NEXT FIELD NATS OUTING – MAY 9TH – Ralphs Falls and Cashs Gorge Circuit (easy, short/medium length) – LEADER ROSS COAD.
Meet at the Ringarooma Swimming Pool at 10 a.m. We will travel along New River Road for ~6 km, then turn off onto Mount Victoria Road and drive ~10.5 km to the Ralphs Falls car park (travel time from Ringarooma is about 25 minutes).
Those coming from the east coast may prefer to travel to the Ralph Falls car park via Pyengana. Follow St Columba Falls Road then Forest Lodge Road then Mount Victoria Road, aiming to reach the car park at about 1035 (~30 minutes from Pyengana).
This is one of the easier walks in the northeast, along a mostly well-formed, recently maintained track with a few short, steep sections. Total length is 4 km. Estimated walking time is 50 minutes, but with additional time for taking in the views and morning tea, plus a field naturalist factor, I expect it will take about 2-2.5 hours to complete the circuit. Bring water, snacks and lunch – we may eat lunch at the car park on completion of the circuit.
Expect to see Tasmania’s highest single drop waterfall, sassafras, celery top pine, waratah, ferns, fungi, mosses, tea tree, buttongrass and much more. It is a very pleasant walk, initially through beautiful rainforest, then teatree forest and finishing with buttongrass moorland.
Check the weather forecast and bring appropriate gear, anticipating it being cooler and damper than forecast.
FOXGLOVE WORKSHOP
On 8 April 2026, a foxglove workshop held in Scottsdale was attended by Louise and Ross. This was one of four workshops, facilitated by Enviro-dynamics, being conducted around Tasmania as part of the Foxglove Weed Action Fund Project, funded by the Tasmanian Government. The workshops are focussed on education and awareness in support of a strategic, statewide approach to aiding identification, planning and best-practice control of foxgloves across priority landscapes. One positive step towards this control has been to have fertile species removed from sale in nurseries.
In February 2025, foxglove (Digitalis species) was declared a pest species, a declared weed, under the Tasmanian Biosecurity Act 2019. It is both an environmental and an agricultural weed, rapidly invading after disturbance and forming dense infestations that exclude native ground layer species. Digitalis species contain toxins that are harmful to humans, and animals such as stock and domestic pets. In Europe, there have been reports of toxic honey being produced by bees that have collected nectar from Digitalis species.
Amongst community members who attended the workshop, there was significant interest in the plant’s life cycle, methods of control and toxicity of the plant.
More information is available at the following links:
https://nre.tas.gov.au/Documents/Foxglove%20(Digitalis)%20Biosecurity%20Program.pdf
https://www.enviro-dynamics.com.au/foxglove-waf
FRIENDS OF BRIDPORT GROUP
In order to do environmental work of any kind, it is necessary to apply to the land manager for a permit. In the space of a couple of kilometres, there can be three land managers, each with different requirements. Once the paperwork is done however, projects like the eradication of rice grass, or the weeding in North East Park can proceed. Recently, the rice grass team resprayed in the Trent Water but had to get a different permit for a patch that had been discovered in the Conservation Area at Lades Beach, about 1km away as the crow flies. In this particular case, the spraying could not be done until the 1st of April when the risk of disturbing shorebirds was minimal. Thanks to Ross, Ann, Eddie and Steve for their enthusiasm and patience while we waited for this procedure to take place.
I have recently been helped to set up a Friends of Bridport Group under the jurisdiction of Parks and Wildlife. I’m hoping this group can work with Parks and Dorset Council caring for the foreshore at Bridport. The group might pull sea spurge, or boneseed or take part in reveg. projects [if/when they happen] It will hold occasional working bees which will be advertised locally to encourage interest from the wider community. Of course, any N.E.F.N. club members are free to join, and I want to stress that although it is a fairly casual group, I do need permission to register names, phone numbers and email addresses.Please contact me if you would like to join the Friends of Bridport. We have six members already.
The Inaugural working bee of this group could beon the date of the June F.N. outing – 13th, where we might set to work on a patch of sea spurge and finish with a walk on the river forest track after lunch. All members would be welcome to take part. Confirmation next month.
BOUQUET FOR BUNNINGS
Here is a little bit of good news. Bunnings, which stocks the widest range of SGARs of any major Australian retailer – has announced it will remove these products from its shelves. These products are Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides – ie. highly potent rat and mouse poisons designed to kill in one dose, but at the same time, a risk for owls and eagles and pets due to secondary poisoning.
Earlier this month, Bunnings committed to pulling all SGARs byJune 30 2026 – 9 months ahead of the APVMA deadline for a recommended full retail ban on the poisons. That makes them the first bricks and mortar retailer to remove SGARs from public sale – preventing huge quantities of lethal poison from entering bird food chains.
BirdLife Australia has campaigned long and hard for this outcome, with almost 40,000 people signing their petition calling on Bunnings to stop selling SGARs.
Share your news or tidbits of information with other Field Nat members via this bulletin.
See you Saturday,
Lou Brooker.
Secretary.
Semaphore crab – Heloecius cordiformis.
