YELLOW SWATHES….NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2013

Capeweed

As Floriade drew thousands towards swathes of organised colour from overseas plant species, a pale yellow invasion covered open grassed areas. After two modest springs, Capeweed* seeds responded to the winters’ dampness by germinating in their millions. Even though they’re annuals they grow rapidly, taking space from grasses. Having stout stems Capeweed is useful for learning daisy-chain-making. The plants can be levered out of damp soil when young.

Capeweed’s pale-lemon flowers show the flower structure typical of blooms in the huge worldwide daisy family. A circle of colourful ‘petals’ attracts potential pollinators towards the flower’s centre and a reward for carrying and dispersing pollen. Capeweed flower-heads are composites of scores of tiny flowers each with the potential to produce seeds. The Capeweed plant’s fruit is covered with purplish rusty-brown ‘wool’ and it’s possible that several bird species are eating them now as they forage on nature strips.

‘Dandelions’

Dandelions* have many more individual flowers than Capeweed but are also circled by ray florets advertising to invertebrate pollinators. Their yellow flower-heads turn towards the sun. The ray florets and sepals close over the flowers by nightfall. On wet or less sunny days the pollen is protected by the flowers remaining closed.

Six weeks after Floriade closed, unmown nature strips and open spaces show swathes of dandelion-yellow from two similar species. Flatweed and Cat’s ears are far more common than Dandelions, raising their flower-heads above rosettes of leaves which take space from grasses and clovers. Cat’s ears are annual and may be easier to pull out of damp soil than Dandelions or Flatweed with their perennial deeper root systems.

All three have parachute-like seeds once the flowers are fertilised. They efficiently use breezes, wind and slipstreams to aid dispersal. I once counted 120–150 flowers on Flatweed flower-heads, which explains their successful invasions. Dandelion flowers are edible, which is one way of preventing them from seeding. Murnong or Yam Daisies provided Indigenous people with a staple starchy food and have flowers similar to Dandelions.

St John’s Wort

With stamens surrounded by five deep-yellow petals St John’s Wort (SJW) might initially resemble yellow daisies but their invasiveness is much more obvious. Paddocks and hillsides are covered in SJW-yellow now that the 2013 stems have grown up and through the rusty-brown stalks from last year’s massive flowering.

Some areas of Mt Rogers were sprayed for SJW. Now there is a need to tackle what has emerged from the soil or germinated since. Steve D has made a start on this using a less laborious back-pack-spray unit borrowed from Ginninderra Catchment Group and supplied chemical.

Mustard

Another pale yellow weed that is tough and quick growing is one of the Turnip Weeds, and their look-alike Hairy Mustard. They belong to another huge family, the Brassicaceae. If you’ve seen white butterflies visiting them you won’t be surprised to know they’re related to cabbages, cress, rocket and canola. They don’t form swathes but they certainly show their presence by growing above grasses to also announce their values to bees and other pollinating insects. The exception is Canola which is cultivated in massive paddocks beyond the ACT’s borders.

Paterson’s Curse

Not cultivated but also capable of producing swathes of colour, Paterson’s Curse (PC) can be photogenic for calendar scenes and useful to apiarists because bees seek out the flowers’ nectar. To others it is an extremely invasive weed and can be poisonous to livestock.

Mt Rogers has relatively few populations of PC. Our walkers have made a point of carrying gloves and pulling up young plants. We are now in a more structured phase where the plants are pulled up and bagged so the flowers can’t continue to set seed on the ‘hill’. For today’s working bee Angharad, Flemming, John and I concentrated on PC to the north of the Wickens Place car-park. Richard and Kirsty worked solo, pulling and bagging the plants they found elsewhere. We all found several Vipers Bugloss plants (like PC, originally from Europe) where we worked. Until now the Bugloss has tended to be a weed of higher country than Mt Rogers 704 m.

Both PC and SJW were the subject of much research to find biological control invertebrates. Sometimes evidence of the weevils and beetles can be seen on plants but the success of these introduced and much-tested controls has been patchy.

Rabbits & foxes

Reports of rabbit and fox sightings are continuing. In some cases there’s evidence of possible dens and definite rabbit scrapings. The foxes’ presence is particularly worrying because we have several ground-living and ground-nesting birds, but we have sighted Quail and Speckled Warblers this spring which is encouraging.

Working-bees

The hard-work highlight of 24^th November was cutting and daubing two large Pyracantha west of and down from the summit. They had thousands of young berries which we hope will cook to inedibility over the next few weeks. Ann, Flemming, Ivan and John and Rosemary showed persistence and tenacity; earlier Kathy worked with the team on other woody weeds. Anne intends to contribute through seek and destroy sorties for woody weeds when she can. Angharad also does volunteer landcaring at Mulligans Flat.

Living next to nature

This is the title of a new booklet from the Conservation Council. Its focus is on “being a good neighbour to the bush next door”. It complements the series of brochures for which Belconnen’s Treasures was the first title. Majura’s Treasures is the latest in the series with Molonglo’s Treasures to join those of Gungahlin and Tuggeranong as a way of finding out about natural and cultural heritage for each area.

Living Next to Nature is a good introduction to the knowledge and appreciation the Mt Rogers community already has and it’s an attractive way to pass on our feelings.

The season changes…

We are going through phases of different seasons each week if not each day. Unusual bird species are still turning up: Black Honeyeaters near Dunlop’s Jaramlee Ponds, and Painted Honeyeaters near Urambi. With many eucalypts in flower there may be “unusuals” on Mt Rogers even now. If you have the chance, mention the likelihood of snakes to newcomers with dogs. Enjoy the holiday period and a break from official landcaring!

Rosemary   Mt Rogers Landcare Group   

6258 4724   

02.12.13.

* Capeweed Arctotheca calendula, a native of South Africa. Asteraceae family.

* Taraxacum species cover several dandelion types.

* Cat’s ear Hypochaeris glabra and Flatweed H. radicata are European, of Mediterranean origin.

* St John’s Wort Hypericum perforatum. Native SJW is Hypericum gramineum.

* Turnip Weed Rapistrum rugosum and Hirschfeldia incana, from the Mediterranean region.

