This might have been the title to this update, but since I
posed that question it’s rained for twelve hours after the Melbourne Cup and
even the introduced annual-grasses that were browning-off have been somewhat
flattened. The 2012 Spring, which has absorbed my time at the Bush Friendly
Garden at Floriade and the Weed Swap of 3rd & 4th November,
has produced a surge of green growth and plants’ energetic flowering . Overall,
I’ve recently heard, plants are putting their energies into growth rather than
flowering. This is affecting bees as there is less nectar for them to harvest.
Many small privet seedlings are growing green from where they were deposited in
bird-poo.
CHANCE
I’ve not noticed patches of Onion orchids this spring but
the single Sun orchid has several flowers which wait until the sun shines on
them before beginning their flowering sequence. Another Sun orchid was recently
found by the Umbagong Landcarers between Latham streets and Ginninderra
Creek. Such finds are often chance events
similar to sighting less common birds so it’s wise to carry camera or
smart-phone and binoculars if possible! The native violet, Viola betonicifolia,
that emerged after the drought is flowering from two plants this year on Mt
Rogers.
GRASSES
Ginninderra Catchment Group initiated a grasses
identification session last week,
focussing on African Lovegrass (ALG), Chilean Needle Grass (CNG) and Serrated
Tussock (ST). There’s no shortage of ALG on Mt Rogers but you’ll remember that
large areas were sprayed to reduce the invasion last year. At Kippax, there were tussocks
of ALG and CNG within a few metres of the Catchment Group’s office near the playing fields. Steve, Ann, Ivan and I took part and we later examined
and removed several ST tussocks from a nature strip alongside Florey drive. The
householder had been hoping they were native grasses. He’s not alone in
unsuspectingly hosting highly invasive grasses. He’ll be given some Bluebells
and native grasses as replacements.
Having our “weed-grasses eye in” it’s horrifying how much
CNG can be found. For example it’s common around the Flynn playground under the
trees there.
Mowers brought the seeds in originally. Since the playground
area was mown this week I wonder where some of “our” seeds have now been
spread. I had a brief look through a
thick weeds book and the Grassland Flora and reckon there are at least 45 different
species of grasses on Mt Rogers with 15 or so being Australian natives.
WONS
Weeds of National Significance include CNG and ST, Blackberry, most willows and
brooms which are flowering in many gardens at present. Whether in our region or
elsewhere WONS weeds are highly invasive because they have no natural predators
to control them in Australia. The
greatest losses of native plants and animals occurs through loss of habitat.
Since weeds destroy habitat by taking space, nutrients and water from native
plants they surely have just severe an effect as clearing of land for various
forms of development and agriculture. Spending money on weed management is a
low priority for governments but our Ginninderra Catchment Group has allocated
money for follow-up spraying of blackberries, ALG, CNG and St Johns Wort on Mt
Rogers and Mt Painter in Cook.
“OUR” FROGMOUTHS
During the week beginning 12th November we noticed that the
Frogmouth chicks were increasingly restless on the nest during the day. By
mid-week we’d had a report that one chick was away from the nest with a parent
whilst the other was still on the nest with, presumably, its father. This
morning (17th) we noticed the nest was empty but three walkers
chanced on the chicks out on a branch of the same tree with one parent. The
other parent was across the path in another, smaller, eucalypt. Our next
challenge will be to find their roost each morning before they really move away
from ‘home’. Fledging events are being reported around Canberra where
birdwatchers are following their own favourite pairs of these incredibly
camouflaged, nocturnal insect-hunters.
EUCALYPTS
Eleven of us gathered by the Frogmouth Tree to be led on a
stroll around the reserve by Laurie. That tree proved to be a bit of a riddle:
perhaps it’s a Blakely’s Red Gum* or maybe a Yellow Box**. Closely related
eucalypts hybridise quite readily so even a close examination of fallen gum
nuts doesn’t always give definitive answers. There’s a useful brochure, A Guide to Eucalypts in the ACT, with tabled details and drawings of buds, nuts
and leaves from 20 species.
