About …
… the forest, the website, and us
We live in a forest on the far South Coast of NSW, not far from the Victorian border. This is an area of great natural beauty, with extensive stands of native forest in national parks and state forests. Several small rivers drain the nearby coastal ranges and flow into isolated bays with quiet sandy beaches.
The region is significant in the history of First Nations. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners and custodians of this land and its waterways, and acknowledge Elders past, present and emerging.
A combination of infertile soils, remote location, and the declaration of nature reserves and national parks has helped to protect the region from the worst impacts of development. Relatively few people live here, there is little agriculture, and no polluting industries.
The natural environment is the reason we chose to move here after retiring from Melbourne university life in 2011. As biologists, we share a fascination and passion for nature and natural places. It is a small patch of native forest that we now call home, and these 4 hectares are the focus of this website. The land fronts the Wonboyn River about 10km upstream from its entrance to Disaster Bay.
Australia’s bioregions have been mapped on the basis of climate, geology, landforms, native vegetation and animal species (ref. 1). Our home forest lies within the South East Corner bioregion. More specifically, we are within the South East Coastal Ranges subregion … but very close to the boundary with the East Gippsland Lowlands subregion. It is an interesting juxtaposition and a recognised transition zone. We see many species that are quite common in Victoria but very rarely seen in NSW. Conversely, we are at the southernmost distribution for various east coast species.
Living in such a biologically rich environment is a privilege – and for biologists it is a dream. Few scientists have the luxury of spending day after day, season after season, at their chosen field site. We continually observe and document the biodiversity around us, the interactions between species – and now the ecological changes in the wake of fire.
We seek to minimise the disruption of our presence, and to record and share the knowledge that we gain.
More about the forest
The vegetation matches features of both Lowland Gully Shrub Forest and Eden Dry Shrub Forest (ref. 2, 3). It is dominated by tall, mature eucalypt trees and has well-developed middle- and understories. Diagnostic species include the trees Allocasuarina littoralis, Angophora floribunda, Eucalyptus sieberi and the shrubs Acacia terminalis, Acacia longifolia, Epacris impressa, Leucopogon affinis, Persoonia linearis, Platysace lanceolata and Pultenaea daphnoides. A varied terrain across the property, ranging from relatively flat areas to shallow and steeply sloping gullies, results in a diversity of habitats.
Almost all of the hundreds of plant species on the property are indigenous. The infertile soil and non-urban surroundings largely protect the site from incursion by non-native plants and feral animals. Whilst we do take steps to reduce the fire hazard, maintaining a natural ecosystem is our top priority. Beyond the immediate surrounds of the house, we neither garden nor landscape. Our foot traffic is confined to established tracks – the understorey vegetation is too easily trampled. We don’t water the plants, nor feed the birds and animals. Nature simply takes its course.
While our home forest serves as our study site, it is part of a much larger, natural ecosystem. Animals see no property boundaries. Mobile species come and go. The biodiversity of the wider region helps to maintain the health of our home forest, and findings from studying our home forest contribute to knowledge of the broader environment.
In January 2020, the site was completely razed as fires swept through the region. As devastating as that event was, we are now able to experience and document the natural regrowth of the vegetation and recovery of the forest ecosystem.
Recording biodiversity
We keep species lists including a home bird list (doesn’t everyone?), which is currently sitting at around 120. But it is the invertebrates that truly fascinate us. Insects and spiders in particular. Photographing and identifying bees, wasps, moths and flies is how we spend much of our time. At last count our moth list was at 600!
We have recently started to add our species observations to iNaturalist and eventually this will become an up-to-date home list. But it will take time to move older records and images from storage elsewhere. And we are continually distracted by the discovery of something we’ve not seen before. Our iNaturalist lists will continue to grow for years to come.
Not every insect or spider we see can be readily identified. Sometimes this is because the photos don’t show sufficient detail. Often it is because the taxonomy of the group is in flux, awaiting thorough revision and sorting of known species. And then there are the insects and spiders we find that have not yet been scientifically described … the ‘new species’!
Many Australian insect groups are poorly known, and our region is likely to be home to numerous species awaiting discovery. One tiny wasp we collected here in 2019 is an example, but thanks to the efforts of a research group in Adelaide it is now a recognised species – Cotesia wonboynensis. The ‘Wonboyn Wasp’ – yes, we were kindly invited to suggest a name.
Recently we made the exciting discovery of a previously unknown funnel-web spider – and this time we undertook the challenge of writing up the scientific description ourselves. The paper has now been published by the Australian Museum. The name? Hadronyche nadgee (Whitington & Harris, 2021)
Our website
We seek to do more than compile species lists. Identifying the animals and plants of the forest is just the first step in learning more about their roles in the ecosystem. We record what we see and what we learn, through images and writings on our website. Some stories are brief while others are in depth and detailed. Some discuss the process of species identification, others look at the biology of a species or its interactions with others.
This website – southernforestlife.net – is how we record and share our experiences of life in the forest.
We first published the website in August 2017 and it is our intention to continuously add news, stories and images for many years to come. Part of our aim with the website is to convey our enthusiasm for natural history … the practise of discovering, observing, and describing plants and animals within their natural environment.
We invite you to share these pages with interested friends. Perhaps they are already naturalists … or they might be encouraged to take a closer look at nature when next they venture out into the bush.
If you would like to receive an alert when we add a new story or have news to share, simply subscribe to our email newsletter …
Our photos
Photography is central to what we do. We use our cameras to record natural events and animal behaviours, to visualise the fine details of plant and animal structure, and – of course – to capture the beauty and wonder of nature. We are often asked about the equipment we use, so Paul recently compiled a detailed explanation.
All of the images shown on this website were taken by us. We happily share them under the Creative Commons license ‘Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International’ (CC-BY-NC) - so full attribution, please. If you do decide to use any of our photos, we would appreciate it if you would let us know.
Kerri-Lee Harris & Paul Whitington (June, 2022)
References cited above:
Australian Government. 2012. Interim Biogeographical Regionalisation for Australia, Version 7. Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, and State/Territory land management agencies. Maps and region codes. https://www.environment.gov.au/land/nrs/science/ibra
Keith, D.A. & Bedward, M. 1999. Native Vegetation of the South East Forests Region, Eden, New South Wales. Cunninghamia 6: pp.61-218
Tozer, M.G., Turner, K., Keith, D.A., Tindall, D., Pennay, C., Simpson, C., MacKenzie, B., Beukers, P. and Cox, S. 2010. Native vegetation of southeast NSW: a revised classification and map for the coast and eastern tablelands. Cunninghamia 11: pp.359-406
To learn more about our professional research backgrounds, including publication lists and employment histories, see our ORCID records:
Paul Whitington Kerri-Lee Harris