* Paterson’s Curse and Viper’s Bugloss. Echium plantagineum & E. vulgare. Native to Europe.

Mt Rogers, Spring-Summer 2013

A draft for this newsletter began a few weeks after the excitement of the Scarlet Honeyeaters’ visit to Almond-blossom on the Flynn edge of Mt Rogers. There have been sightings of single male ‘Scarlets’ southside and in the Botanic Gardens (ANBG) since then. What a shame the birds weren’t banded so we could identify individuals. Bands on birds’ legs aren’t easy to see however, and we know how small and fast-moving these delightful birds are.

Since then there’s been the whirl of meeting hundreds of Floriade visitors as Ann and I joined many other landcarers in volunteering time to explain the invasive plants problems we all face. The Bush Friendly Garden (BFG) shows the region’s invasive species and suggests replacement plants for Canberra’s harsh conditions. The photos here show (top) a small part of the 'good' plants section of the BFG, and (below) a view of the whole BFG (the central area often is filled with visitors), including one of the information folders at the entrance.

The BFG’s visitors were diverse, ranging from some not realising that native plants had flowers and some not realising how colourful native plants’ flowers are, through to others who engagingly shared their landcaring experiences from all over Australia and the globe. As volunteer explainers we soon come to realise that for many city-dwellers Floriade is the closest they come to nature. As volunteers working in local reserves with the ACT Parks and Conservation Service personnel and Catchment Group colleagues we can help the time-poor to appreciate the inter-connectedness of nature and the effects of humans’ expectations on other species.

The latest version of Are Your Garden Plants Going Bush? has a reference to sleeper weeds’ changing habits and their insidious spread into reserves and along neighbouring nature strips. Most of the weed species were useful through their original functions as screen plants, greenery, hardy shade plants and ground-covers, but their berries were dispersed into the bush by birds. Olives are food plants: yet, unharvested in suburban gardens, the birds are taking their berries into the bush. Gazanias, Gaura, African and Seaside Daisies, Californian poppies all give cheerful colour and are hardy in Canberra’s hot summers, and yet their seeds blow or float away to colonise other spaces and nature strips. In the bush they will take space, nutrients and water from the native plants. Our message was that cutting the colourful flower-heads off and binning them after flowering will prevent seeds forming and dispersing.

Yesterday the Australian Native Plants Society sale at the ANBG moved 6000 or more native plants into the region in a bit over an hour. The ANBG’s Growing Friends have their sale on November 9^th if you’d like native plants whose parents grow at the Gardens. The Gardens are spectacularly in flower at the moment and are well worth a visit. Have your cameras ready for water dragons near the waterfall and around the ponds. These lizards are quite similar in size to the Eastern Bearded Dragons we see on Mt Rogers.

Superb Parrots, Galahs and Cockatoos are among the bird species seen on the ground in September and October eating the seeds of Chickweed. There have been several reports of Superb Parrots feasting on the green flowers elm trees produced profusely this spring. Sightings of the parrots have tailed-off now with speculation mounting as to where they might be nesting in the ACT.

“Our“ Frogmouths began a nest in their “traditional” tree but seem to have repeated this process at an unknown site elsewhere. Similar false-starts have been recorded at The Pinnacle but those birds are incubating eggs now. When Superb Parrot calls were heard in Flynn in early September there were also calls from Noisy Friarbirds. The pink flowers of Ironbark trees were popular with both species, and the officious Wattlebirds kept themselves busy bullying these less common species away from the eucalypts’ nectar.

With many colourful Eucalypts as street trees around Canberra it’s easy to forget to check whether other eucalypts are flowering. The value of cream and white flowers’ nectar to birds and insects is just as high. Have you noticed the huge numbers of Hoverflies around at the moment? The ubiquitous-for-2013 Capeweed seems to have Hoverflies doing their pollinating whereas Honeybees are scarce. Hoverflies are a cosmopolitan group of flies belonging to the Syrphidae family. The markings and colours are similar to wasps’ and are a protection from predators who avoid interactions. Hoverflies in Australia, as elsewhere, perform invaluable pollination services. They also are a bio-control benefit by pest-controlling aphids and leaf-hoppers. There’s a website The World of Syrphidae and a Wikipedia Hoverfly article if you wish to investigate further.

The rogue magpie at the Rechner Place playground was active for a while, prompting one family to post warning signs about its swooping. That’s another fine example of Mt Rogers’ behind-the scenes community-spirit. And it probably had an immediate effect compared with the official Canberra Connect 13 22 81 process. Thank you, whoever you are! Perhaps this magpie family also moved its nest as the signs were taken down a week or two later.

I saw a snake swimming across a dam at Strathnairn recently. Some of you may have seen Eastern Brown snakes on Mt Rogers already. I wonder what mechanisms have evolved for mutual co-existence between snakes and kangaroos? How do ‘roos avoid being bitten?

A month ago (20.09.13) Ann, Flemming and Ivan joined me in a working-bee in the “best-patch” behind Woodger Place, Fraser. We were seeking-out isolated African Lovegrass (ALG) tussocks but we also enjoyed seeing how the wildflowers had come back after the Hazard Reduction Burn there in April. My observation would be that there were fewer Hovea flowering there this year but that’s also an observation from other reserves. The Stackhousia or Creamy Candles may have had their bulbs roasted as we’ve come across good stands of these on The Pinnacle.

Four photos below show (top 2) Asperula conferta, Common Woodruff, wide and close up, taken by Rosemary recently (October), and (lower 2) some of the wildflowers we saw on 20.09.13. Tool and specs are included to give scale. The interesting thing that the first photo might show is that the Asperula seems to dominate in this patch, whereas the surrounding vegetation is dominated by Wild Oats and another introduced grass. It could be a rather clayey damp area or a drainage-run...or was until these last hot and windy days. There were Soldier Beetles on most of the oat flowerheads above this patch. Asperula conferta is quite common in specific places and it would be interesting to find out more about its place in the scheme of things.  

