Vampires!

An interesting tidbit. In 1957, a Vampire fighter jet crashed into Castlereagh State Forest. The pilot ejected safely. From the adf-serials website:

ADF Serial #: A79-601
Construction #: 4122
Type: T.35
Details: Crashed 15/08/57 into the Castlereagh State Forest, 5 nm south-southeast of RAAF Richmond, NSW. Flying Officer Gavin Collins suffered loss of control during post-contractor acceptance test flight. According to Flightpath Magazine, Vol.6 No.1 " A left hand spin was carried out without problem. A right hand spin was initiated from 30,000 feet when the aircraft rolled on to its back and an uncontrollable inverted spin developed. The rate of rotation increased and the dive steepened. The front windscreen misted over and after one more failed attempt at recovery the pilot made the decision to eject at 10,000 feet" He was the first RAAF pilot to eject from a Vampire. Pilot ejected at 5,000 ft and 100 kts with only minor injuries. RAAF Ejection number 12. Ejection seat was retained as a training aid. Remains of aircraft found in 1992.

More information and pictures can be found at the ejection-history website.

Read more about the Vampire at the Temora Aviation Museum website.

History

The Picture Australia database is home to 11 historical photographs taken in Castlereagh Nature Reserve when it was known as Castlereagh State Forest. Most of the photographs were taken in 1917. Click here to view the collection.

West Sydney Wild

"West Sydney Wild", by Alan Fairley and David Waterhouse, is a great guide to the bushland reserves of western Sydney, including Castlereagh Nature Reserve. The book describes twelve of the western Sydney's sanctuaries, highlighting their special features, plant communities, significant flora, birds and other animals. A feature that I found especially useful was the detailed map of Castlereagh Nature Reserve.


Read a book review here, at the old Australian Plants Online website. Visit their new website by clicking here.


West Sydney Wild. Alan Fairley and David Waterhouse, Rosenberg Publishing, 2005 RRP $19.95, Available at bookshops or www.rosenbergpub.com.au. Paperback, 180 pages, 225 x 150 mm, 72 colour photos. ISBN 1877058386

Bird Watching

The Eremaea Birds website includes a page that allows bird watchers to list recent bird sightings they deem to be of particular interest to the birding community. Based on recent entries, bird watchers seem to be active in Castlereagh Nature Reserve. For example, this Speckled Warbler was photographed on 27 May 2007 by Carol Abbott in the Reserve.

Check out the other interesting bird sightings at Castlereagh Nature Reserve and elsewhere in NSW at the Eremaea Birds Recent Sightings web page.

Lost?

If got2getaway.com.au "tell you where to go", don't listen....

Castlereagh Nature Reserve is NOT located at Castlereagh Road, Castlereagh, NSW!

http://got2getaway.com.au/tourism/eventdetails.aspx?productid=9085975

Location

Castlereagh Nature Reserve is located at Llandillo, approximately 10 kilometers east of Penrith. The Reserve rests entirely within the Penrith local government area. It is bounded by the Northern Road in the east, Llandilo Road in the west, Castlereagh Waste Management Centre in the north and rural properties to the south.

View the location of the Reserve at the following map sites:

Google Maps
Live Maps
Mappoint
Whereis
Steet-directory.com.au
Multimap.com

Ecological Communities

Ecological Communities in Castlereagh Nature Reserve

Four ecological communities are present in Castlereagh Nature Reserve:

1. Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark Forest;
2. Scribbly Gum Woodland;
3. Castlereagh Swamp Woodland; and
4. Shale-Gravel Transition Forest

1. Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark Forest

"Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark Forest is a community that ranges from open forest to low woodland, with a canopy dominated by broad-leaved ironbark (Eucalyptus fibrosa) (pictured) and paperbark (Melaleuca decora). The canopy may also include other eucalypts such as woolybutt (E. longifolia). The dense shrubby understorey consists of Melaleuca nodosa and peach heath (Lissanthe strigosa), with a range of ‘pea’ flower shrubs, such as Dillwynia tenuifolia, Pultenaea villosa and Daviesia ulicifolia (can be locally abundant). The sparse ground layer is made of grasses and herbs, including kangaroo grass (Themeda australis), weeping meadow grass (Microlaena stipoides var stipoides) and Entolasia stricta."

Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark Forest is listed as an endangered ecological community under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995.

Photo: ANBG Text: NPWS

2. Scribbly Gum Woodland

Scribbly Gum Woodland is a ecological community dominated by Scribbly Gum (Eucalyptus sclerophylla) (pictured) and Narrow-leaved Apple (Angophora bakeri). Also present are Broad-leaved Ironbark (Eucalyptus fibrosa) and Thin-leaved Stringybark (E. eugenioides). Understory species include Green Spider-flower (Grevillea mucronulata), Needle Bush (Hakea sericea), Slender Tea-tree (Leptospermum trinervium) and Melaleuca nodosa.

