Haig St Reserve Ipswich

I've been busy this month. We've been away on holiday and it was the Christmas/NY period.

I believe it's very important for children to play in nature. There are many reasons for this (which I will post about another time). Some children (and adults) may think at first, that there is nothing to do out in nature, especially if you go to a reserve or park with no play equipment. Children may not even venture away or may say they are bored. If your children haven't spent time away from toys, play equipment or media, then they may need some encouragment at first. We always love spending time at the local creek. There are fallen logs my children climb on, puddles they splash in, the creek to swim in and trees to climb. Then there are endless objects to pick up and discover. Sometimes my daughter will walk with me and say she is bored or tired. This is when I need to encourage her a bit.

I recently took them bushwalking at Haig St Quarry Reserve in Ipswich. My daughter likes to stop and look at things along the way and doesn't particularly like the idea of just walking. So I often tell her we are going on an adventure and I tell a story as we walk. She loves fairies and so we pick up gum nuts along the way and try and find the one which would be a suitable drinking cup for a fairy. We both think bloodwood gum nuts are the best at Haig Street. We walked the Willy Wagtail circuit which is about 1 km.

At the end of the walk there is a wooden deck which overlooks the reserve and view out to the Toowoomba range. Again we talked about fairies hiding under the decking and waiting for people to leave before they fly about again. We often make fairy coves out of natural items. We collect stones and small twigs and build a little cove at the base of a tree. So sometimes it takes some imagination on my part, to make the trip into nature more appealing.

 

The reserve has the lovely Angophora leiocarpa also known as Rusty Gum. If you didn't know gums, you might think this is a Spotted Gum at first glance. They are quite similar. I have slowly developed an eye for this lovely gum. It's a deeper orange or rusty salmon colour bark which sheds. It also has a finer and lighter green leaf. I think the most obvious thing about the Rusty Gum however is the whole tree structure. The branches have a lovely gnarly look about them. I will take some photos of the whole tree soon but here is an upclose look at its bark. I love this tree.



Termite mounds can be seen in trees at the reserve. There are often hollows made in them from Kingfishers.

We spotted several Sacred Kingfishers (Todiramphus sanctus). They make a very distinct call of four repetitive notes.

 At the end of the Willy Wagtail walk there is an outlook toward the Toowoomba Range.

 



 

We saw a Tailed Emperor Butterfly (Polyura pyrrhus) on the fence and enjoyed a good look at it while we had a rest.



There was also plenty of Wall Skinks (Crytoblepharus virgatus) at our rest stop, basking in the sun. They are mostly black with two wide white lines lines along their backs.



Lastly we completed our walk with a cooked breakfast at the end. There is also a playground at the reserve, so the children had a play before we went home.