Next outing May 10. PATERSONIA RIVULET – Leaders Ian Cameron and Debbie Pallister.
This is an easy walk following a tributary of the Patersonia Rivulet led by Ian and Debbie.
Distance is approx. 5km and mostly flat, there is one creek crossing which could be dry/ankle deep but if heavy rain in the catchment has occurred could be a little deeper. The track follows the creek down an old logging road which has seen frequent trail bike use. The walk passes through open rain forest and wet eucalypts and is usually a reliable location for autumn fungi and orchids. Fingers crossed for some rainfall next week.
Meet at 10 AM. Click on map below. Be prepared to carpool from the meeting place to the start of the walk.
If coming from Scottsdale:
Turn off the Tasman Highway onto Peck’s Hill Road (C829) at the Fire/Phone tower and proceed to the junction with Patersonia Road.
Turn right and meet approx 500 metres past the old church. Ian will meet us there.
There is plenty of parking and we will leave as many vehicles as possible there. We will then travel on all-weather forestry roads to the start of the walk.
ANNUAL WHERE WHERE WEDGIE SURVEYS.
Google: Nature Trackers Where Where Wedgie to take part in the last weekend of the W.W.W Survey on the 23 – 25th May.
Its fun!
FOXGLOVE DECLARED WEED.
In exciting news, in February, the Tasmanian Government officially declared foxglove a pest, to reduce its impact on Tasmania’s environmental values and agricultural productivity.
Foxglove has been grown as an ornamental plant in Tasmanian gardens for generations and it has since become a widespread environmental weed. All parts of the plant can also be toxic to both humans and animals.
Read more about the foxglove here.
HE WILL BE SADLY MISSED
There have been many heartfelt posts on the Face Book Fungi of Tasmania page after the passing of one of its heroes and friends, David Ratkowsky. Here is one of them.
Dear Group
It is with much heartfelt sadness we announce the passing of Dr David Ratkowsky. David is the coauthor of our very prized and loved Tasmanian Field Guide books and the Fungiflip.
David has had a long involvement with the natural history of Tasmania spanning over 20 plus years participating in over 1000 forays collecting, mapping and documenting macrofungi with his very close friend and colleague Dr Genevieve Gates on Mt Wellington and across many Tasmanian environments .
David has had many scientific papers on various aspects of Tasmanian macrofungi published as well as jointly with Genevieve. He was a statistician of international repute. He worked at CSIRO’s seafood technology lab before joining the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture in the early 1990’s as an honorary researcher in the microbiology team. He has provided advice and support to many postgraduate students and researchers helping with collaborating, opinions and expertise and helping TIA researchers on a broad range of topics for a very long time.
David will be very missed, many of us within this group had the utmost pleasure of spending time in the field with David, and know he had a strong interest not only in the fungi but all aspects of the natural environment and was always willing to share his knowledge, answer questions all with good humour and patience. He was a very genuine and generous man and with his walking sticks could keep up with the best of us.
Our most recent contact with David was last time at Susan’s block on the Diddleum, where we enjoyed a slow ramble with him, chatting easily and learning from him along the way.
Vale David Ratkowsky
Book Review.
I received such a lot of feed back about my ‘satched’ library book. It made me think we should do more of those types of story. They seem to appeal.
To encourage participation in this E-news bulletin, I would encourage those readers amongst you to write a few thoughts on an interesting nature based book you’ve read. Sharing can enhance good feelings amongst members and can lead to a cohesiveness in the club.
To start the ball rolling, here is a response from Jenny Bicanic after reading about my ‘soggy’ book in the April e-news:
Thank you Lou for a ‘read’ of your resurrected book, ‘Enchantment by Birds’ by Russell McGregor about Australian birds but also the evolution of birdwatching and record keeping from the middle twentieth century egg and ‘skin’ collectors to present day intimate photography, comprehensive Field Guides and detailed scientific information. Alongside this journey, there was another of the balance between amateurs and professionals. Both of these journeys experienced a few conflicts along the way but the amazing commitment by many enthusiastic bird watchers, birders, listers or twitchers has given us a rich history about our love of birds. It was great to see Jack Skemp from Patersonia rate a mention. I am now onto Caroline’s ‘Flight Paths’ by Tasmanian author, Andrew Darby.