(Before we walked up the gully we noticed the Bottlebrushes
in flower near the concrete drain. The plants’ flowers are greenish-cream but
we thought the plants themselves would have been planted there in the
seventies.)
The three main Eucalypt species on Mt Rogers are *Eucalyptus blakelyi, **E. melliodora, E.
bridgesiana (Apple box) though we
did find three Eucalyptus rossii (Scribbly
gum), and two of them hosted honeybee nests.
We had a look at one of the groups of planted Snow Gums. The
veins on their leaves are almost parallel. Just beyond the iconic “Benchmark
tree” we came across an Echidna. It tried burrowing in the hope that we’d not
seen it but several cameras clicked away busily to capture the moment.
Thanks to Kirsty for arranging to have Laurie as our Eucalypt
leader and to Steve, Aidan, Barbara, Mike, Kevin, Ivan, Peter and Olga who each
made valuable contributions to the discussions and willingly shared knowledge
and experiences both on and beyond the topic of eucalypts.
WORKING BEES
Claire and Lorraine did detailed Monday-weeding amongst the
Guides’ plantings and then pulled some smaller Patersons Curse plants.
Flemming, Ivan, Kirsty and Ann cut and daubed woody weeds on
Sunday 28th - an effort we’ll return to in the new year. Chris,
Margaret and Anne work when they can during the week with their own favourite
target weeds. Volunteers rule!
THE NEXT WORKING-BEES WILL BE THE LAST FOR 2012.
FOR SUNDAY 25TH NOVEMBER MEET NEAR THE
NEWSLETTER NOTICE BOX.Parking in the north arm of Rechner place, Flynn would be the closest for drivers. Please bring sturdy scissors as we will be cutting off grass flowers and bagging these before digging out the ST tussocks.
FOR MONDAY 3RD DECEMBER MEET AT THE WICKENS
PLACE, FRASER CAR-PARK. We’ll continue work against Patersons Curse by bagging
the flowering head before the seeds are ripe.
IN EACH CASE MEET BY 9AM UNLESS THE FORECAST IS FOR A
HOT DAY IN WHICH CASE 8.30am WILL BE WISER.
MORE ON WEED GRASSES
Today I had occasion to walk through Mt Rogers rather than strolling around it.
I was delighted to see that some accurate spraying of Chilean Needle Grass (CNG) had already happened. Opening emails later revealed that Steve had been active over the weekend (and after the Eucalypt walk). He’d worked on CNG and African Lovegrass (ALG) infestations uphill from the path. This is most important as we’ve already had one pass at the ALG and the CNG is a new situation or rather newly-noticed situation.
As I walked through and updated two notice boards a TAMS ute came through with weed-spraying equipment on the back. Fortunately I was later able to have a chat with them; they were “checking out what needed doing”. I’m not sure how much they could see just driving round but at least some message has got through. What should be happening is that the EnviroAg team will be spraying within the reserve and especially ‘uphill’ from the gravel path and TAMS people will be spraying in the area of the carpark at Wickens Place. Only time will tell when these tasks are scheduled.
THE DAISY FAMILY
We’ve had concerned walkers commenting on Capeweed flowering along the path and also flowers on Salsify and Goatsbeard. It’s really beneficial to have these reports so we can adjust our weeding efforts if possible.
In the case of the Capeweed it’s important to try removing plants which are isolated so that new infestations deeper into the reserve don’t make the weeds situation worse. I’ve noticed Rosellas feeding on the Capeweed seeds elsewhere and it’s always a bit of a shock to come across native birds eating “the wrong thing” - but they have to eat! Superb parrots have been eating Chickweed seeds…another example of birds adapting to changed habitats and food availability.