Chris and Margaret have made a concerted effort to cut & daub the newest ash seedlings alongside a corner of the blue-metalled track to the tower. On another occasion they pointed out a contractor spraying the ALG that had grown up since a similar effort in 2012. The Ginninderra Catchment Group’s co-ordinators are again collecting GPS data to prepare for spraying Blackberry infestations in the catchment. Please call them on 6278 3309 to notify infestations on public land or land in our local area. I’ve observed one or two Blackberry clusters from bus journeys and there’s another between Kangara Waters and Lake Ginninderra. Whilst the clusters give shelter to small birds such as wrens they are also impenetrable enough to harbour rabbits.

Around the canopies of Eucalypts there may be Jezebel butterflies visiting the flowers of mistletoes amongst the trees’ branches. The butterflies seem like Cabbage Whites at first, but most in this group have red, black and yellow markings. An even luckier sighting would be a male Mistletoe Bird. The birds are also seeking the nutritious nectar of the flowers. The Meadow Argus is a brownish butterfly with patterned scales which include circular ‘spots’. Also around now, seeking out native daisies, are Australian Painted Lady butterflies with almost black tips to patterned wings. There are small, pale-beige moths amongst grasses. Their markings are delicate and pretty if you’re able to be close enough to them with a hand-lens or zoomed camera lens!

The next Mt Rogers Landcare Group working-bees are scheduled for Sunday 27^th October, meeting inland from the Flynn playground at 9 am, and Monday 4^th November meeting at the Wickens Place, Fraser carpark at 9 am.

Further ahead again is an Australia-wide gathering for all who are concerned about Australia’s future. The movement for stronger Climate action is holding rallies and gatherings on Sunday 17^th November. Those who regularly enjoy Mt Rogers are already committed to a healthy future. Please add your voices to show that the majority of Australians want real Climate change action from leaders by attending. Park at University of Canberra and catch a bus to Civic for 11 am in Garema Place.

Rosemary    Mt Rogers Landcare Group. 6258 4724       21.10.13.

Scarlet Honeyeaters at Mt Rogers

Hi Mt Rogers carers,

Just by chance at about 10.30 am on Wednesday 28^th August I came across these spectacular little birds in cherry trees on the edge of the reserve off Schwarz Place, Flynn. It was just incredible that the cherry trees provided enough nectar for them and other local honeyeaters for most of Wednesday. The "Scarlets" were around on Thursday morning for some of our locals to photograph them.

Scarlet Honeyeater

Scientific Name: Myzomela sanguinolenta

Thank you Roger Williams for sharing your photos. They are very fast little birds, even faster than Eastern Spinebills. Fortunately it seemed as though the Wattlebirds didn't see them as a threat to their territory or their food supplies. 

Incidentally, we think the Frogmouths may be adding small twigs to their nest site. Just be aware that the rogue magpie's testosterone levels may be on the rise near the Flynn playground.

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/rroger880/9618105065/

WHAT’S A WORKING-BEE? MT ROGERS, EARLY AUGUST 2013

By the 9.30 meeting time on August 5^th, three of us had arrived at Wickens Place on a partly cloudy, beginning-to-be-windy morning and Kirsty had already caught up with Lyndon about his excellent bird photographs. (Lyndon’s Crescent Honeyeater, ‘captured’ on Mt Rogers, features in the Canberra Ornithologists’ August (and august) newsletter). Ann texted and arrived just after we’d worked on a patch of Patersons Curse (PC) rosettes near the path and were walking east into the bush under the power-lines.

Two kangaroos watched us approach, from among the tall grasses. We apologised for disturbing them and they moved away unconcernedly…just in case. Kangaroo scats of various ages showed that they use the place regularly. It’s a good, sunny spot. The rank grasses and native shrubs hide their presence but they can readily hear people walking along the path or up towards the summit. If dogs do detect them the kangaroos have a wide choice of tracks to use as they bound away to safety.

This area’s PC had been tackled before, on 03.09.12, when Claire, Chris, Kirsty and Margaret made an effort to reduce the numbers of this weed with its toxic alkaloids. Today’s PC rosettes were small and easily dug out from the damp soil with gardeners’ prong-ended diggers.

As we became more familiar with the species we were able to find smaller, newly germinated plants. It was a kneeling job, over a main area 6m x 10m, with folded sacks serving as kneelers.

I worked a few metres away, cutting off and bagging the remaining flower-heads of a patch of African Lovegrass (ALG) that has been “unattended” for several years. The plants were mattocked-out and bagged. Actually we use double-ended hoes as they’re much lighter than mattocks. The pointed blade allows digging and levering that only gradually prises the plants out of the soil. Less soil is left bare and disturbed for future infestation by any seeds that are dormant and awaiting the opportunity to germinate. By then scattering seed heads and seed from native grasses on the weeded area we are, I hope, increasing the density of these grasses so they will out-compete other grass seedlings and weeds. I also moved dead branches from near their one-time trunks and placed them over the grass-thatch to prevent its being blown away. After I’d been working for a while I looked up to see a portly Kookaburra on a branch, watching us all at work.

We each tried photographing the laid-back hunter as it kept warm by trapping air between its feathers.  Several times it swooped to the ground for an invertebrate; once I saw the victim was a worm. Again, it was a while before we realised that there were two Kookaburras sharing our patch of bush. We understood more when one of them flew directly at the trunk of an ancient eucalypt trying to enlarge a small hole into a usable hollow. We didn’t know until then to apologise to them for disturbing their morning’s work!

Last September our tendency to intersperse our landcaring with bird-watching yielded poor photos but magical memories of Kirsty’s find — a Boobook Owl perched for its daytime sleep under the yellow roof of a wattle’s canopy. Moments like that are such special rewards for the volunteering we already enjoy. There’s also the range of subjects for discussion and nature experiences shared or proffered for explanation.

Having finished the main patch we radiated out to check for outlying PC plants, finding two young privets for Ann to pull out. Flemming found a neat hole in the ground and called us over: “What’s made this?”. It was about 8cm across and more than 15cm deep. Plants draped over the edges showed it wasn’t new but, inexplicably, I dubbed it a Mutton-bird burrow.

