The Stanthorpe Field Nat-uralists group’s next outing will be to a different part of the Bolivia Nature Reserve from their previous outing – the northern end.
Members will meet at Weeroona Park at 9am on August 19 and travel south on the New England Highway to Bolivia Hill, which should take a little over an hour.
There is a truck parking area on Bolivia Hill with an area where members can park out of the way of any trucks that want to park there.
There are no facilities in the park, but there is a toilet at the parking area. Morning tea will be at the cars before they start their walk. Members will carry their lunch and water.
The entrance to the reserve is a few metres from the back of the parking area and their first stop will be at the ruin of the old shearing shed with a sheep dip and the remains of the yards.
The shed is falling down, so they will not be able to enter it. They will walk along the Chile Trail and then along the Columbia Trail until they reach a spot where there are views over Bolivia Station.
The trails are all along management roads, with a couple of short steep sections.
Bolivia Nature Reserve is noted for its wattles and, with a bit of luck, there should be a good display for the outing.
When they return to the ruins, they can walk along the Brazil Trail through a different type of vegetation to look at good examples of the golden mistletoe that only grows on other mistletoe. There are good stands of Banksia integrifolia along this track.
If time permits, they can drive three or four kilometres down the road to the other entrance to the Nature Reserve where there is an old shearing shed still standing and some equipment lying around the place.
On the pre-outing they saw about a dozen species of birds, including a Scarlet Robin and New England Honeyeaters, as well as a few kangaroos and traces of feral pigs.