Salsify and Goatsbeard belong to the same huge 'daisy' family as dandelions, flatweed, thistles, fleabane and a range of actual daisies. Compositae was the name given to this group because the flowers are composite. There’s a ring of advertising florets surrounding a mass of tiny individual flowers in each centre.
Petals and seeds
The other day I watched a David Attenborough program that showed that insects see daisies’ familiar colours quite differently to humans. The large outer ‘petals’ focus the insects' attention on the central flowers which need pollinating before seeds can be produced. You’ll have noticed a range of insects including honeybees, native bees, butterflies and hoverflies moving over the flowers seeking the rewards of nectar and gaining a dusting of pollen as they walk.
Tear apart a dandelion flower-head and examine the individual florets. There are five fused petals, a stalk which will elongate, a pappus which will help the seed blow away and the seed. I counted 153 potential seeds on one old dandelion-head, 154 florets on “one” dandelion flower and 125 florets on a flatweed “flower” recently.
I’m regretting teaching the grandchildren to blow away dandelion parachutes as the plants are now entrenched in the grass with difficult-to-reach taproots that only succumb to deep digging or leverage when the ground’s really damp.
The investigation was triggered by the swathe-like masses of Flatweed flowers on un-mown nature strips. The sight was quite pretty. Most people see the plants as dandelions but the differences are quite noticeable. Flatweeds form rosettes of leaves close to the ground. Each leaf spreads out into the light so they can photosynthesise food to store in the taproot. They are very good at preventing other plants from growing - or at least squashing other plants' efforts. A smaller similar species is Catsears, miniature flatweeds, which pull out reasonably easily but still have many seeds blown by the wind.
Asters later gave their name to the Compositae with botanists using the word Asteraceae. Wikipedia cites 23,000 species of Asteraceae worldwide, those numbers rivalling numbers of Orchid species apparently.
Edibility
Dandelions, flatweeds and catsears are edible with the leaves being used in salads. Prickly lettuce, another Asteraceae and a Mt Rogers weed, is also edible when young and is said to have been the ancestor of our lettuces. “The earliest grown lettuces bore close resemblance to this weed, as shown by 6500-year old Egyptian wall paintings…..In China lettuce cultivation extends back 1000 - 1300 years…”
One native daisy that is easily confused with the shorter-stemmed dandelion is the Yam Daisy. For some reason there don’t seem to be any specimens on Mt Rogers though they are "having a good year” in other areas of the ACT bush. Microseris lanceolata were a staple food for Indigenous people; they used digging sticks to harvest the thick tap roots before roasting them.
FAUNA
Echidna
As I said above, on our Eucalyptus walk we encountered an Echidna not
far from the Benchmark tree. This sighting confirms several reports of Echidnas
being seen recently. Some evidence came from quite “deep” into Fraser some 500m
from the reserve and with roads to negotiate.
Kangaroos
How do the kangaroos fare when the grass is so tall?
I’ve seen Rosellas and Cockatoos eating the seeds from any wild oats they could
reach whilst perched on low branches or fence-wire but surely roos need to graze
grass close to the ground. I’ve also had
concerns raised about dogs chasing “our” kangaroos. Let’s hope “our” dogs
aren’t guilty and that the roos’ geography is better than the dogs’.
Nesting
After Lyndon’s and Kirsty’s photos and others reports
of Kookaburras trying to enlarge the nestboxes’ entry-holes by crash-flying
towards them, I don’t know of their having been successful. Crimson Rosellas
have been interested in a smaller hole not far from the Flynn playground.
No sign of Frogmouths this morning (19th November) about 9.30, but perhaps other people have looked further afield from their usual roost trees and found them?
Reptiles
Ross Bennett is advertised as the speaker at the
Botanic Gardens at lunchtime on Thursday 22nd November if you need to become
less scared or more appreciative of snakes and reptiles. That’s 12.30 for the
gold-coin presentation plus a few dollars for parking.
Rosemary
Mt Rogers Landcare Coordinator
19 November 2012
