Proposed COG outing to Bald Hill Fire Trail, Tallaganda NP.

During several visits to Tallaganda National Park I have thought that the Bald Hill Fire Trail, running from the Mulloon Trail to Palerang Road would be an interesting area for COG to explore.

Every time I have been in this area I have seen Spotted Quail-thrush (seen 23/7)

(Image by Tobias Hayashi from COG photo gallery.)  and there should a good chance of species such as Olive Whistler, Red-browed Treecreeper, Wonga Pigeon (seen 23/7)

(Image by Lindsay Hansch from COG photo gallery.) and possibly Pilotbird.  A number of Honeyeaters more common on the coast have been seen occasionally in the general area.   Stretching one's luck to breaking point, a roosting Powerful Owl is a theoretical possibility, and the chatline report of Pink Robins referred to an area not too far away!

On 23 July I rode my mountain bike along the entire route and have planned the following event for September 17th.

Broad plan
The broad plan for the outing is depicted in the attached extract and re-scan of the Bombay 1:25k topographic map.  (Click on the image to get a more easily read version.) I have put some details of the sites identified by numbers below.  This section of the Fire Trail is 6.3km long, and ranges in elevation from 980m AMSL to 1160m AMSL.

I expect the basic trip to be about 5 hours from Queanbeyan to Queanbeyan, with the possibility of extension for at least a couple more hours.  People should bring water and probably some lunch.  People should also note that the trip will probably be about 100km with a fair few hills, and there is no fuel once past Queanbeyan.

Caveats and safety stuff

Approximately 50 km of this trip will be on dirt roads, of which about 13km are fire-trails rather than forest or rural roads.  There are some significantly protruding rocks on the Mulloon Trail.  On the day of my expoloratory ride there were a couple of (what was described by a 4WD  person I met as) sloppy bits in the first kilometre.  There are some steep hills which might acquire sloppiness.  I strongly recommend that after car-pooling (see below) everyone travel in a Forester or better 4WD.

If the weather is foul in the period leading up to the date a further recce will be taken.  It is possible that Briars-Sharrow road may flood at the Molonglo Crossing in which case it would be necessary to travel to Hoskinstown via Bungendore.  Palerang Council may show this on a sign at the start of Captains Flat Rd.

In the event of heavy rain in the week before the event check this blog for further information.

Should it be the case that the Mulloon Trail is navigable but the Bald Hill trail appears questionable Plan B is to
park near the start of Bald Hill trail and walk from there.  We could do 2 x 500m surveys

• along the start of Bald Hill trail and 
• a second one along the Mulloon Trail toward the Mulloon Creek Crossing.

There is also a prospect of fallen timber blocking the road, but I will have a bow saw and an axe to discipline it if encountered.

Car pooling and rendezvous

I suggest that those travelling from Canberra car pool at Spotlight in Queanbeyan (where Yass Rd meets the Kings Highway)at 7:30.  They should then travel towards Captains Flat and meet the rest of us at the junction of Briars-Sharrow Rd and Plains Rd at 8:00.  Perhaps a couple of people may join in at Hoskinstown.

From the rendezvous we travel to Hoskinstown and then to Forbes Creek.  At Forbes Creek we turn right and then immediately left onto the Mulloon Trail.  After 6km we pass the Black Range FT on the left and 0.3km later get to the start of the Bald Hill Fire Trail on the right.  This should be about 0830.

Site by site comments

Note: the elevations given in this are mainly from my GPS and are thus not guaranteed!

Site 1: I propose to do a 2Ha 20 minute survey at the start of the road.  This is tall forest on a Granite base.  Latitude 35:26:54S, Longitude 149:32:47E, elevation 1015m.

 

Site 2: 1.5km down the road.  Again a 2Ha/20 minute survey.  Tall forest with a good number of spouts and tree hollows.  35:27:28/149:32:54, 1015m.

Site 3: drive a further 1.5km to the junction with Jinglemoney FT.  I propose to walk down the road for 500 and back.  The forest here has a more complex understory than the first two spots.  Start at 35:28:14/149:32:52, 1040m turn back at 35:28:13/149:33:12, 1000m.

Site 4 is a damp gully about 600m (by road) from the start of Jigglemonkey FT.  A 2Ha/20minute survey is proposed.  35:28:28/149:32:4, 1142m

Site 5 is another damp gully 1km further on than site 4.  You don't get moss like that in a dry environment! 35:28:55/149:32:40, 1050m.

