Fushan Botanical Garden, Ilan 福山植物園
28-29 May 2005
Philip, Gloria and Dan leave Taipei around
7AM Saturday, driving east through Hsuang-Xi (雙溪) and then south down the coast from Da-xi (大溪) to Ilan (宜蘭).
We get a simple early lunch in Zhaoxi (礁溪)
before driving to the Garden (福山植物園) at the end of highway 9A, 10 km west of Ilan up in the coastal range.
The Directorate General of highways
lists highway 9A
as connecting HsinTian (新店) to Ilan (宜蘭) via 烏來, 孝義, 圳頭, and 內員山 over a length of 66.333 km.
Our first goal of the trip is to explore the section of highway 9A (9甲)
which according to topo maps once connected Shuangshikou (雙溪口) near the current entrance to the Gardens
going mostly north almost twenty kilometers to XiaoYi (孝義) just east of Wulai (烏來) in southern Taipei county.
The 9A (9甲) is also the name of the road from QingTan (青潭) to Wulai (烏來).
The middle section of highway 9A, which is no longer open, crosses the HsuehShan Range (雪山山脈) and the Fushan Botanical Garden Preserve (福山植物園保護區) so will not be reopened. The road was opened at the close of the Japanese era for military purposes and was later named the "XiKeng Forest Road" (西坑林道). It was once used by trucks, but after years of disuse and natural catastrophes, many sections of the road bed have washed away. The Highway Dept has discussed reopening the road from Wulai, through Tongho village 桶後村, around Yuanshan (員山) to Zhaoxi (礁溪). We have hiked south on the XiKeng Forest Road (西坑林道) from the
XiaoYi (孝義) side several times.
We start on the trail near noon and walk in for well over two hours in intermittent drizzle and rain. We hear the Formosan Muntjacs crying off the trail twice, near the beginning of our walk and again near the point we turn around.
Just before the 5km mark in, we come to the turn off for the trail to Aiyu mtn (阿玉山)
After a second stream crossing the road, after the 5km mark, the road condition degrades quickly to double-track, then single track and is soon too overgrown to follow, though it is still clear where the road was. The COA is repairing this road to access the reforested trees.
Waypoints (numbered on map)
 |
5 | 311211 | 2739328 | South end of Xikeng trail, ties into hairpin on 9A |
| 7 | 310653 | 2740050 | Stream Crossing |
| 8 | 311315 | 2741048 | Path to AiYu Mountain |
| 10 | 311349 | 2741343 | Fork in Forrestry road (took low road) |
| 9 | 311466 | 2741608 | Furthest point reached |
Dan who knows the Director of the Gardens has arranged for us to stay in the guest dorms and eat in the cafeteria with the researchers and guides. We get to our rooms in time to eat dinner, where we meet about 8 volunteers who work on weekends. They are real nice. After dinner, it is not raining, so we walk in the direction of the Gardens for over a kilometer. We see a muntjac, hear two and possibly three owl species, hear and see the eyes and then the leap of a Formosan Great Flying Squirrel, and also a few fireflies.
Fushan Botanical Garden established in 1997 lies on the border of Wulai (烏來鄉) township of Taipei county (台北縣) and Yuanshan (員山鄉) township of Yilan County (宜蘭縣), about 10km west of Ilan.
The Gardens cover an area of 409 ha and ranges in elevation from 400 to 850 m. The Gardens include 538 native vascular species, representing 1/7 of the total native vascular plants of Taiwan.
The purpose of the Garden is to display both the structure and composition of natural forests and native vascular plants of Taiwan's low and middle elevations.
Five hundred and ninety-two new cultivated native plants were added to the display areas and are all labeled. These include 492 dicotyledonous plants and 100 ferns. Perimeter fences were erected to prevent the burgeoning wildlife from browsing the rhododendron and ferns gardens. 24 volunteer-interpreters from Ilan Technical College have been trained in the Gardens since January 1999 to guide tourists.
In 1986, the Fushan Experimental Forest (福山試驗林) was established on the border of these two counties. The Hapen Natural Preserve (哈盆自然保留區) is a represntative forest of northern Taiwan
to preserve and protect the area's natural wildlife
dozens of rare plants and exotic birds make their home in the park
visitors to the area are restricted.