In the meantime the Kookaburras had moved away slightly but we were sure they’d return to enlarging their hole after we left. We moved the full sacks of ALG back to the car, walking past Cootamundra wattle in full, glorious, yellow bloom. The blossoming branches are habitat for tiny caterpillars, which in turn, attract Weebills, Thornbills and other insectivorous birds. Wattlebirds’ varied calls surrounded us. We presumed the birds were moving from one tree with nectar-producing flowers to the next. In the process they’ll chase any other birds from their territory whether the others compete for food or not.

One ancient eucalypt which I once called the ‘possum tree’, fancying it had possum scratch marks on the trunk, caught our attention with its textural markings on the bark at its swollen base. We drew together to look at the artistic effect and the colours, and had no idea how such pock-marked damage had occurred. Can anyone tell us? The scribbles on some gum trees have been caused by the larvae of tiny moths but the marks here were mostly circular holes and indentations with some of them healed over by the ever-growing bark.

The carpark looks mown and neat at present though there are still ALG plants with seeds where mowers can’t reach and behead them. I believe an Orienteering event is scheduled for 14^th August. The runners and walkers will be joining us in taking ALG from the carpark into the reserve as they navigate the challenges of the day’s laid-out trails. Such events bring home what “shared amenity” means and that we can’t really claim Mt Rogers as “ours” alone. We also want other people to be converted to the wonders of Mt Rogers, though let’s hope they learn to slow down, observe and learn from animals’ behaviour and plants’ seasonal changes. Even boulders don’t remain static as lichens’ acids dissolve the rock. If we’re being realistic, ants, kangaroos, other paws, birds and breezes are moving seeds and spores around constantly.

We walked over to the “behind Woodger Place section” which was Hazard Reduction Burnt (HRB) in February 2013. I call it Bridget’s because Bridget used to live in one of the three adjacent houses. We’d removed PC rosettes there previously along with Fleabane plants and seedlings that had grown up following TAMS mowing and ALG spraying. We were able to compare the introduced Plantain or Ribwort we’d been finding earlier with the similar but native Variable plantain, Plantago varia, which grows in dense swathes in this area. The native’s leaves are a bit hairy, greyer-green, not smoothly surfaced and often have visible notches on the sides. Perhaps the geology suits them, or they like the partial shade, or the trees prevented the ground from being scoured by bulldozers 45 years ago.

The HRB has killed off younger wattles and some shrubs but most are being true to their Australianness and are re-sprouting. Indigofera adesmiifolia planted some 8 years ago are vigorous in their recovery from having been mown by an over-zealous TAMS contractor. Others, originals at this site are recovering from being HRBurnt. We upset 2 Common Bronzewing pigeons by coming into their patch and they flew away. They’ve always liked this place as a refuge amongst the shrubs and native grasses. There have been reports of them nesting in the reserve and their ‘ooming’ calls have become familiar as they’ve dispersed from the car-park area over the last 5 years.

The green leaves of Bulbine bulbosa are growing up through the leaf litter or through the winter-beige grasses. The lilies’ bright yellow flowers will bloom later than the currently-invisible Early Nancy, Wurmbea dioica. Under the trees, which host passing Superb Parrots in summer, there should soon be purple Hovea linearis if the approach of spring is to be believed.

Walking from the carpark we came across Rock fern pushing through the recently bare ground. These Cheilanthes austrotenuifolia are great survivors, behaving like mosses and lichens in that a small amount of rain or drizzle is enough to turn “dead” fronds into lush greenness seemingly within hours. (The phone included in these photos is to indicate the plants' size.)

There were more Rock ferns nearer the boulders and rocks and beyond into the more open grassland. Throughout, there are healthy Grevilleas which are tending to self-seed hereabouts (don’t tell the purists who consider these non-local Grevilleas to be weeds) because the honeyeaters love their nectar-rich flowers.

The grassed area is remarkably species-rich. Rosettes of Cymbonotus lawsonianus are designed to confuse us. The leaves look like weedy daisy leaves or like PC. The flowers might look like Capeweed blooms.

       Another confusing native is more like Flatweed with its smooth leaves. The Solenogyne dominii leaves’ edges have a small rounded toothed effect. I’ve only noticed these and their insignificant daisy flowers in recent years. Perhaps they’re less noticeable in drier years. 

Tough strappy but thin leaves belonged to Lomandra or Mat Rush species. Coming back after the HRB or pushing through grasses or the soil they’re often left by grazing animals as just too coarse to eat. Looking grass-like but actually another lily species is Tricoryne elatior, Yellow Rush Lily. They’re one of the first species to grow back from sturdy root-stock after fire. Even when flowering they can be cryptic because the flowers tend to remain closed until the sun’s been shining on them for a while.

 We found one example of another post-fire survivor: Convolvulus erubescens, Australian Bindweed. Its pink flowers also close overnight but turn expectantly towards the “moving” sun by mid-morning. We could see strong regrowth from Everlasting daisies Chrysocephalum apiculatum even when the clumps had obviously been burnt or scorched. Chrysocephalum semipapposum is represented by taller tussocks. Both have pom-pom heads of tiny, yellow daisy flowers by late spring.

Some of the grass tussocks showed charcoalled leaves where the patch burn had scorched them. New leaves are growing healthily, stimulated by ash and smoke from the HRB. Occasionally Vittadinia cuneata, New Holland Daisy, were growing in the mown but unburnt areas. They, and the more familiar, native Bluebells, seem to thrive in the toughest of locations.

There was some gruesome excitement as we noticed a Raven tearing at a hapless corpse between ‘Bridget’s’ and the bus stop on Bingley Cres. We were torn between going towards the Raven and possibly frightening it into taking off with its victim and not knowing what its food was. Moving a few steps at a time we tricked the bird into flying off and leaving what turned out to be a headless wattlebird. Nature at work, but we could only mull over why the wattlebird had met this fate. Ravens are scavengers. For decades they were mostly called crows and had bad reputations amongst graziers until it could be proved that they fed on dead lambs not ones they’d killed. They mate for life apparently and also feed on grasshoppers and other insect pests. Nesting can begin in July with the young forming groups as they mature towards breeding in their third season.

