A bit later
on I came across a small flock of birds which still included a pair of Scarlet Robins.
The robins have been delighting many of us over winter with the males bringing
unpaintable scarlet plumage onto the look-out branches before diving down for
insects in the grass or leaf litter. The females’ breasts have a blush of
scarlet together with attractive brown markings. Has our modern world’s
constant quest for bright colours moved us away from valuing the functional
browns, greys, rusts and beiges of many of our birds?
The
Frogmouths use patterning and bush-colours to superb effect, camouflaging
themselves against the barks of daytime-roost trees. On 23rd July I
happened on “our” Frogmouths roosting close together in dense foliage closer to
the Flynn playground than their nesting tree. John managed a photo or two but
when I last searched for them they weren’t there. I had the impression there
were more twigs in their nest V, but since then we’ve had strong winds. If they
do nest as usual just be aware that the playground-area’s magpies may be in
swooping mode soon. (Great photos of the Frogmouths are in the November 2011 blog-post.)
It seems to
me that the wattles’ yellow flowers are even more intensely yellow this year.
Perhaps this is an illusion or maybe the La Niña damp soils have been an
influence. The Cootamundra Wattle, Acacia
baileyana, was the first to flower noticeably on Mt Rogers — or the older
ones were. Some of the dense thickets have yet to reach their prime. These
monocultures show why Cootamundra Wattle is classed as a weed in many areas, because
after fire it germinates so prolifically that it prevents a range of native
species from sharing the ground.
In Canberra
Nature Park areas it is scheduled for removal because it can hybridise with
local species such as A. decurrens
and A. dealbata. It’s a relatively
short-lived wattle but there are many old specimens on Mt Rogers which still
offer wonderful habitat and food sources to insects and the birds that feed on
them...part of the wonder of nature that dead trees, dead timber and brittle
branches are still a vital part of the web of life as carbon stores.
There’s
been progress on having a walk to identify the original eucalypts thanks to
Kirsty liaising with a botanist friend. Nola and Graham have undertaken to
photograph some of the multi-century trees that watched the suburbs develop
around the ‘hill’ in the seventies. The younger trees were planted once the
infrastructure (powerlines, reservoirs, main tracks and protective embankments)
was established. But, though these trees are 30–40 years old they are too
young to have the hollows and bark crevices that birds, lizards and mammals
need.
I expect
some of the regrowth under the powerlines will be levelled before too long. In
one such area Claire, Kirsty and I have been working on a flourishing patch of
Paterson’s Curse (PC). There has been successful germination of this purple
weed after a quiet couple of years. Some are in flower and there are numerous
small ones. The plants contain alkaloids which are toxic to stock. The rosettes
of PC leaves inhibit the growth of other species, and our next working-bees
will be focusing on this area. Someone had already begun work on this patch so
we were able to scatter some native grass seed on the loosened soil.
The
blackberries and honeysuckle that were sprayed by contractors in April are at
last looking mostly dead. We are eligible for some grass seed which should help
restore these areas. The remains of the bushes are important for small birds in
bush areas that are less vegetated than Mt Rogers.
Thanks to
Margaret and Chris, the left-over pieces of metal and plastic from the
burnt-out Peugeot at the five-ways junction have been removed. The tow-truck
crew took most of the wreck but our volunteers applied the attention-to-detail
principle to clean up the site. One wonders what chemicals are now in the soil
there but it was not an area of significant native plants.
Mary
reported the car’s remains whilst walking her dogs. We’ll probably never know
the true story and whether the car would have been burnt at the summit if a
camper hadn’t already set up a tent there beside his (?) Honda 4WD.
Whilst the police were investigating the events three
kangaroos watched from below the summit. I saw three
again today behind the twin reservoirs. Their dropping are found in many parts
of the reserve showing that they have their own routines of moving around in
search of grasses and sheltered places in the daytime sun. It would be good to
think that they will eat the Wild Oats as they mature, as well as the native
grasses they are enjoying at the moment.
Chris deB
has produced a map showing where clumps of Serrated Tussock have escaped our
notice. We’ll try to dig these out before they begin flowering.
A trusty team is folding the new brochure edition for
us….thank you all.
On Tuesday
October 30th a workshop has been organised by Ginninderra Catchment
Group offering identification skills for African Lovegrass, Chilean Needlegrass
and Serrated Tussock. Please contact Kelly (phone 02 6278 3309) if you would
like to take part.
The
Catchment Group has also helped with the development of a brochure tentatively
called Living with fire. Its
production has been taken over by the Parks and Conservation Service team at
Stromlo Depot (off Cotter road) but the initial impetus came from your comments
at the time of Mt Rogers’ Hazard Reduction Burn a year ago.
In the area
behind Woodger Place (in my mind I call it Bridget’s because she used to live
there in what is now Bomber and Buddy’s house) there are some purple-blue Hovea
in flower and a few yellow Bulbine Lilies with about-to-open buds. As you’ve
noticed in other ways in the last 3–4 weeks, spring is on its way once
each night’s frost has melted! Cross-country walkers may have seen the pale
yellow flowers of Urn Heath and the tiny heather-like bells of Cryptandra in
from the track that runs between the reservoir complexes.
Yesterday’s
weather put us firmly in our places and I hope you were able to see the snow on
the hills this morning as well as the flakes that fell in our suburbs
mid-morning.
18.08.12.
Rosemary, Convenor Mt Rogers Landcare.6258 4724
(Photos are from previous years on Mt Rogers.)