Photo & species list: Blacktown City Council

3. Castlereagh Swamp Woodland

"Castlereagh Swamp Woodland is a low woodland community that occurs in poorly drained depressions along intermittent watercourses. Castlereagh Swamp Woodland often has dense stands of paperbark trees (Melaleuca decora) (pictured) along with other canopy trees, such as drooping red gum (Eucalyptus parramattensis ssp parramattensis). The shrub layer is not well developed and is mostly made up of young paperbark trees (Melaleuca decora and M. linariifolia). The ground layer has a diversity of plants that tolerate waterlogged conditions, such as swamp pennywort (Centella asiatica), common rush (Juncus usitatus) and Goodenia paniculata."

Castlereagh Swamp Woodland is listed as an endangered ecological community under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995.

Photo: Blacktown City Council Text: NPWS

4. Shale-Gravel Transition Forest

"Shale-Gravel Transition Forest is an open forest community. Its canopy is dominated by broad-leaved ironbark (Eucalyptus fibrosa). Other canopy trees include grey box (E. moluccana) and forest red gum (E. tereticornis), which occur less frequently. Paperbark (Melaleuca decora) is common in the small tree layer. The composition of the shrub and understorey varies with the influence of shale or gravel, and often includes blackthorn (Bursaria spinosa), Daviesia ulicifolia, and peach heath (Lissanthe strigosa). Understorey grasses and herbs include kangaroo grass (Themeda australis), weeping meadow grass (Microlaena stipoides var stipoides), whiteroot (Pratia purpurascens) and Australian Bluebell (Wahlenbergia gracilis) (pictured)."

Shale-Gravel Transition Forest is listed as an endangered ecological community under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995.

Photo: Blacktown City Council Text: NPWS

First Visit

I ended up visiting the Reserve this evening, at about 5:30. I entered from the western edge if the reserve at the intersection of Llandilo Road and Spence Road, Berkshire Park. There was a pile of road base and lots of broken glass and assorted rubbish at this location, so it wasn't very salubrious, but there was a gap in the fence and a place to park.

At this point, there is a trail heading west to east, in a straight line for about 1 kilometre. I later learned that this trail is known as Herb's Track.

Along the track, at various locations, are signs stating that rehabilitation is occurring, but there aren't any signs of weeding or planting. Perhaps these areas are left to regenerate naturally?

Most trees are relatively young, with dark, rough bark - Broad-leaved Ironbarks (Eucalyptus fibrosa). Many trees also appeared to be blackened by fire. Other trees, like the one pictured below, had smooth, light-coloured bark with noticeable 'scribbles' - Hard-leaved Scribbly Gums (Eucalyptus sclerophylla) and scratches, presumably from Brush-tailed Possums (Trichosurus vulpecula).(

The biggest variation in vegetation composition was the variety of shrubs. The photo below was taken in a particularly verdant patch.

There was some grass cover, but often the ground was bare. In some places, virtually nothing was growing, perhaps due to soil compaction from when the site was a commercial forest - Castlereagh State Forest - I'll blog about that another day. Over time, I hope to familiarise myself with the different plants and animals of the Reserve, but for now I know virtually nothing. The shrub in the foreground is probably a young paperbark - White Feather Honey-myrtle (Melaleuca decora).

There were many of these ant mounds along the trail.

The ants that populate these nests are reddish-brown and about 1cm long. They collect thousands of small red stones and deposit them at the entrance to their nest mounds. The ants are very common in Sydney, and tend to get very aggressive when their nests are disturbed, but I've never known what they are called - until now. A quick web search reveals that they are Meat Ants (Iridomyrex purpureus).

On the way out, I noticed what appears to be a test bore of some kind.

I read somewhere that toxic waste was dumped in the Reserve, which was subsequently cleaned up. There is also a waste management facility nearby. The bore might be part of a program to monitor ground water quality. I'll investigate these things and post more at a later date.

Now that we've all seen the Reserve up close, I'll begin to do some web-based research and share my findings with my loyal blog readers :) I'll visit the site regularly and let you know if I see anything interesting on my trips.

Hello World!

Today, on the spur of the moment, I decided to create a blog about Castlereagh Nature Reserve. I know absolutely nothing about this relatively small protected woodland area in northwestern Sydney, but let's see if we can change that! :)

I plan to make my first walk in the Reserve tomorrow morning, just after sunrise. I'll take my camera and report back here tomorrow night. See you then!