I suspect “our” magpies in mid-Flynn are also nesting, because only the male turns up for scattered dry porridge oats. So we may need to be prepared for swooping near the Flynn playground if that magpie’s hormones turn him into a two-month-rogue. A much pleasanter warning is that Frogmouths elsewhere have begun building nests. Keeping an eye on “our” Frogmouths’ usual tree-fork may show that they’re in step with those in other reserves or suburbs.

I’ve used scientific names for some of the plants so that finding their images from websites will be easier. Scientific names have a reputation for being complicated but several of us have reported that if young children are given the scientific name from the outset they don’t run into the same problems as we sometimes do. One granddaughter was as happy with Vanessa kershawi as with Painted Lady for the name of one of Australia’s commonest butterflies.

Where do the Latin or Greek-sounding names come from?  Hardenbergia violacea is a favourite scrambler, now in flower or nearly so on Mt Rogers. It was named in 1837 for Baroness Franziska von Hardenberg, curator of the collections of her brother Baron von Huegel. The violacea part of the name means ‘violet-like’, referring to their striking purple colour. If you Google Alyogyne huegelii you’ll find a beautiful Australian version of Hibiscus and it was named after Baron von Huegel. Species names that end in …ensis reflect plants’ geographic origins (ensis means ‘originating in’). For example, there’s a rare orchid found in the ACT, the Canberra Spider orchid, Arachnorchis actensis. Other species’ names refer to the shapes of leaves, the plants’ habit, the flowers’ colour or other significant features.

The next Mt Rogers working-bees are scheduled for Sunday August 25^th and Monday 2^nd September. The latter will take the form of a walk and exploration to see what spring is stimulating, starting from Wickens Place from 09.30. So bring friends and new neighbours to show them what natural history Mt Rogers has to offer.

Floriade begins on 14^th September and another Weeds Display Garden is planned. Call in to see the display to the north of Stage 88 and we’re always looking for volunteer explainers to meet and greet visitors and share stories about weeds and wise garden-planting! (3-hour shifts in morning or afternoon, with information all ready to hand out).

The above text I hope shows that working-bees aren’t all hard grind and physical labour. We observe, share and learn as we work, marvelling in the little patch of bush we affectionately call ours whilst knowing it’s home to thousands of other species.

Rosemary, Mt Rogers Landcare.   6258 4724

MT ROGERS EARLY JULY 2013

Macgregor.    On Saturday 22^nd June the Landcare Day at Macgregor was held beside Ginninderra Creek in such perfect weather that several of us peeled off layers of clothing to counter the ‘heat’ when working in the sun. We cleared weeds and the introduced grasses around the plants which were put in to replace mature poplars (removed after public consultation because they continuously send up suckers which alter the flow of the creek and make mowing time-consuming).

The young plants are doing really well and mulch was added around some furthest from the creek-line where mulch isn’t subject to being washed away during floods. Local eucalypts, wattles, bottlebrushes, Native blackthorn (Bursaria) and grasses have been restored to the creek zone.  They will add new habitat for small birds and a non-weedy vista for the many who walk along the nearby path. Passers-by called in for information and a “What’s Landcare all about” chat with Ginninderra Catchment Group providing publicity material, tools, a marquee and putting on a BBQ as Damon did for our Mt Rogers Explorer Day. With the linear Macgregor area (it follows the line of the creek) it’s more difficult to create a community of carers, but most of the Umbagong Landcare Group regulars turned up for whatever time they could spare, giving the young plants weed-free space for a while at least.

Mt Rogers working-bees.   Although all seems quite damp on Mt Rogers at the moment it is a very different Landcare site from Macgregor. Our community continues to support our landcaring by participating in a variety of activities. Flemming and Ivan scouted for Briar rose plants, collecting & bagging the hips to stop birds spreading the seeds, and dug the bushes out where possible. With Margaret and Chris, Flemming planted out some native grass plants. The little Sorghum leiocladum plants were propagated by Robert from Umbagong Landcare Group. There are two clusters of native Sorghum already on Mt Rogers. It’s a tall grass with spectacular, reddish flowers and seed heads when conditions promote flowering. We later scattered some grass thatch from a native Poa in a bare area near the ‘recent’ Hazard Reduction Burn behind Woodger Place. People can’t always be here to volunteer. Each working-bee has “apologies” as our members fulfil other obligations.

New seedlings.  Mt Rogers is largely doing its own revegetation. Let’s hope the soil stays damp as eucalypt, wattle and shrub seedlings lengthen their roots rather than rely on sporadic rain seeping through the topsoil. On 23^rd June Ann, Flemming and Ivan again worked on Briar roses and on patches of Periwinkle behind the Bainton Crescent “Cactus gardens”. And today Ann and I did some preliminary work on Cotoneaster, readying the plants for cut and daub with herbicide once the sap’s flowing again. During each session we find there are tiny weed seedlings thriving under large trees’ branches: privet, Viburnum tinus, Ivy, Briar rose, Cotoneaster. This goes to show that plants with berries, whether useful in the garden or not, are causing problems in bush reserves.

Sleeper weeds.  A list of sleeper weeds has been drawn up for the Parks and Conservation Service. These species are causing problems in the ACT’s bush because their seeds are easily dispersed even though they are favourites for gardens. We can help Mt Rogers and other reserves and their landcaring volunteers by ensuring the plants’ seeds can’t be spread by birds, blown away by wind or slip-streams or carried on wheels. Californian poppy, Seaside Daisy, Gazanias, South African Daisy Gaura, Euphorbia and Nandina are sleeper weeds. Will birds eventually begin spreading Agapanthus seeds by deciding they’re edible. Will unharvested olives become a problem here as they have in the Adelaide Hills? On a positive, native dispersal-note we did find a young Kurrajong tree today, growing where its seed had been dropped, probably by a Currawong. Mt Rogers now has about ten of these fascinating native trees.

Kangaroos.  Thank you for reporting more sightings of the kangaroos. They are an attractive part of the Mt Rogers scene seeming to use nearly every part of the reserve whilst also being adept at hiding away and sheltering when they need to. For cross-country enthusiasts the tracks they have pounded are really useful and introduce walkers to the reserve’s range of habitats. It’s easy to see that the kangaroos favour Weeping grass because the tussocks are eaten down. Until they move or flick their ears the kangaroos are so well camouflaged amongst the winter-beige grass. The other afternoon a hunched, hopping shape with a black tail crossed the gully. I’m pretty sure it was a wallaby … so there’s another challenge for observers … what solo animals are we seeing?

