Linda and Roger's Bunhybee Grasslands - Landscape

This is a page within Roger and Linda's Bunhybee Grasslands Web-Site.
Bunhybee Grasslands is a 49 hectare / 120 acre conservation property 35km south of Braidwood, in southern N.S.W.
You can follow through the internal links, or you may find it easier to use the Site-Map.

The property is on a west-facing slope 1km above a creekline that runs northwards and joins the Shoalhaven 4km away. The range to the west, the Tallaganda, is part of the Great Divide. It includes some national park, but is mostly 'state forest', i.e. liable to be clear-felled and replaced with radiata pine at any moment. The valley has been good sheep-country, but with wool's decline is now mostly cattle, and is increasingly subject to subdivision into hobby-farms too small to be viable. Most of the valley is improved pasture, but some patches of native, or largely native, grassland remain.This page contains some basic information about the landscape on and surrounding the property, and some photos, within the following groups:

1. The Grasslands
2. The Snow-Gum Woodland along the Western Boundary
3. The Water Features
4. Eucalypt Woodlands below Bunhybee Peak
5. The Vicinity

For larger images, click on the thumbnails.

1. The Grasslands and Surrounds

There are scattered shrubs and occasional trees across the grasslands that make up the majority of the property. In particular:

• there is one copse of snow-gums in the centre-north
• there are a few lone snow-gums scattered around
• there's a moderate amount of Kunzea around
• there are Wattles (Acacia Spp.):
  • A. brownii
  • Silver Wattle (A. dealbata)
  • Ploughshare Wattle (A. gunni)
  • Late Black Wattle (A. mearnsii)
  • Blackwood Wattle (A. melanoxylon)
• there are Ti-Tree:
  • Ti-Tree (Leptospermum Spp.), incl.
    • L. ?obovatum (photo below)
• Casuarina (Allocasuarina distyla)
• Silver Banksia (B. marginata)
• Small-Fruited Hakea (H. microphylla)

There's limited birdlife in this sector, but there's a resident lark, and a Richard's pipit was seen on one occasion, seemingly wandered in from the rather better pickings in the improved pasture across the road. A pair of nankeen kestrels has been seen over the property.

An echidna has been seen, as have one of the resident wombats, and various Eastern Grey Kangaroos that have wandered down out of the Bunhybee Peak woodland. Unfortunately, so have feral pigs, and one fox (dead).

From the Ridge, NNW - 20 Apr 08	From the Ridge, WNW - 20 Apr 08	From the Ridge, WSW - 20 Apr 08	From the NE to the Ridge - 20 Apr 08
From the Ridge, WSW - 6 Jun 08	From the NE to the SW - 6 Oct 08	'You've got 20 minutes to be back at the car' - 6 Oct 08	Central-West, Looking West - 15 Nov 08
Rocks, looking NNW - 15 Nov 08	Ridge Rocks, looking W - 15 Nov 08	Pool in the Main Creekline - 15 Nov 08	From the Ridge, WSW - 15 Nov 08
Autumn Contrasts, Near the Gate, Looking West - 25 Apr 09		Fungus, eastern end of Echidna Ridge 26 Apr 09	Ditto
In the SW corner, looking Eastwards 6 Sep 09	Ac. Brownii, near the copse 6 Sep 09	Westwards over the main dam 6 Sep 09	Ac. Brownii above the main dam, looking SE – 6 Sep 09
Echidna Ridge 22 Sep 09	with Leucopogon Virgatus	Pultanaea, L. squamatus, Trigger Plants – 7 Nov 2009	SW corner, looking W – 30 Dec 2009
Grasslands in SW Corner 20 Feb 2010 ...	Towards ESE from SW Corner	Towards NE from SW Corner
5 April 2010 W from Picnic Corner	SW from Picnic Corner	SW from beside the copse	N along W boundary
Anthurus archeri (Seastar Stinkhorn Fungus)	... and its location	Leptosperm, Kunzea, Banksia marginata, sthn streamline 2 May 2010	Bracken fern and Lomandra
Rolling hills, NW ...	... West ...	... SW, into late pm sun
6 Nov 2010 – Kunzea, view westwards ...	... and Pultenaea, SW ...	... and southwards	Colours!
Kunzea and the scrape, northern block looking NE	Kunzea and the view SW again	28 Dec 2010 Joycea pallida	Plumegrass and Themeda
16 Nov 2011 Stylidium and View WNW	Goodenia hederacea alpestris and Hibbertia	10 Dec 2011 Grasslands ...	... and Zero
22 Oct 2012 Rainer Rehwinkel, Echidna Ridge	Tosca and View at Picnic Corner	Poa Lab. below Picnic Corner	The northermost waterline
Along the NE fenceline	Tosca introducing Brunig to his property	Pimelia and Kunzea on the South of Centre Bock	Kunzea along the wires at the southern end
14 Nov 2012 Pultanea subspicata ...	... carpeting sections of the property	Kunzea, Leptosperm, Poa sieberi	4 Jan 2013 with Sweet Vernal showing golden-brown
7 September 2013 Gateway Gully	25 September 2013 Leucopogon virgatus east of central block	Lark on rock, west end of Echida Ridge His favourite rocks have bare patches on top	8 January 2014 Looking SSW from near the NW corner
20 August 2014 N side of the gate	S side of the gate, and very wet		Gate Gully, full wombat-holes
The waterline beside the track just inside the gate	Just upstream	Flowing gently, foaming gently	The spring, 40m up the slope
Kunzea watch centre-east	Down ...	... Gate ...	... Gully
The spring and its waterline ...	... ENE from the house-block
Lunch on Echida Ridge, looking W to Tallaganda		High on a wet Echidna Ridge, looking NW	Just as wet on the lower rock-shelves
14 Dec 2014 Grasslands ...	... with Stylidium ...	.. with Chrysocephalum semipapposum
14 Jan 2015 West from the ridge	And North incredibly green!	And NW across Chrysocephalum apiculatum	Lunch at Peppermint Corner
15 Apr 2015 Top end of the southern waterline ...	... with blackberries and without	The view westwards	Themeda in autumnal red
21 Oct 2015 Tom Roberts Landscape	And Kunzea threatening Pimelia glauca	30 Jan 2016 New A. mearnsii beside the house-block
21 Mar 2020 Hibbertia, nthn Gate Gully, looking W	NNW, with the red of Themeda stems	W from North Block	29 Mar 2020 Sthn waterline, looking WNW
14 Apr 2024 Northern Waterline, looking westwards, after soaking rains, the Themeda very red

