Ben Cruachan - natural history

Prior to European settlement, much of the Gippsland plains country was Red Gum woodland, but sadly, little of that plant community remains today, due to clearing for agriculture. In our area there are some valuable remnant examples, and I blogged about the Bush and Frair Reserves in Three days of birding.
Not far from those two reserves lies Strathfieldsaye Estate, an 1800 hectare property bordering Lake Wellington. Strathfieldsaye was in the Disher family for 107 years, and the last owner Dr Clive Disher bequeathed it to Melbourne University, on condition that it was used for research into sustainable farming practices. That occurred on his death in 1976, but after the university decided to discontinue the program after 26 years, the property passed into the custodianship of the Australian Landscape Trust in 2003.
Strathfieldsaye is now the base for the Red Gum Plains Restoration Project, comprehensive botanical surveys have been carried out, and quarterly bird surveying is also under way. Yesterday Peter and I went over to help Len and Linda survey ten sites, we had a forecast for 33 C, which didn’t sound too bad, but that turned out to be a conservative estimate. The first two sites turned up a good number of species, but as the day wore on the heat increased, and the bird numbers decreased. When we got home that night we learnt that the temperature in the general area had been in the 38 - 39 degree range, so it was no wonder the birding was subdued. Our feathered friends obviously had more sense than the four perspiring humans bumbling around in the sun peering through binoculars, they would have been perched comfortably in the shade waiting for the cool of evening before starting to move about.
Nevertheless, over the course of the day we had some good sightings, Latham’s Snipe, Rose Robin, a migrating Rufous Fantail, White-bellied Sea Eagle, several Wedge-tailed Eagles, good numbers of Richard’s Pipit and Calamanthus, and on the lake, four Darters. The total number of species recorded for the property so far is close to one hundred, we finished with sixty for the day, so I suppose we didn’t do too badly despite the heat. Numbers were way down, but I guess that was only to be expected with the day we had.
Strathfieldsaye would have been a great area for the original inhabitants, with the Perry River and Lake Wellington for fish and wildfowl, and plenty of game and plant food on the plains. There are canoe trees on the property, and when we were walking around one of our survey sites we found this well preserved scar tree. The size of the scar indicates that the bark was removed to make either a coolamon for holding food items, or perhaps a cradle for a baby.

Down closer to the lake the red gums assume some wonderful shapes, some picturesque, some contorted and fantastic. One large tree we saw, with a trunk nearly three feet through at the ground, was growing prostrate, a unique sight. Others, although not tall, had reached massive proportions, this is one with the crew smiling for the camera.


Click to enlarge.
Our last site for the day was at Swell Point on the lake shore, Wellington had been calm all day, but at 5 PM a weather change hit with strong winds, and within minutes waves were lashing the shore and leaves and bark were flying everywhere, a good time to point the 4WD towards home and a well earned rest.