Frogmouths.   It’s also worth keeping an eye out for the Frogmouths. Several times they’ve been in a roost tree near the nest-eucalypt but they’re not there everyday. The tree is one near the Flynn playground and their perch-branches are above the concrete drain with its galvanised railing. There’s also an old metal Orienteering sign as a marker. Expect a dark blob equalling two birds amongst or partly hidden by the foliage.

Observer’s reward.  A report on 22^nd on the Canberra Ornithologists’ email-line mentioned finding Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters feeding on Mt Rogers with other canopy birds a few days ago. Visiting, Roger W emailed a photo of the bird with its spectacular deep yellow chin and black mask. See http://www.flickr.com/photos/rroger880/9089357937/   Kevin D has also sent a photo to capture his moment of triumph and he said he’d also seen a Crescent Honeyeater. Both are new species for my list of Mt Rogers sightings.

Birding.  Last Saturday began as forecast: “showers”. I left the myna trap baited and walked up to see what Mt Rogers could offer. Quiet small birds in a Mixed Feeding Flock (MFF) were busy in the trees and shrubs uphill from the notice-box, busily gleaning but giving each other confidence during Ravens’ and Currawongs’ calls. A larger bird moved, proving to be a male Golden Whistler and its mate was nearby. A Striated Thornbill flew so close I felt I could almost reach up and touch it. Others hovered beyond clusters of eucalypt leaves where they can see and peck at tiny insects with their thorn-shaped beaks. A Weebill had grabbed a 2 cm-long caterpillar, reinforcing how vital these insectivorous birds are to the health of plants whether in the bush, on farms and in our gardens. There was a cacophony of “Miss Piggy” Spotted Pardalote calls above us.

A coup.  A canopy-search revealed Yellow-faced and White-eared Honeyeaters and, for a long instant a Yellow-tufted Honeyeater amongst the copious buds of a Eucalypt. Wow! To think that the birds had remained here for a week after that first sighting.

Is the excitement of bird-watching a benign form of hunting where nothing is killed and the trophies are memories … and photographs if one can carry the necessary gear?

Wrens’ calls signalled their arrival and there were Yellow-rumped Thornbills on the ground. Red-browed Finches alternated between shrubs’ safety and the grasses. In an open area where the CVA crew felled Chinese pistachio for us, another Wow! Two Speckled Warblers foraged in short grass near a long-fallen trunk. They’re a vulnerable species in the ACT, delightful un-afraid little ground-nesting birds. Steve joyfully reported seeing three of them later that day. Can we claim they have bred successfully in spite of foxes and suburbia’s cats?

Undergrowth.   I then went on through the trees and along the roos’ tracks, finding forests of mosses, lichens and liverworts with sporangia giving height to their ground-hugging diversity. Recent rain has enlivened these essential plants and stimulated fungi to raise their spores into breeze-catching spaces. See some photographs here.

Musings.  You will know from these newsletters and our conversations that Mt Rogers is an obsession for me. It’s part of the natural scruffiness of the Australian bush but a miniature example of all the beauty, complexity and interconnectedness that daily enlivens our curiosity and restores our sense of wonder at life’s and Australia’s uniqueness.

As members of our caring and observant community you’ll also know that Mt Rogers is occasionally under threat from a range of forces and processes. The reserve we share reflects situations elsewhere in Australia where natural habitats, uniqueness and icons such as the Great Barrier Reef, the Kimberley and our “food bowl” are threatened.

Shooting and grazing in national parks, logging native forests, fracking, drilling and mining on agricultural land, mining in wilderness and native forests and industrial-farming and over-fishing are being allowed by the powerful … those who have not have not yet moved beyond exploitation and domination in favour of respect for other species and, as we do, living more simply so others may, simply, live.

We are not alone.   Although feeling a sense of despair is common amongst long-term landcarers, threatened land-loving farmers and landowners and all those with a love of the outdoors, habitats and species, surely we mustn’t give up? Communities around the world are uniting in action against the destruction of their heritage by the powerful. They observe and question what is happening, question and refute the accompanying “spin” and adopt whatever form of activism each situation requires. Thousands of organisations are involved involving millions of individuals and yet their activism is rarely reported in the mainstream media. Google wiser.org, to Discover, Connect and Share what’s happening.

Even if we’re time-poor the Places You Love Campaign is concentrating on saving Australia’s special places, national parks, nature and marine reserves by asking that we phone/write to our MPs saying environmental protection laws must remain under the control of Federal Parliament and not be devolved to the states. The campaign’s website lists, with links, all the organisations who are partners.

The importance of activist-numbers to amplify everyday Australians’ voices is paramount.

Change has to come and is coming from the grassroots, from people like us.

Rosemary, Mt Rogers Landcare Group. 01.07.13 - 08.07.13.   6258 4724

MT ROGERS AT AUTUMN'S END…..MID MAY 2013

The weather forecast spells the end of the glorious extended autumn with an increase in the number of frosts likely to begin the cooling down of the soil and consequent reduction in obvious plant growth. No doubt growth will continue below the surface as roots continue the expansion they've achieved over the past two "good" seasons. Some people have observed that many plants had fewer flowers during summer and that they have been concentrating on the growth of leaves and branches whilst there was dampness to support the growth.

Fewer flowers has meant less nectar and pollen for honeybees and the larvae in their hives. With other threats affecting honeybees overseas the bees' reduced pollination services for our food crops becomes increasingly serious.

In the European Union pesticides containing nicotinoid chemicals have been banned due to the effects on bees. There is an online petition going round which calls for a similar ban in Australia.*

There's very little colour to attract bees to Mt Rogers at present. The exceptions include a rangey, yellow-flowered member of the mustard family, Hirschfeldia. The flowers may also be visited by butterflies with Cabbage whites and Meadow Argus still quite common once the mornings have warmed up.

