On legalised Shooting in National Parks

I have been challenged in my opposition to legalisation of shooting in National Parks in NSW. That occurred on the Canberra Ornithologists Group email forum.

• Hi All,
  Maybe I'm just ignorant, but why are you against this hunting? From what I understand, the hunt will be on invasive large mammals, which are unbelieveably destructive in a lot of National Parks. Isn't it a good thing to allow people who want to shoot them for free shoot them? The parks will be closed during the hunts, so what's the danger to the public? 
  Also, according to this website, duck hunting cannot take place on National Parklands.
  
  Cheers,
  (name removed to protect the innocent)

• Re shooting in National Parks, my main concern is personal safety.

• Dear (blank)
  Last year there was a tragic accident when a NZ shooter mistook a school teacher for a deer, and shot and killed her.
  Such "accidents" are not unknown - though usually shooters shoot other members in their own group.
  I live adjacent to the huge Morton National Park (see map attached). 

• 

  the huge Morton National Park
  accessible from 4 totally separate areas
  with no common Media service.

  
  

  It has two State Main Roads which run through it, the Braidwood to Nowra Road (Main Road 92) and Fitzroy Falls to Nowra road. And it can also be accessed from the Ulladulla side.
  And it has numerous other entry points (especially around Kangaroo Valley).
  
  The media for these far-spread  areas are controlled in Nowra, Goulburn and Bowral.
  One cannot listen to all sources of media in any one point. There are at least three local newspapers which purport to "cover" their own regions (but they do not co-ordinate)..
  How are they going to get the word out to me that the Park is closed?
  
  There is no way they can possibly close main roads of economic and strategic significance leading to and from Canberra to Nowra. So, short of blocking 100 minor roads, how do they "close" this Park?
  NPWS have inadequate staffing to do that at the best of times - let alone when the NPWS Staff are openly hostile to the idea.
  
  The NSW Game Council, the State Organisation "responsible" for this Shooting Program has hardly any staff at all. It really exists as a revenue raiser for NSW as the Licensing body for the Shooters.
  Beyond issues of safety, my personal interest is in rare and endangered Orchids (of which this Park is well endowed). What chance is there that a bunch of ill-informed shooters will take any notice or concern for tiny Orchids in the leaf litter, when slipping and sliding down a steep hill-side, in search of their prey?
  They would have no idea of what damage they might be doing.
   
• Need I really go on?
  
  Incidentally, in the hundreds of hours I have spent in this Park I have never seen any Deer, nor Goats and only one suckling Pig which I reported to the nearby farm from which it had escaped several days before.
  This is a vastly different situation from the large numbers of wild Pigs and Goats in the Far Western region, near Broken Hill.
  
  Incidentally,. my personal experience of shooters I have known is that they like to take their "Pig Dogs" out in the bush and let them chase "Game". The usual result is badly mauled Wombats and Kangaroos - both of which are protected species.
  Mark Clayton has already affirmed that after hundreds of banding trips to Charcoal Tank and Buddigower, he has seldom seen any "game animals" in those Nature Reserves (both listed on the Parks to be opened to shooters)

• Denis Wilson

Ulladulla springs to life.

For many months, since reading Benj Whitworth's postings on the Canberra Ornithologists Group forum about the joys of discovering the plants and birds of Ulladulla, I have wanted to explore the Reserves there. 

My friend Kirsten, who grew up in that area, kindly showed me around several of the Reserves there, yesterday.

There are several excellent Reserves at Ulladulla (on the coast 45 minutes driving time, south from Nowra).

