Expedition up Rocky Creek

Field Trip

I wrote an earlier post on a spot at the tidal limit of middle harbour creek called Bungaroo where Governor Phillip and an exploration party camped on April 16th 1788.

It appears John ( who inspired my original post ) is still hard at work trying to uncover old records and get some official recognition for Bungaroo. As part of his research John said he’s now considering that the Bungaroo site of Governor Phillip’s April 16th camp may have been at the tidal limit of Rocky Creek rather than Middle Harbour Creek.

It sounded plausible, and a good excuse to head up Rocky Creek again for a closer look!

To get there I headed north on the trail that follows the west bank of Middle Harbour River.  Upon hitting Rocky Creek the trail heads west to where the creek can be crossed on foot near the tidal limit. When I got there the tide was low, the fresh water was cascading into the salt just below the crossing. At this point I left the trail and kept heading up Rocky Creek. About 100m further upstream the creek deepened to the point where I could not see the bottom, then a little way past this was a lip in the rock ( about 50cm high ) where the fresh water cascaded down. I’ll have to go back to confirm but I reckon this could be the point where fresh water meets salt when the tide is high. With the cascading fresh water meeting the salt at a deep pool this looks like a plausible alternate location of Governor Phillip’s Bungaroo camp.

Looking west on Rocky Creek. Possible location of where fresh water meets salt when the tide is high.
Just above the cascade looking east. The lip of the cascade is barely visible at the bottom of the photo

I found some documents on the Manly Council site relating to Governor Phillips expedition and his April 16th camp.

Survey of Middle Harbour 1788

Finding the Right Track

They report that low tide on April 16th 1788 was at 11:16am, which would make high tide at around 5pm. The same documents recount Surgeon White’s ( one of the expedition members ) notes as saying they reached the tidal limit where fresh meets salt at 4pm, close to high tide.

“About four o’clock in the afternoon we came to a steep valley, where the flowing of the tide ceased, and a fresh-water stream commenced. Here, in the most desert, wild and solitary seclusion that the imagination can form any idea of, we took up our abode for the night; dressed our provisions, washed our shirts and stocking, and turned our inconvenient situation to the best advantage in our power.”

Surgeon White, April 16th, 1788.

So it looks like they did arrive at the spot near to high tide, I will have to return at high tide to observe where fresh water meets salt. Of course not all high tides are equal, and we’re looking back to a time where mean sea levels were around 20cm lower than they are now.

Freshwater pool on Rocky Creek just upstream of the cascade.

Bulldog Ant

Animals, , ,

Myrmecia

I’m not bothered much by ticks, leeches, spiders or snakes, but bulldog ants really put me on edge. It’s not just they are HUGE, it’s their behaviour and aggressiveness. While most wild animals seem timid and will avoid human contact bulldog ants will actively seek out and attack a threat. They don’t swarm mindlessly in large numbers, bulldog ants hunt alone and are large enough that you can clearly see their heads, eyes and other body parts. To see an ant turn it’s head, look at you and then turn it’s large body around and start jumping at you is really off-putting. And it’s not all posturing, they back it up with an excruciating sting.

So large you can see the ball and socket joints in it’s antenna

There are around 90 species of Bulldog ants almost all of them endemic to Australia. They are considered a primitive ant having evolved around 100 million years ago. All ant species living today are thought to have come from ancestors that were similar in looks and behaviour to bulldog ants.

I’ve been bitten by these ants several times, actually it’s not a bite but a sting. You first feel the tiny pinch of their large mandibles grabbing your skin, if you’re fast enough you get to then see them bend their large body around and jab you with the point of their abdomen. It feels like a needle of fire has been driven in. Their venom has the potential to induce  anaphylactic shock, there are several known cases of death caused by these guys, yikes!

Bulldog ant with a small black ant to give an idea of size. The bulldog ant was dead, the black ant would have long gone otherwise.

The ant in the photos is dead. My daughter found it walking around the house, I captured it in a plastic container. It hurled itself around inside for about an hour before quieting down. As I watched it it got slower and slower. I opened the lid and it could barely move, not long afterwards it was dead. I have no idea what happened, maybe it was sick to begin with, or possibly it exhausted itself trying to escape?

Bulldog ant with match for scale. Looks like the queen from the movie Aliens!

All the photos were taken with a Canon Digital Rebel XTi using a reverse ring and the standard 18-55 zoom lens. It was hard to get a sharp shot, depth of field was around 1mm

Resources and references

 

 

Variegated Fairywren

Animals, , , ,

Malurus lamberti

[Update] I originally posted this as Malurus elegans – The Red-winged fairywren. It still looks very much to me like the Red-winged fairywren but due to it’s location it’s almost certainly a Variegated fairywren.

