BACK TO NATURE - LESS BUT NOT QUITE LOST

By Jamie Walker

Coastal wallum heathland, both wet and dry, is a beautiful habitat that has been almost lost. It once stretched continuously from Gladstone down to Coffs Harbour. Today, because it has been targetted for so much development, it is reduced to pockets (mostly small and unprotected) so fragmented by roads, housing and light industry that their ecological value has shrunk. What remains is coveted by developers, ignored by politicians and may be unrecognised by new generations.

Yet wallum is a place of beauty. It is famed for its flowering at the end of winter. The pinks, whites, oranges and yellows of Boronias, Pea flowers and Tea Trees – plus the occasional spectacle of Christmas Bells and Swamp Irises – are botanically incomparable.

If you walk through this heathland, you may find Sundews growing at your feet. Their small pink or white flowers are on slender stalks growing up from reddish rosettes of sticky, sap-beaded leaves which catch and digest insects. Darwin studied them intensely and proved that a plant could act as a predator; which added to his evidence that elements of ecosystems are not independent, but interact at every level.

In the low centre of the Cooloola section of Great Sandy NP the heath is at its most impressive. A thick green sward of rushes, sedges, foxtails, Grass Trees and , here and there, a climax growth of Banksias, stretches to every horizon. This is probably the last place where our heathland still looks like the wilderness it once was.

The wildlife of these areas is specialised. Swordgrass Brown butterflies – milk chocolate with scarlet ‘eye’ spots – are scarce anywhere else. Rainbow Bee-eaters excavate their nesting burrows in the sandy ground, Brown Quail scuttle along the track side,  Needle-tailed Swifts can appear anywhere in a huge, open sky, White-cheeked Honeyeaters sing loudly from the banksias and, if you are very lucky, you might find Emu Wrens. 

These exquisite birds are probably our smallest, with a head and body a mere 6cm long. Their tails are diaphanous – like long insect wings – their plumage, an almost unique mixture of apricot and powder blue.

But, perhaps the prime target for birders in this landscape is the Ground Parrot; a secretive, ground dwelling bird that is frustratingly hard to see. 

My books tell me that it spends most of its time hiding its green feathers among low, green foliage. It rarely flies (unless alarmed) and it doesn’t clamber high into bushes. Its existence is often only known for certain through its habitual high pitched whistles at dawn and dusk. And no, I haven’t yet seen one.

Recently, a party of us in the very middle of Cooloola  saw many wonderful things, but we failed to find Ground Parrots. But, probably the best thing about nature is that no matter how long we live, we will never see all of it. There will always be something new waiting for us.

Providing we care enough and their habitat can survive the pressure of human demands, these small green birds will still be there; to be caught up with in due time.

NOTE: Put it in your diary to visit a Wallum area at the end of winter (August is good) to see the flowering for yourself. Kathleen McArthur Park at Birtinya, Emu Swamp behind Peregian Beach, Emu Mountain at Coolum, Mooloola NP are all suitable spots – or you may have your own favourite.