At the beginning of the Covid 19
restrictions the Landcare Group was informed that we could not hold organised
landcaring events for the duration. On 13th May we were told that restrictions
on Landcare activities had been eased provided there were not more than ten
volunteers participating. We’re considering resuming official working-bees
on Sunday 24th May and Monday 1st June. There’s no
shortage of observation and weeding opportunities! For example, do you recognise this rosette? (photo below)
Phil, Ted and Richard continued to
spend hours walking across and observing Mt Rogers as their daily exercise
routines. They’ve set themselves targets
relating to specific weed species that have benefited from the sequence of
warmth, rain events and sunny days. ALG,
Mustard, Prickly Lettuce,
Verbascum, Fumitory, Capeweed, Plantain, Wild Oats are among the species making
the reserve lush and green for the first time in years. The catch is that
nothing eats the greenery tho pollinators visit blooms.
All round the region landcaring
has continued with volunteers keeping their physical distances just as regular
walkers on Mt Rogers have. Every time I’ve been there the track has been busy
and most people have had smiles and greetings ready!
Congratulations to Mt Rogers’
regulars who were respecting the track repair project we began down from the
Trig Point. Landcare volunteers’ dismay, anger, frustration have surfaced when
Covid19 newcomers who don’t understand have undone the placement of branches on
the Summit track descending east. They are determined to have their biking and
running fun and test their challenges without any thought as to erosion’s
effects on the terrain they are pummelling.
Rock-rolling has also been evident
in reserves. Rocks are also moved as reptiles are sought. If only these people
had the same awareness as the Mt Rogers’ caring community. Thousands of
invertebrates are exposed by these actions. Lichens on the rocks are denied the
cooler aspects most of them need to flourish and to exhibit the delicate
collage of colours that autumn’s dampness stimulates. Lichens are a symbiotic
relationship between a fungus and an alga.
Would anyone like to make a
photographic collage of the Fungi species they’ve seen taking advantage of the
warmth and dampness of recent weeks? Tall, tiny, puff-balls, Earth Stars, Slime
Moulds, and the forests of sporangia from Lichens’ symbiotic partnerships.
Bright orange bracket fungi hide under the tree trunks from which they’re
recycling nutrients.
FungiMap can help with identifying
what we find. Have you contemplated the hydraulic force needed to push through
soil, asphalt and timber?
ABC Radio National’s Science Show led me to The Magic of Mushrooms. Listeners are
introduced to a suite of research programs that instil optimism from the
capabilities of the mycelia found throughout the Fungal Kingdom’s incredible
diversity. From there I tried You Tube’s: The
Fungus Whisperer aka Alison Pouliot who explains the essential nature of
fungi in all aspects of our lives in an engaging and exciting way.
Kerri-Ann and Michael surprised a
Brown Snake on 18th April and took some spectacular photographs (above). By
then we’d had a few cooler nights. Possibly the snake felt threatened by not
being warm enough to react to their being near it by sliding away unseen. To
confirm the pale-bellied snake’s identity Kerri-Ann sent the images to Canberra
Nature Map where volunteer moderators agreed it was a Brown Snake. Anyone can
send GPS-based images to CNM especially if the sighting is of an unusual
organism.
Mt Rogers has been visited by
citizen science photographers in recent months resulting in an array of
invertebrates being recorded as Mt Rogers’ residents. This is of great benefit
to us as evidence of its being a place of biodiversity and conservation value
on a par with the Canberra Nature P reserves that were gazetted as such. Other ways to go
closer to identifying birds include the Canberra Birds’ or Canberra Nature Map’s
websites.
Covid 19 has given many
people time to be out and about with the weather often helping to encourage
explorations busy lives couldn’t prioritise. More people have been out on Mt
Rogers and appreciative. Some exceptional cubbies and tepees (e.g. photo below) have been created
to, we hope, indicate that others feel a sense of belonging, as sense of home
and even comfort in accepting the challenges of design, building and taking
time just to BE in a special place surrounded by nature.
Angharad and Bob came across a
Mixed Feeding Flock of small birds including several Jacky Winters. This
sighting and a later one by Barbara is a major coup for Mt Rogers as Jacky
Winters are rarely seen these days.
I hope you’ve all seen or heard the
Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos during their visits or flying over our suburbs
seeking cones and the grubs they hear under trees’ bark. There’s plenty of
evidence of them using their strong beaks on a range of different trees’
trunks. It’s incredible to compare the cockatoos’ hearing with ours. They, and
the Magpies I’m currently reading about, can hear the larvaes’ minute sounds
before their beaks go into action.
And in The Guardian there's an important article on Flying Foxes, titled 'Fear of flying foxes: coronavirus is topping off a bad year for Australia's bats'. I don't know nearly enough about these incredibly important mammals but occasionally see them fly around the streetlights seeking insects attracted to the light.
Native Sorghum has recently been found, flowering, in two places where I thought the clusters had died. They seem to have responded to the Hazard Reduction Burns in each case, though the rain sequences may have induced late flowering. I took the photo below at The Pinnacle some years ago; it shows the grass flowers' colours when fully out and in summer warmth. The Pinnacle is another of the special habitats we share with thousands of other species.
Sorghum in flower on The Pinnacle, 13.12.13.
This view is now altered forever by the Whitlam
and Denman Prospect developments in the distance.
Grasses flowering west of Snow Gum
corner now, on The Pinnacle.
Being outdoors has become trendy
but our community is observant too!
Rosemary, Convenor, Mt Rogers
Landcare Group. 6258 4724.