2. The Snowgums along the Western Boundary

Along the western edge is a narrow rim of E. pauciflora ssp. pauciflora (the lowland sub-species, c.700m, cf. ssp. xxxx, c.1200-1800m). The coverage is generally 25-50%, and the grasslands are apparently a little different here compared with the exposed areas that cover most of the proprety. (But that remains to be explored).

There's a limited but seemingly healthy bird-life in this sector, including a resident grey fantail, diamond firetails (seen on one of four visits during spring), eastern rosellas, 8 crested pigeons, and migrating yellow honeyeaters in spring and autumn (in large quantities, seen going both ways in the first year we were visiting the site).

A blue-tongue has been seen on one occasion. (A dog on a leash is much more likely to pick up something deep in grass than humans are!).

Looking NE 0- 6 Jun 08	Snow Gums and Rocks - 6 Jun 08	The Snow Gum Branch that was also shot by Rainer Rehwinkel and used in the NCT's Sales Brochure - 2 Sep 08	Snow Gums looking East - 6 Oct 08
To the NNW, with Dog - 15 Nov 08	Grasses 30m inside the gate, looking south - 25 Apr 09	Possible E. rubida (candlebark), South Block - 25 Apr 09	Possible E. dives (peppermint), South Block - 25 Apr 09
Snow gums and Ac. dealbata (Silver Wattle) 6 Sep 09	Snow gum woodland 11 Nov 09	6 Nov 2010 Xerochrysum and view westwards	28 Dec 2010 Yorkshire Fog 50m South of the gate
12 Mar 2011 Where the 'dead' wombat was, but much lusher after rains	NNW from the gate, past the Leptorhynchus myrtifolium's new growth
14 Nov 2012 Pultanea subspicata just outside the canopy		Dead snow gums ...	... in a drainage line
29 Mar 2020 Not Snowgum, but E. rubida ...	... Candlebark ...	... looking NE
A larger and older ...	... E. rubida close by ...	... looking WNW

3. The Water Features

We distinguish:

• the main northern waterline (the Chain of Ponds above the dam), and on down to the west
• three smaller waterlines in the northern block, two crossing the eastern fence and one the northern fence
• Gate Gully in the central block, with an arm coming in from the south but wrapping northwards up towards Echidna Ridge
• the main southern waterline

