Westbury Reserve a field day for naturalists

Moss and Cladonia sp. lichen, small discoveries at the Westbury Reserve. Photo by Hayley Manning

Brunonia australis, the rare blue pincushion, is found at the Reserve Photo by Philip Milner

Rod McQueen of Westbury and Sarah Lloyd of Birralee, members of the central North Field Naturalists Inc. Photo by Hayley Manning

by Sarah Lloyd

THIRTY ENTHUSIASTIC members of the Central North Field Naturalists Inc. attended our September outing to Westbury Reserve on Birralee Road.

As we congregated at the southern entrance, we were delighted to spot breeding activity of two cavity-nesting species, the endemic Green Rosella and migratory Striated Pardalote, co-habiting in the same tree.

The constant, some would say monotonous, singing of the Striated Pardalote indicate the high number of suitable breeding cavities at the Reserve.

The presence of so many large trees with hollows of all sizes would alone justify reservation status given that they’re fast disappearing from the surrounding landscape

Westbury Reserve is 70 hectares of Black Peppermint (Eucalyptus amygdalina) dominated forest that was purchased in 1999 by the State Government with commonwealth government money during the Regional Forest Agreement (RFA). It remains part of the National Reserve Estate.

On July 2020 the Tasmanian government announced that they plan to build the high security northern prison on the site, though where they’re actually going to place the building had us all guessing.

Not only is the ‘development footprint’ on a hill of dolerite (known in the mining industry as Tasmania’s curse because it’s so hard), but our surveys strongly suggest it is possibly the most botanically rich area on the block.

One of the aims of the day was to extend our species list, and to map the distribution of the rare blue pincushion Brunonia australis.

Our investigations revealed that not only is Brunonia concentrated on the ‘development footprint’, but there are extensive colonies of small gnat orchid (Cyrtostylis reniformis) currently in flower, and leaves of orchids and other small herbaceous plants that are not possible to identify until they flower. Of interest is the likely presence of two additional threatened plant species.

We will be revisiting the Reserve later in the year to continue our surveys of this important Westbury site.