We plan to be up at dawn, but end up resting until breakfast at 07:30. After breakfast, we walk to the park and spend nearly five hours in the park, in the rain, walking the entire perimeter. We were pretty tired by the time we pack out and head home. The weather was wet during that previous week, and it rains most of the time we are in the Fushan area. Even though we stayed wet for the better part of two days, none of us ever felt chilled.
It is now late spring and there has been plenty of rain this year. All the plants look green and growth is lush. Several trees are flowering, and these attract large numbers of insects including several butterflies. Not a lot of wildflowers were blooming though.
Animals noted
Birds
- Little Grebe Podiceps ruficollis
Several on lake and with young on nest and swimming around.
- Mandarin Duck Aix galericulata 鴛鴦
Also with several young on lake; all males in eclipse plumage.
- Crested Serpent Eagle Spilornis cheela
- Bamboo Partridge
- Moorhen Gallinula chloropus
In lake at Gardens.
- Oriental Cuckoo Cuculus saturatus
In farm area before park, and on trail.
- Hear the two-note whistle of one of the Scop's owls.
Hear a one-note descending yelp of another owl.
Hear a similar call, but there are four together, not just one.
- Hear Black-browed Barbet
- House Swift Apus affinis
Lots.
- Gray-chinned Minivet Pericrocotus solaris
See a few on Saturday.
- Black Bulbul Hypsipetes madagascariensis
Probably the most-common bird around. We see several in a tree outside the rooms eating small white moths.
- (in Pinglin) Plumbeous Water Redstart
- Hear White-eared (Taiwan) Sibia
- Taiwan Blue Magpie Urocissa caerulea
On road in.
- Gray Treepie Dendrocitta formosae
Around the rooms and on trail.
Mammals
- Formosan (Reeve's) Muntjac Muntiacus reevesi micrurus
Hear on Ah-yu road, and see several around the administration building
- Formosan Great Flying Squirrel Petaurista philippensis
Reptiles
- Green Bamboo Viper Trimeresurus stejnegeri stejnegeri 青竹絲, Resting on the top of needles of an Asian species of Taxodium near a bridge across a stream in Gardens.
- Swinhoe's Japalura Japalura swinhonis, On road on Saturday.
Fish
- Candidia barbata (Taiwan horse-mouth fish, an endemic species) 台灣馬口魚
Butterflies
- Symbrenthia javanus formosanus
Distribution: Distributed in a band in all areas of Taiwan's low-elevation areas to the mountains, relatively less often seen in the lowlands. Recorded on Orchid Island (Lanyu) and Green Island. Outside of Taiwan, also recorded from India, East Asian locales include New Guinea.
A small member of the Nymphalidae. Sexes similar, but female's wing rounder, orange patterning broader. Similar to S. hypselis scatinia.
Found along small streams and mountain roads, also wet slopes with seeps.
Seen in all seasons of the year. Egg with nine obvious stripes. Lays only one egg at a time.
- Kaniska canace drilon
Found throughout lowlands of Taiwan to the mountains. Also Orchid Island. But habitats limited, especially at higher elevations; can be seen throughout year. Also found in Japan, the Korean peninsula, China, and East Asia.
Females' blue band wider than male's, and wings rounder and large.
Adults appear all year long, but March to October, more commonly seen, which coincides with the breeding season, mostly in April and May. Larvae found on Smilax china L.; lays single egg each time.
- In the tree with the Euploea sp. was Cyretis thyodamas formosana.
- Stichophthalma howqua formosana
The only member of the Amathasiidae in Taiwan. Distributed from northern to central and southern Taiwan at around 1000 m. Breeds June to August. First seen around April and last seen in September-October. Flies slowly. Larvae feed on grasses, habitat usually with bamboo forests nearby.
All butterflies referenced from the "Japanese reference;" Ecological Encyclopedia of Taiwanese Butterflies
Supervised by Dr. Takashi Shirzu, Text and photographs by Eiji Hamano, Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha, Ltd. 1986.