Having done a considerable circuit at the Wildflower Reserve, we adjourned (via the excellent Hayden's Pies) to the South Pacific Heathland Reserve, This is just along Dowling Street, behind the Ex-Servicemen's Club which is on the Pacific Highway, on the southern end of Ulladulla. (see linked map for both Reserve locations)

The first place we visited is known as the Wildflower Reserve. At first it seemed to be a fairly uninviting patch of coastal forest. Kirsten will kill me for that comment. But there were many interesting plants there, especially leaves of Acianthus, Corybas and the related Nemacianthus - all tiny Ground Orchids -   (upon close examination of the forest floor). 
We saw lots of birds, most especially a mixed feeding flock of Silvereyes, Brown Thornbills and Wrens, with Pardalotes and Yellow-faced Honeyeaters in the canopy above, in the Wildflower Reserve.

Kirsten photographing a very thin-leaved Acacia.

It is possibly Acacia elongata (but I am no Acacia expert)

Acacia elongata (possibly)

Click to see the ribbed stems and 3 flowers coming from each leaf axil.
That species (A. elongata) looks right to me.

Compare this image from the Bega Valley area.

Sprays of Comesperma volubile were draped over many shrubs

 This was an unexpected bonus.
Waxlip Orchid - Glossodia major

Glossodia major just opening up.

Believe it or not, this was what I had been hoping to see.

Well, hopefully a fresh flower - but this dried flower is still identifiable

because of the long filamentous tips on the sepals.

It is the Mayfly Orchid, Nemacianthus caudatus

Long filamentous tips on the sepals of Nemacianthius caudatus are still evident.

One of the identifying features, apart from the long sepals,

is the brilliant red underleaf.

Underleaf of Nemacianthus caudatus

But there were hundreds of birds in the South Pacific Heathland Reserve too.

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos.

They love the Casuarinas and Banksias in the Heathland Reserve .

Head of Black Cockatoo seen on top of low Casuarina bushes

New Holland Honeyeaters (3) in Casuarina above Grevillea bush.

And now to some of the more obvious flowers

from the wonderful South Pacific Heathland Reserve.

These Correa reflexa plants were prominent in this Reserve.

The flowers were very fat (I think so anyway).

Possibly Correa reflexa var speciosa?

This is the very pretty (but small) flower of Eucalyptus sieberi

It is known as the Silver-top Ash.

Pimelea linifolia

A young flower head of the NSW Waratah (Telopea speciosissima)

Telopea speciosissima

 The sweet honey-smell of the Wedding Bush 

was almost overwhelming in places where these plants were growing.

Ricinocarpos pinifolius

Further to our finding the large Waxlip Orchid in the first reserve

in a moss bed in the Heathland Reserve we found a colony of

the Small Waxlip Orchid Glossodia minor 

Click on the image to see the diagnostic dark double "calli"

on the labellum.

Here is a loose colony

on a moss bed.

If you expand the image (click)

you will see the flat hairy leaves of these plants.

Glossodia minor in a moss bed

Here is a local favourite at Ulladulla - the rare Grevillea macleayana

It was previously known as Grevillea barklyana subsp. macleayana

It is referred to by PlantNET as the Jervis Bay Grevillea.

It has the classic "Toothbrush Grevillea" flower structure.

 

Grevillea macleayana

Probably my favourite image of Grevillea macleayana. 

It shows why it is so popular with the local Honeyeaters and Wattlebirds.

There is a lrge bead of nectar which has leaked out from the flower.

It shows how rich these plants are in nectar.

A bead of nectar visible in the flower of Grevillea macleayana

Here is one of the surprises of our trip

Lyperanthus suaveolens  - the so-called "Brown Beaks" Orchid.

Close-up of Lyperanthus suaveolens

Full stem of Lyperanthus suaveolens

Pigeonhouse Mountain

Whenever I glimpse this mountain (always in the distance)

I am reminded that it was named by Captain James Cook in 1770.

A symbol of our earliest European conquest (and place naming).

My good friend James, believe it ought be called Nipple Mountain.

I wrote that before I checked for the Aboriginal name.
"Didhol or Dithol" which means 
Woman's Breast on account
of the distinctive shape of the mountain. 
(according to Wikipedia)

Pigeonhouse Mountain in the distant hinterland behind Ulladulla.