In an effort to get some new material to post I camped myself out the back of the house with a camera for a while. I had a first try with Tom but sitting silently in the bush with a 3 year old was never going work! It turned out to be a productive trip in the end, if this bird is what I think it is I cant find any reference of it being present in the Sydney area.

After 15 minutes or so if sitting a pair of these tiny grey birds came into view, playing and chasing each other through the scrubby undergrowth. They really are small, not including the tail I would say less that 10cm from beak to bottom. Their call was a soft shrill, almost like the cross between a buzzing insect and a cherp.

Female Red-winged fairywren
Female Variegated fairywren – they are small ( about 10cm without tail ) and fast! bouncing through the undergrowth
Variegated fairywren – now you see her..
Variegated fairywren – and she’s gone!

After a bit more waiting a similar sized but much more brilliantly coloured individual appeared. He was always on the move, it was hard to get a good photo as he flew around in the trees and undergrowth, always avoiding exposed locations.

Male Variegated fairywren – stunning, almost luminous markings
Variegated fairywren. It was difficult to get a good photo as he darted about the undergrowth, never exposing himself.

When I got back and had a chance to process and study the photos I identified the birds as female and male Red-winged fairywrens. Yet another bird I’ve not heard of, but most interestingly they are only meant to be found in the south west corner of Western Australia. After some more searching it seems there is a very similar looking species called the Variegated fairywren that is much more widespread across Australia. It consists of 4 subspecies, one of which, Malurus lamberti lamberti is reported in suburban bushland in Sydney.

The Variegated fairywren is found in forest undergrowth, they are constantly on le move and avoid open exposed positions. Like other fairywrens they are notable for their sexual dimorphism, with the male being very pretty and the female smart but a bit dull. They nest near the ground in a coarse dome of bark, leaves and grass usually concealed in dense vegetation.

Breeding is from September to January, I spotted these guys today ( December ) maybe I was watching a courtship.

References and other sources

Links from original post to information on the Red-winged fairywren:

 

 

Trying to work out how to catch a Funnel Web

Animals,

[Update] – I thought these were Funnel Web spiders but now I’m pretty sure they are trapdoors, possibly the Sydney Brown Trap-door. See comments below.

As much as I hate to do it I recently killed a few large Funnel Web Trap-door Spiders that had taken up residence close to the house near where the kids play. I did it by pouring petrol down their holes until they came out, then squashed them. Not nice but when they’re that close I didn’t feel like I had a choice. They were big ones, it took 2 liters of petrol to get 2 to come out of their holes. I didn’t like killing them, and also didn’t like pouring that much fuel into the ground. It got me searching around for more info on Funnel Webs and how to deal with them.

As far as catching goes all that I could find was instructions on how to pop a jar over the top of them. Nothing on how to lure them out of their holes. From looking around I learned that stocks of Funnel Web anti venom is low because of low numbers of the spiders in captivity that are milked to produce the anti venom. The Australian Reptile park, where the anti venom is made, is making requests for anyone able to catch a live Funnel Web to drop them off. That’s cool, if I could only catch them then they could be put to some use.

Hoping to come up with something I researched a bit more about the spiders habits and diet. True to their name Funnel Webs live in holes in the ground often with a funnel shaped web at the opening. They lay fine web trip wires near the entrance then at night wait for any small creature to disturb the trip, then they pounce, subduing the prey with potent venom. In this way Funnel Webs eat insects, small lizards and frogs.

Late at night I visited another group of Funnel Web Trap-door holes out the front near to the street. It was Funnel Web Trap-door city, I counted about 30 individuals, mostly smaller but about 4 or 5 big ones, all sitting at the mouths of their holes waiting for dinner. I had a go at trying to get a few of the bigger ones out of their holes by lightly scraping a stick near the entrance. Some individuals pounced then quickly retreated back down the hole, others just retreated straight down the hole. There would be no way you could pop a jar over them.

Sydney Funnel Web Brown Trap-door Spider waiting in it’s hole for dinner to come by.
There were about 30 individuals in the small area under this tree, another smaller spider can be seen in it’s hole below the larger one

The next night I brought a bottle of water and emptied it down a hole hoping the spider would be flooded out, but again it just retreated down the hole.

I’m still scratching my head on what to do, I’m going to try the water in the hole again, but with more water. Hopefully it will come out enough to pop a jar over the top of it.

References and links