Ben Cruachan – natural history

The club weekend did in fact enjoy perfect weather, and I led two parties to the top of Ellery, one on Saturday for the early birds, and one on Sunday. On both occasions we had time to enjoy two other attractions on Ellery Saddle, the big tree, and sassafras gully. The big tree is an absolutely massive Eucalyptus cypellocarpa which must be many hundreds of years old, and sassafras gully is a magical slope of trickling water underneath a canopy of sassafras trees.
Our route to the top was the same as that checked out on the reconnaissance trip, but what a difference. This time, despite the steepness we enjoyed the experience of walking under a canopy of lofty treeferns, a canopy that was pierced at intervals by the huge white trunks of the Errinundra Shining Gum, E. denticulata (formerly included in E. nitens) disappearing up into the blue sky above, just awe inspiring. A small companion tree that interested me was a geebung, Persoonia silvatica, immediately recognisable by the fruits.
The mood of some of the walkers behind me changed when we reached the drier ridge top, Olearia phlogopappa and the unique Prostanthera walteri were in flower, and the chatter changed to coughing and sneezing as they pushed through the head high shrubs that showered them with pollen. The western end of the ridge which becomes the summit is a jumble of huge granite boulders, and to get to the point where the climb up on to the egg-shaped tor which is the highest point is attempted means threading one’s way through gloomy passages, not for the claustrophobic. With the others a short distance behind on the first day, I climbed the rock for the first time and sat down with my back to the stone cairn placed by early surveyors, only to jump up again with a start as hundreds of Bogong moths flew out of the crevices. Later, on our return journey we explored the huge granites, and found sheltered faces covered by a fantastic living tapestry of millions of the moths.
In subsequent years we made many trips to Ellery with friends and family, approaching the peak through the dryer forest on the north, much easier going but lacking the luxuriant rainforest on the south slope. On one occasion we found two cute little echidnas pottering around at an altitude of approximately 4000 feet, Here’s a picture of yours truly with one of them.

Also interesting to see at that altitude were the vertical burrows of a species of yabby or freshwater crayfish. We tend to think of these inhabiting water bodies, but in the more than 100 Australian species there are obviously some that spend their lives in a small pool of water at the bottom of their tunnels. The other memory I have of Ellery is of pilotbirds fossicking amongst the granites, and rarely giving more than a quick glimpse before disappearing under a boulder.
I won’t write any more on early days, or Ellery as I’ve already covered it in detail with pictures in an early post. By now the die was well and truly cast, and in future posts I’ll try to cover some topics of general natural history interest. They may be infrequent as my health has been poor since the accident, but hopefully I’ll come good soon.