Main Dam - 2 Sep 08	Across the Dam WSW - 2 Sep 08	The Family at the Dam - 6 Oct 08
Small Dam, with doomed thistles, looking SW - 25 Apr 09	Small Dam, with rare passing ute, looking NW - 25 Apr 09	Waterline on South Block, with Cassinia longifolia - 25 Apr 09
Southern waterline, middle, looking upstream	Ditto, looking downstream, also on 6 Sep 09	The main dam 6 Sep 09
The main dam 22 Sep 09	The dam wall looking SW 22 Sep 09
The main dam 14 Oct 09 ...	... From the dam, up the main water-line (actually trickling!)
A full dam – 7 Nov 2009	Marker-rocks only a few cm above the water-line	Chain of ponds, just above the dam – 7 Nov 2009
After rain – 20 Feb 2010 ...	... Waterline in SW corner
5 April 2010 Water-Grass ...	... in a full dam ...	... and to the NE
Dam Dog	Dam Wall
2 May 2010 Reeds in sthn waterline	Also in sthn waterline ...	... green gunge
6 Nov 2010 Full dam ...	... with Kunzea	Pond in northern block, and view westwards
21 Mar 2011 Southern Creek-Line
16 Nov 2011 A full dam ...	... looking to the SW ...	... and with dog
25 Sep 2013 Wombat Pond, at the very top of Gate Gully	Upper end of the chain of ponds ...	... on the northern block
8 Jan 2014 Bottom of the chain of ponds	Dam level, mid-summer ...	... good Nov, dry Dec
20 August 2014 Silver Poa (lab.) ...	... in the northern waterline	The dam over-flowing
15 Jan 2015 Northern creekline, running happily	Wombat Pond ...	... in the normally dry Rubida creekline
15 Apr 2015 Unknown red stain plus usual limestone? white	Top end of the southern waterline with and without blackberries	Looking west down the southern waterline
21 Mar 2020 Main dam full	Chain of ponds

4. Eucalypt Woodlands below Bunhybee Peak

The forest to the north and east of the northern block comprises Eucalyptus Woodlands, and they've encroached back onto Bunhybee Grasslands, particularly in the very north-eastern corner, which we call Picnic Corner. We have every intention of encouraging the emergence of a scalloped forest edge, to soften the abrupt clearance line that's existed since the 1880s.

From a distance, the forest on the Peak appears to have some areas dominated by one Eucalypt species or another, but we haven't spent time investigating that yet.

According to the Management Plan (1.8, p. 8 and App. B pp. 37-41), the main species are:

• Candlebark (E. rubida) – smooth-barked, reddish particularly in autumn, towards the southern end
• Ribbon Gum / Manna Gum (E. viminalis) – smooth-barked, ribboned, can be tall (but not here)
• Black Gum (E. aggregata) – stringy-barked to hard-barked
• Broad-Leaved Peppermint (E. dives) – including one attractive outlier in the north-eastern corner of the property – although that one could be Narrow-Leaved P. (E. radiata), or a hybrid
• Snow Gum (E. pauciflora ssp. pauciflora) – smooth, variegated bark, parallel venation

Additional species since identified (in all cases with reasonable confidence, but without strong scientific claims!) include:

• Swamp Gum (E. ovata)
• (Mountain) (White) Gum (E. dalrympleana)
• Black Sally (E. stellulata) – deep olive-green bark

The birdlife is very different in the woodland, and includes magpies, a black-faced cuckoo-shrike, and (heard only) kookaburra, tree-creeper and another non-identified call.

The NE Edge 20 April 2008	... The Differential Canopy ...	... East of the Main Ridge ...
... Bunhybee Forest ...	... Bunhybee Fringe	... From the NE corner back to the ridge, with Peppermint
From the NE corner to the approaching storm in the West 6 Oct 08	To the NE corner from the northern edge 15 Nov 2008
10 Jan 2010 Lagenophora stipitata ...	... Blue Bottle-daisy ...	... and its leaves
Patersonia ?occidentalis	... (a swamp iris? up on the hill?) ...	... and Georgie admiring it
Goodenia rotundifolia	From the top of Bunhybee, looking SW	View over Bunhybee and Parlour, SSW up the Jerrabattgulla valley
4 Jan 2013 Bracken in the Picnic Corner Forest
25 Sep 2013 Northern edge	Within the forest-edge, in the NE corner looking SW	From the NE corner, looking WSW
21 Mar 2020 Lunch at Picnic Corner	The view SW Troy (11), Misha (7)

5. The Vicinity

Jerrabatgulla Creek 2 days after a 100mm rain event, from the bridge on Krawaree Rd ...	... and a detail from it – Constable in the Shoalhaven

This is a page within the Bunhybee Grasslands Web-Site, home-page here, and site-map here
Contact: Linda or Roger
Created: 17 November 2008; Last Amended: 16 Oct 2020, 20 Apr 2024