A very delayed response to Benj Whitworth's postings from April about the Nature Reserves at Ulladulla.
The delay was caused by the time it took me to persuade my very busy friend, Kirsten, to show me around the Reserves (well,.several of them anyway) at Ulladulla.
My guide is primarily a plant enthusiast, and my camera equipment is better suited to plants than birds. But plants and birds were present in abundance. It was a great day trip.
My photos are now up on the net, on my Blog. Few bird photos, and distant ones only). Some nice Orchids, however.
Thanks to Benj for the inspiration. The trip was well worth it for me (even with a 1 3/4 hours drive each way - from Robertson).
Denis Wilson
"The Nature of Robertson"
www.peonyden.blogspot.com
On Sat, Apr 9, 2011 at 2:46 PM, <> wrote:
Actually South Pacific Heathland Reserve is off the PRINCES Highway, on Dowling St, South Ulladulla. I had 'Pacific' on the mind. Bob Rusk came to meet me which was nice. I also forgot that I saw 6 whipbirds there. I will try to be quicker in my emails.
ULLADULLA LIGHTHOUSE HEADLAND
7/4/11. 2-4pm. 25 species of birds.
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Coomie Nulunga Walking Track
Bob told me to go to the end of Parson St. SW of Warden Head.
At ~2:00. Good views of Rennies and Racecourse Beach. Strangely a Water skink was at the lookout. This aboriginal interpretive trail has various paintings of local animals. The walk goes through coastal scrub, with allocasuarinas, banksias, various gum species, mainly between 3m-6m tall. Very few flowers.
Interesting birds: Satin bowerbird male, 1 quiet whipbird, many New holland, little wattlebirds, spinebills, scrubwrens >20. Rainbow L (only 3),
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Warden Head (ie The Lighthouse).
As above, + great lookout to N and S. Same vegetation, but more and taller Eucalypts, various lookouts. I ran into a Birdo at the headland and we had a good chat, I told him about oystercatchers, yellow robins, variegated wrens, scrubwrens.
Birds- At Lookout: Spotted dove, 1 yellow robin. 3 Variegated wrens came to within 1m of us at the lookout. From the lookout- a juvenile and mature sea eagle flew by. 30+ Gannets. 1 Sooty oystercatcher. Along the NW Trail a golden whistler, 3 more water skinks sitting on a Boardwalk- weird. GST, 2 Kookaburras, 2 butcherbirds, 4 redbrows. Others as above.
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Ulladulla Harbour
4:30-5:40 (near dark). I was having dinner on the habour at sunset.
12 bird species.
Near dusk/dark. 30 seagulls. >40 common mynas roosted in 1 tree on dusk. 1 spotted dove. 3 little corellas, flew to the beach and started eating ~~ sand, then hoed into the grass/bulbs??? just off the sand. One bird had a distinct pinkish tinge. Are they picking up minerals?? (they also came the next night). 1 common tern flew around the harbour. On dusk the seagulls suddenly freaked out and all flew into the water (they were surrounding me previously). Very strange, I looked up and a hobby wizzed by. 10 Minutes later the hobby zoomed through and aimed at a microbat, the bat went vertically up, the hobby circled and the bat dived, it survived. a WF heron flew across the Bay to the North near dark (roosting??).
Benj
-----Original Message-----
From:
To: ; m("canberrabirds.org.au","canberrabirds");" target="_blank">
Sent: Fri, Apr 8, 2011 5:24 pm
Subject: South Pacific Heathland reserve- Ulladulla
I visited South Pacific Heathland reserve on Thursday from 11:30am 1:30. Turn off Pacific Highway onto Dowling St Ulladulla. All up I got 25 bird species, which was better than I expected, although the number of individuals were dominated by only a few species. The amount of flowering plants did surprise me. The main ecosystems are Heath, Coastal scrub and Bloodwood woodland. As soon as I entered the reserve I ran into a mixed feeding flock, and some YFH flying west. Then a sea eagle flew over, I headed South and found a poor Masked Lapwing with a broken and hanging foot.
Some of the things that interested me were:
1 butcherbird, satin bowerbird (green- feeding at ground level), 1 kookaburra
Many New Holland and Little Wattlebirds (often >15 in one 360 degree view) and scrubwrens and brown thornbills were found throughout.
While doing a figure of 8 through the Reserve, I re-entered from the North through the Red Bloodwood (E. gummifera) woodland and found my highlight of the day, being a group of 5 Variegated Fairy wrens. They were tame, and came within 1m. A male was in part colour, enabling me to see the different coloured cheeks (sky blue cf Superb Blues which have blue), and chestnut shoulders.
Lizards included lots of garden skinks, and the cutest little Jacky lizard (?) babies (5), only 2.5cm long bodies but tails twice that, plus one adult about 40cm long including tail. In the middle of the reserve in a wet area with dense taller shrubs (at the intersection of Old Coast Path and Lookout Path) there were diggings, triangular, about 2.5cm deep, plus a bit wider. About 20 of them and they look fresh. There was also a trail in the undergrowth about the height and width of a Bandicoot. It would be worth staking out this spot at dusk to see what it is.
,
Flowering Plants (I dont have my Coastal Plant book so dont quote me). Most common were Banksias, particularly B. spinulosa (Hairpin Banksia) and also some B. integrifolia (Coast B) and B. serrata (Saw B), some heath plant species had flowers, including Pimelia glauca (white), Westringia (pale purpley), Persoonia (yellow), Epacris palludosa (white tube flowers on a single stem), Sprengelia incarnata (Pink), and the rare Grevillea barkleyana.
A small reserve but worth a look.
Benj
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