to wait until 2026 for the next one. However, that doesn’t mean you have to wait until 2026 to come and join the field nats. You can do that right now, right this second. www.tasfieldnats.org.au and on the ‘members’ page you will find out how to join. It’s cheaper than a netflix subscription and unlike netflix it gets you outside in the wondrous nature with a bunch of amazing humans who have so much knowledge and passion for it all. Now go forth and naturise!