Both our recent (human) working bees have been guided by colour. Thank you to Ann, Barbara, Flemming, Ivan, Lorraine, Michael and Sue who each volunteered a few valuable hours and allowed us to cover several hectares of bush. We've been seeking-out the leaves of Chinese pistachio and removing the trees when they're found whether large or small. It's the female trees in gardens that are causing the spreading of the species' berries but purchasers wouldn't know which trees they have for several years. The pistachio is one of several commonly used plants which are on a new listing of "sleeper weeds"…species which are now turning up in nature reserves like ours and adding to the workload of volunteer weeders and the ACT Government's rangers.

Scarlet hips from Briar Rose are visible in places but the thorns make their removal and daubing a slow process. Cotoneaster, pyracantha, privet and hawthorn also advertised their presence with some berries and yellowing leaves for the hawthorns. There's a large privet tree near here in mid-Flynn that's covered with pendulous branches of navy-blue/purple berries. If only it were a simple matter to ask the owners to remove the tree & take it to be composted before the birds are hungry enough to eat and disperse the berries into other gardens or nature reserves.

Red grass or Red-leg grass, Bothriochloa macra, is an obvious and widespread native grass which shows reddish stems and leaves now. To those who seek an immaculate nature-strip it may be a weed but there are also many areas of this grass on Mt Rogers now. There are few green grasses at the moment and it's possible that green areas have access to the reserve's underground residues of water or run-off. In the suburbs, green grass in public areas may survive on leaking pipes or swimming pools. ACTEW's water number is 13 11 93 if these green patches are wasting increasingly-precious water.

Shrubs with green visible may be the fine-leaved Cassinia bushes with some still showing the remains of their Cauliflower Bush flowers. Two wattle species have greener-than-eucalypts-leaves at present. Acacia implexa's leaves are curved whereas Acacia melanoxylon leaves are straighter. The former has formed almost-thickets where the seeds have been stimulated to germinate by fire.

As I walked this afternoon I heard the calls of and then saw a White-eared Honeyeater. Its white ear feathers are obvious but the name detracts from the glorious olive-green of its feathers. Scarlet robins are about, also seeking insects and the males' breast feathers really are the strongest scarlet…a much stronger hue than the un-related European red-breasted robins after whom they were named.

With the onset of the dryness and with the grasses' flower-heads gradually dying-down it's been easier for cross-country walkers to reform their preferred tracks and paths across and through the reserve. The paths are clear but dusty as we'd expect and with rocks poking through they're an interesting challenge for the sure-footed and well-shod walkers.

Other tracks through the bush show the regular routes of the kangaroo population. There have been several reports of people seeing 7 animals. They certainly use all parts of the reserve if their scats are anything to go by.

Presumably it's young people who have fixed wooden battens to the trunk of the 'Bench-mark' tree so they can reach a platform-lookout they've installed.

I hope the multi-century-tree's bark is thick enough to be unaffected by pathogens on the screws and nails that hold up the battens. Nailing signs to trees and piling lawn-clippings against trees' bark are other signs of ignorance leading to the possible death of the affected trees. Sometimes, too, the wonderful ancient trees remaining as features in newly developed suburbs later die because the soil around their extensive roots has been compacted by machinery, causing the destruction of essential air pockets.

 
I came across a dead Hakea decurrens which has Bushy needlewood as a common name according to Google. Hakea were named for Baron Christian Ludwig von Hake, 1745-1818, German patron of botany if that helps de-mystify the complexities of one species' names for you! It's a local native and the woody seed pods have a two-tone effect when heat opens them to release the seed. I pondered the amount of energy that goes into the production of these seed pods as each mature plant has dozens. Most of the Hakeas burnt in the eastern Hazard Reduction Burn have young seedlings now growing nearby: a testament to thousands of years of evolution for a genus responding to fires.
 
Did you manage to join in any of the Heritage Festival events between 13-28^th April? One I particularly enjoyed was Return of the Bellows at Ginninderra Blacksmith's Workshop. We've all driven past the tin shed' beside the Barton Highway dozens of times. It's near the equally cryptic property Deasland, after which Deasland Place in Fraser is named. The National Trust organised the ceremony to explain how the huge bellows for the blacksmith's forge were repaired as a conservation education project of University of Canberra students and a Queanbeyan specialist metalwork business. The shed, built around 1860, has been repaired in recent years and archaeologist Dr Peter Dowling mentioned how various metal objects had been unearthed as the dirt-floor of the shed was studied. Harry Curran was the last blacksmith, retiring in the 1940s. His granddaughter was there and she'd revealed that blacksmiths and farriers could easily tell which leg of a horse the remaining horseshoes had fitted. That carriageway of the Barton highway was the original road between Yass & Queanbeyan and Ginninderra was "forerunner to Canberra" with many buildings and homes near where the creek runs under the highway today.

Perhaps it's a feature of age but history can become addictive. It does reveal much about our past, our culture, the region's original inhabitants and how resourceful and inventive people can be…of necessity. At another event we were shown a recipe for Parakeet pie. It took eleven Rosellas to make a pie. It also shows how the larger native birds became locally extinct in a hungry settlement.

Another 'history' has recently been launched: A Labour of Love: celebrating landcare in the ACT. Lyndon's photo of 'our' frogmouths features prominently.

 

Rosemary, Convenor Mt Rogers Landcare Group

12.05.13.

*(Another current online petition from CommunityRun seeks to halt the spread of Coal Seam Gas (CSG) activities in Australia. The CSG industry's chemicals' effects on ground-water is the catalyst for this petition as is the treatment of farmers and their communities by the CSG industry.)

AUTUMN 2013 ON MT ROGERS: MT ROGERS LANDCARE GROUP’S OCCASIONAL NEWSLETTER

Activity

Any time now we may begin to see unusual bird species passing through Mt Rogers reserve as part of the Autumn migration. Often birds are leaving their higher-country breeding areas or migrants may be leaving their almost-urban breeding places for warmer weather in the north. Koel calls are much less frequent. We have had at least two good photos from Mt Rogers folk of Koel chicks being fed by cuckolded Wattlebirds.

