Diario de froggie79

A brilliant, sunny Autumn day after three days of cold, steady rain. The ground is damp and the plants have had another good drink. The Native Australian Raspberry Rubus parvifolus still hasn't fruited.

Mushrooms have popped up all over the forest floor. There were several clusters of Saffron Milkcap Lactarius deliciosus. I picked one to take home and taste. The small white/grey mushrooms were scattered across the forest floor, especially where there was deep litter. I'm hoping the iNaturalist community might help with identification.

I also noticed a cluster of what I think are Onion Earthballs Scleroderma cepa underneath an oak tree on the edge of the pine forest.

There were many clumps of rushes popping up on the norther-eastern edge of the pine forest. One of these clumps had flowers and I was able to identify them as Wattle Mat-rush Lomandra filiformis. It will be nice to see them mass flowering in the next couple of weeks.

I also noticed a thistle plant on the eastern edge of the forest that looked more delicate than the ubiquitous Scotch Thistle found in paddocks throughout the region. The whole plant, including the flowers, were more delicate and the growing habit was more rambling than upright. I suspected it might be the Spear Thistle Cirsium vulgare. This was confirmed by a fellow naturalist, thank you 'reiner.'

We've had a good amount of steady rain throughout the week and Saturday morning was sunny and fresh with a deep blue, cloudless sky. The pine forest was full of mushrooms. There were many more large groups of Saffron Milkcap Lactarius deliciosus scattered through the forest. On the northwestern side of the pine forest, large numbers of what looks like immature bracken Pteridium aquilinum have popped up. I also noticed a group of Fly Agaric Amanita muscaria further in the forest. There were large numbers of the small, white and funnel-shaped mushrooms scattered throughout the forest. I haven't been able to confidently identify them but they might be Fragrant Funnels Clitocybe fragrans. I need to smell them next time to see if I can scent aniseed and then I'll be more certain.

We've had several days of rain and cold weather near the end of this week. The ground was soaked but not waterlogged. A cold and brisk breeze blew steadily all day, scudding clouds with frequent sun breaks. The frogs croaked in the divet along the railroad track. Salsify Tragopogon pratensis and False Dandelion Hypochaeris radicata nodded their fluffy seed heads in the breeze. None of the Native Raspberries Rubus parvifolius or Blackberries Rubus fruticosus have any berries emerging from their sepals despite large flower flushes. Now their leaves are starting to turn I doubt if there will be any berries this season. I wonder if that's because the bees did not pollinate the flowers or if the drought and fires we had over our harsh summer did something to their fertility.

The patches of weedy groundcover that I've noticed scattered throughout the forest are fruiting with tiny red berries. I have no idea what these are and the plant identification apps haven't been able to help. Hopefully, the inaturalist community will be able to help.

More crops of Saffron Milkcaps Lactarius deliciosus have popped up throughout the forest and a new flush of Fly Agaric Amanita muscaria have popped up in their patch on the NE side of the forest. None of the lomandras Lomandra filiformis are flowering but the Lip Ferns Cheilanthes are looking lush. The Yellow Buttons Chrysocephalum apiculatum and Native Blue Bells Wahlenbergia stricta have slowed down their flowering.

A small family of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos Calyptorhynchus funereus swooped through the trees at the edge of the forest, making their beautiful mournful calls. The Ravens Corvus coronoides must have been out foraging as they weren't in the forest like they normally are.

Bungendore lies within Australia's South Eastern Highlands Bioregion, which spans just under the Sydney Basin inland to Orange, Bathurst, and Goulburn, and south through the Monaro and Alpine Region into Northern Victoria.

Climate
The climate is temperate with hot summers (30 degrees Celcius spiking to 40 degrees) and cool winters (down to -1 degrees Celcius with short troughs to -6). Fog is common in autumn and winter, but thunderstorms are infrequent. Strong gales with high winds are common in winter. Rain is variable but not seasonal.

Geology
Bungendore township lies in the middle of a valley running N-S with the Lachlan Fold Belt causing the formation of the Lake George Escarpment to the West. Gibraltar Hill and small mountain ranges, part of the Great Dividing Range, lie to the East of the township.

The geology is composed of palaeozoic granites, metamorphosed sedimentary rocks and tertiary basalt outcrops. During the Devonian Period, the region was an open sea accumulating fine shale, sandstone and volcanic sediments. The soil is shallow red earth on the ridges, yellow textured contrast soil on the slopes and deep coarse sand on the alluvium.

Water Catchment
The town lies in the Lake George water catchment. Lake George is a shallow, dry endorheic lake basin with lunettes and fossil high water tide lines. The main waterway is Turallo Creek which flows from the Tallaganda forest, through Bungendore into Lake George. Turallo Creek flows intermittently in response to rain events.

When water accumulates in Lake George as a result of rain events, it is brackish, almost as saline as seawater and one of the saltiest bodies of water in inland NSW.

Lake George is called Weereewa by local indigenous peoples, which means 'bad water.' There is a theory that the lake may be connected to the nearby Yass River by subterranean aquifers which pass under the surrounding escarpment, and that this connection may explain the salinity of the river.

First Nations
As stated on Wikipedia - The original inhabitants of the region were the Ngambri peoples. There is contention about which First Nations group can lay claim to the region. However, government-commissioned research found that the family who lived in the Ngambri location were part of the Nyamudy/Namadji people who lived on the Limestone Plains and spoke a language similar to Ngarigo spoken on the Monaro Plains.

The Nyamudy/Namadgi people, some 500 persons, consisted of at least eight family groupings, those around Queanbeyan (Ngyemutch), Pialligo, Brindabellas, Isabella Plains (Namwitch), Namadgi Range, and Sullivan's Creek (Ngambri). The name used by the early European settlers for these people was the 'Pialligo Mob' and 'Limestone Blacks". In 1831 the Ngambri area was granted to settler John McPherson who called it Springbank. By the 1860s the Nyamudy tribe under the pressure of the settlements had either moved up to the Monaro or had merged with the Europeans.

Land Use
The land around Bungendore is used for grazing of cattle and sheep. There is a small Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation close to the town, which is owned by the local butcher and grazier. To the SW, between Bungendore and Queanbeyan are several NSW government Radiata Pine plantations. Several cold country vineyards are established at the top of the Lake George Escarpment.

The township is composed of medium to low-density housing surrounded by larger block estates, small farms and large grazing properties.

Environmental Impacts
The area suffers from the consequences of grazing, deforestation, monocropping, and use of fertilisers and pesticides. This has resulted in land degradation, heavily compacted soils, soil erosion, weed infestations, habitat fragmentation, and water insecurity.

Ecological Restoration

• Palerang Riparian Restoration Program - part of the Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority Project
• Queanbeyan Palerang Regional Council Flood Mitigation project - part of the Bungendore Floodplain Risk Management Plan involving the removal of dense vegetation and creek re-shaping where Turallo and Halfway Creeks meet
• Bungendore Community Landcare Group
• Mulloon Rehydration Project
• Woodland Bird Project - through Molongolo Conservation
• Ngambri Local Aboriginal Land Council