This joint outing with the Friends of Grasslands (FOG) was to be to the Jerrabomberra Grassland Reserve, but about a fortnight previously Environment ACT had advised that the designated meeting point along the Monaro Highway was unsafe, and we were left with no option but to move to the nearby Callum Brae. The day started promisingly with about 20 participants and very high moisture levels in the grass after a thunderstorm late the day before. Surprisingly no-one had to be redirected from the original spot, given that the change had come too late to be published in Gang-gang and the new details could only be announced at the COG meeting or through the chat line, which is becoming an increasingly effective way to reach a large proportion of the COG membership.
The choice of the alternative venue proved to be a very good one, with a very interesting range of plants in this grassy woodland, though the birdwatchers in the group initially found it very difficult to look at the ground rather than up, while trying to ignore calls etc in the trees. However, after a settling in period participants managed to achieve a good mix of bird and plant watching, and we wandered through the reserve for a couple of hours slowly making our way to the SE corner, for a possible attempt to enter the grassland reserve through a 400 m or so corridor. When we finally got there, this did not eventuate as an electric fence and private land had to be negotiated.
This was my first visit to the reserve and I was impressed by at first the extent of regrowth considering that the lease was only given up a few months ago, and then (visually at least) by the almost English parkland nature with many mature trees with branches quite close to the ground, and lastly by extent of surface water in a series of dams the SE corner. The biggest surprise here was a pair of Clamorous Reed-Warblers in a relatively small patch of reeds in one of the dams. Overall the bird life was very impressive with 55 species seen or heard during the morning, highlights being the newly arrived migrants, the Sacred Kingfisher, Dollarbird, Leaden Flycatcher, Rainbow Bee-eater, Olive-backed Oriole and White-winged Triller. There was also plenty of nesting activity with a pair of White-throated Gerygones seen building a nest, two Dusky Woodswallow nests in close proximity, one with a Willie Wagtail on a nest in the same tree, two White-winged Chough nests, one with a bird on and another with two young, and a Yellow-rumped Thornbill entering a nest. Near the reserve entrance a pair of Little Corellas and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were examining nest hollows and displaying.
The plant life too was very impressive, with over 50 native species seen including 5 grasses, 11 daisies, 3 peas including a glycine and a swainsona, bulbine lilies, early nancy, sundews and stackhousia, as well as 4 species of eucalypt. COG is indebted to Margaret Ning and Geoff Robertson of FOG for showing us these with such enthusiasm and patience, and putting up with our often being distracted if a bird called or flew past. These joint outings are very valuable and add a wider dimension in that a more detailed examination of the habitat and plant life in which they are found help us understand why birds may occur at a particular spot and not nearby. It will certainly be my policy to continue such outings, which are mutually very beneficial.
I have put another visit to the Jerrabomberra Grassland Reserve on the draft COG 2006 field trips program for a similar time next year. Hopefully there will a better way to enter the reserve by then, particularly to get to the very promising and extensive patch of grassy woodland in the SW corner which Jenny Bounds and I briefly visited when we did a reconnoitre for this trip, but which we suspect few other members have been to.
Jack Holland