POSTPONED due to fuel supply and price issues – 2026-03-27
Exchange Excursion with Dubbo Field Nats
NB. If you are planning to come please email orangefieldnats@gmail.com so Dubbo can be told how many to expect. Thanks.
Where: Beni SCA and Sappa Bulga NP
When: Sunday 12 April
Time: 8am sharp due to travel time to Dubbo
Leader: Rob Quinan, Dubbo Field Nats
Grade: Grade 3, Moderate
Meeting place: Orange High School Bus Bay
In the last 2 years Dubbo Field Nats have visited the Orange area and this is an exchange visit to see some of the landscapes in their area. These reserves are close to Dubbo. Our leader Rob Quinan is a keen orchid, plant, and bird person.
We will visit Beni SCA first for morning tea, a walk and lunch. It has an excellent picnic area at Two Dams with a toilet. The SCA is just east of Dubbo, and we will visit the ‘Big Beni’ section which is 1820 ha. Sappa Bulga NP, just south-west of Dubbo on the Peak Hill Rd, is approximately 120 ha. It has no facilities. At both locations we will walk several kilometers along gravel tracks and venture off track into the bush looking for interesting plants and birds.
Both reserves are important patches of native remnant vegetation in a highly cleared landscape. Beni SCA supports 11 threatened fauna species as well as one threatened plant, the pine donkey orchid (Diuris tricolor) which flowers in spring. The SCA potentially contains three endangered ecological communities: White Box Yellow Box Blakely’s Red Gum Woodland; Fuzzy Box Woodland on Alluvial Soils of the South Western Slopes, Darling Riverine Plains and Brigalow Belt South Bioregions; and Inland Grey Box Woodland in the Riverina, NSW South Western Slopes, Cobar Peneplain, Nandewar and Brigalow Belt South Bioregions.
Sappa Bulga NP protects Western Inland Grey Box and Black Cypress Pine woodland vegetation communities. It is a small link in the remnant vegetation corridor between Dubbo and Tomingley and provides habitat for wildlife.
We may find autumn flowering orchids at both locations but as usual no guarantees. At Beni SCA we might find Pterostylis ampliata (Diplodium ampliatum) and P. antennifera (Speculantha antennifera). While at Sappa Bulga there’s a possibility of finding Pterostylis (Speculantha) rubescens and Corunastylis occidua ined.
After carpooling at the Orange High bus bay, we will drive to Dubbo. The travel time is about the same via the Mitchell Highway as along Burrendong Way. We will meet Rob off the Mitchell Highway just south of Dubbo at Eulomogo Rd, just over the railway lines. Note that this is the northern entry to Eulomogo Rd, not the one a bit further south.
Come prepared for a full day excursion. Bring morning tea, lunch, water, and any essential medications you may need. Please wear closed walking shoes and suitable clothing.
