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 5th 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 24th 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 4th 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 20th 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 6th & 7th). 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.