Site 6 is 1.4km from site 5 and has a much lower set of vegetation.  I am unsure if this is different tree species due to elevation having risen to 1133m or if it reflects the area having been subject to tender ministrations of the timber industry before being given the protection of NP status.  Coordinates are
35:29:30/149:32:28.   It is about 250m from the junction with Palerang Forest Road.

By this time it should be 12:30 (or possibly a little later).  There are a number of other sites in the area and/or on the way back to Rossi that can be explored depending on how we feel, and what is around on the day.  Some of them are marked with a ? in the following image.  For those who wish to depart at this point it is about 1 hour back to Canberra through Rossi.

This extract from Google Earth shows the sites described above in relation to the COG grid.

Possibilities

The  following table shows the species recorded for Tallaganda as a whole, together with the number of records for this area in the COG data base.  I have highlighted in yellow the species that I regard as 'more exciting' that have more than 5 observations and in green those that 'fail' the number of observations criteria..

Stubble Quail	1
Australian Wood Duck	4
Pacific Black Duck	1
Australasian Grebe	1
Common Bronzewing	2
Crested Pigeon	1
Wonga Pigeon	9
Australian Owlet-nightjar	2
White-throated Needletail	1
Little Pied Cormorant	1
Great Cormorant	1
White-faced Heron	2
Straw-necked Ibis	1
Black-shouldered Kite	1
Brown Goshawk	5
Collared Sparrowhawk	1
Wedge-tailed Eagle	6
Nankeen Kestrel	3
Brown Falcon	2
Australian Hobby	2
Eurasian Coot	1
Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo	27
Gang-gang Cockatoo	17
Galah	3
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo	13
Australian King-Parrot	2
Crimson Rosella	58
Eastern Rosella	4
Red-rumped Parrot	3
Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo	2
Shining Bronze-Cuckoo	4
Pallid Cuckoo	1
Fan-tailed Cuckoo	8
Brush Cuckoo	2
Powerful Owl	8
Southern Boobook	1
Laughing Kookaburra	38
Sacred Kingfisher	2
Superb Lyrebird	28
White-throated Treecreeper	53
Red-browed Treecreeper	11
Brown Treecreeper	1
Satin Bowerbird	15
Superb Fairy-wren	24
Pilotbird	6
White-browed Scrubwren	53
Chestnut-rumped Heathwren	1
Weebill	2
Striated Thornbill	42
Yellow-rumped Thornbill	5
Buff-rumped Thornbill	7
Brown Thornbill	57
Southern Whiteface	1
Spotted Pardalote	31
Striated Pardalote	32
Eastern Spinebill	32
Lewin's Honeyeater	4
Yellow-faced Honeyeater	52
White-eared Honeyeater	26
Fuscous Honeyeater	1
White-plumed Honeyeater	1
Noisy Miner	2
Red Wattlebird	32
Crescent Honeyeater	19
New Holland Honeyeater	2
Brown-headed Honeyeater	10
White-naped Honeyeater	20
Noisy Friarbird	5
Spotted Quail-thrush	6
Eastern Whipbird	21
Varied Sittella	1
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike	10
Cicadabird	3
Crested Shrike-tit	8
Olive Whistler	13
Golden Whistler	32
Rufous Whistler	23
Grey Shrike-thrush	43
Olive-backed Oriole	4
Dusky Woodswallow	2
Grey Butcherbird	9
Australian Magpie	20
Pied Currawong	42
Grey Currawong	19
Rufous Fantail	21
Grey Fantail	53
Willie Wagtail	3
Australian Raven	12
Little Raven	3
Leaden Flycatcher	4
Satin Flycatcher	7
Black-faced Monarch	5
Magpie-lark	8
White-winged Chough	5
Scarlet Robin	9
Flame Robin	25
Rose Robin	10
Pink Robin	3
Eastern Yellow Robin	27
Eurasian Skylark	1
Golden-headed Cisticola	1
Silvereye	21
Welcome Swallow	5
Tree Martin	1
Bassian Thrush	4
Common Blackbird	3
Common Starling	4
Common Myna	1
Mistletoebird	10
Red-browed Finch	5
Diamond Firetail	2
Australasian Pipit	2
European Goldfinch	4