Almost on cue seven kangaroos watched us move into the weeding area on 5^th March. Three students (from Belgium and Japan) were delighted to have this very real bush-experience as part of their CVA* volunteering day for Mt Rogers. When a Huntsman spider emerged amongst Chinese pistachio branches, forebodings about dangerous Australians seemed too close for comfort…but the camera came out to rescue the moment. Ken, from Spence, was the CVA team-leader again using a chain saw when needed. Nerida, Jen and Ray were determined to cut out environmental weeds even if they were deep under other trees or bushes.

On 24^th Ivan and I pulled out hundreds of Fleabane plants in the open area below the second-summit. We bagged the flower-heads and those of about 30 thistles that were also ready to disperse their ‘parachute’ seeds. 

Fleabane was also the focus of efforts “behind” Woodger Place on 4^th as seeds in the soil had taken advantage of good growing conditions once the African Lovegrass (ALG) had been sprayed there. (Photos above show 'before' and 'after' pulling out fleabane.) With Anne and Ann’s help flower heads were bagged because these daisy-family plants seem to continue maturing even when the plants have been pulled-out and left to dry out in the sun. Claire pointed out Patersons Curse plants in the grass parallel to Wickens Place so that’s how we began our volunteering that day.

Professional teams have sprayed Chilean Needle Grass infestations and followed up with checking the ALG that was sprayed last year. Invasion by both these species is so comprehensive now that the ACT land-managers’ aims are to keep these grasses out of clean areas. Our certificated volunteer sprayers will check the reserve for isolated tussocks. As you know both grasses are spread by mowers and the same pattern of spread by wheels is bringing these grasses to almost every nature strip.

Google notes that Fleabane is a weed of cropping areas needing light for the seeds to germinate. Each plant can average 110,00 seeds. A new book suggests boiling fleabane greenery to produce an infusion which can be used as a rinse against dogs’ fleas.  No doubt older generations knew of the plants’ value.

The Trivia night

Ginninderra Catchment Group’s Trivia night at the Belconnen Labour Club proved to be a cheerful occasion. Questions ranged from the obtuse through the sporting, the environmental, general knowledge and quick-reading of brochures, such as our Mt Rogers one, for local facts about each reserve. Tim the Yowie Man kept the pace manageable. Several local businesses had donated prizes for the raffle. Over $3,200 was raised for Catchment Group projects.

The HRB

By the time you read this you may have noticed plumes of smoke rising from a scheduled Hazard Reduction Burn (HRB) in the Dunlop Grasslands. (09.03.13). On 20^th February the high-quality woodland area behind Woodger Place, Fraser was burnt as an HRB. Pat alerted me to the early-evening event, carried out by the Rural Fire Service for the Parks and Conservation Service’s Fire Management Section. It was quite a spectacle with flashing coloured lights, the burning spots’ flaming colours, the crews’ yellow protection suits and helmets, smoke and steam as each patch of fire was controlled by fire-hoses. Apart from one area involving a recently fallen branch the damage was much less than expected as long as the native plants react as they’ve evolved to do from aeons of natural or Indigenous peoples’ fire events. I gather that nearby residents had been letter-boxed to expect the HRB. Spurred on by your reactions to the August 2011 HRB in the east and pressure from Ginninderra Catchment Group, a brochure Living with Fire is being produced. The aim is to explain the complexities of fire in Australia and the current reasons for HRBs. I think it should be available to all Canberrans as we all have the potential to be affected by smoke from fires and HRB events in treasured neighbourhood reserves. There’s more information on the TAMS website > Parks and Recreation > Bushfire Management in the ACT.

Other observations

Pat has been working on a patch of Periwinkle close to their house and is bringing it under control. I expect it has developed from dumped material years ago. Periwinkle is Canberra’s “favourite” weed. Everyone has a tale to tell of this ever-expanding ground cover as it usually comes through fences from next door. It’s one of the weed species that will earn donors free native plants at the forthcoming Weed Swap (April 6^th & 7^th). Canberra Sand & Gravel’s yard at Parkwood is the venue; it accepts garden waste, including weeds and prunings , 364 days per year.

Phil has been applying logic to drainage in parts of the reserve by diverting erosion-causing run-off to areas where it will actually reach the intended drains or at least slow down by passing through grasses before reaching the gravel track most of us use.

Lyndon continues to photograph our wildlife and has images of the Boobook owls which revisited Helen & Chris’ garden in Spence with their fledged family.

Has anyone seen the Tawny Frogmouths or noticed them in garden trees? I notice several people glance up at their nest-tree hopefully as they walk past.

Cockatoos are still interested in an almost-hollow in a lower fork of the same tree.

King Parrots are piping as I type and come to next-door’s feeder. It is apparently better to only supply birds with water but I find it hard not to throw a few porridge oats towards “our” teenage magpie. Trying to work out the complexities of bird behaviour may even be good for the grey matter.

For example a group of Rainbow Lorikeets seems to be roosting near us in mid-Flynn. Have you noticed these swift, noisy flyers? It’s thought numbers have increased from birds released from an aviary some 15 years ago…they’re not native to Canberra.

The photo below is of a tiny disused nest found in a hawthorn bush (the leaves give an idea of scale) during the CVA working bee. 

Ian Fraser has a Blog these days IanFrasertalkingnaturally. There’s also one from Denis Wilson writing about what he observes in Robertson The Nature of Robertson. Denis learnt bird-banding in the ACT from his father Steve & has many wildlife anecdotes and identification skills.

If you would like a copy of Life in the suburbs: Urban Habitat Guidelines published by the ANU please let me know or try www.lifeinthesuburbs.com.au

On Clean Up Day alongside Florey drive and Ginninderra Creek at Latham-Macgregor the greatest proportion of collected items were drink containers. If you have the chance to ask MPs to support a National Recycling Scheme please do so. It’s only because diligent Mt Rogers folk pick-up after the litterers that Mt Rogers is usually a clean place. And TAMS litter patrol regularly comes to Wickens Place.

Rosemary

Mt Rogers Landcare   6258 4724

* Conservation Volunteers Australia draws volunteers from overseas and local enthusiasts who are keen to help restore habitats a few hours per week, or month. For the young people it’s a chance to see different parts of Australia and to work surrounded by native plants and animals.