Hi everyone,
This came in an email on May 9th.

"I thought you might like to include in your next Mt Rogers newsletter the fact that the Chief Minister has been approached about remedying the state of the Mt Rogers walking track. This came about after I slipped on some loose gravel last Sunday and injured a knee. I copied the email to Yvette Berry as a local member. So far  all I have received is an automated reply from her and silence from our Head of Government. I’ll keep you updated. 
Regards
Dennis"
Issues and incidents relating to Mt Rogers can be reported via Canberra Connect 13 22 81, Fix My Street online if it's nearby road issue and GInninderra Catchment Group 6278 3309.
Note from the blog putterupper. At last, Rosemary's April newsletter has been published on this blog and it's below. Do read it. I apologise for the delay. 
ALSO Rosemary writes:
Copies of the new edition of the Mt Rogers brochure have been placed in the Notice Box.  Ann M, Peter A, Margaret and 'the girls' made important contributions to the Brochure. Several other Mt Roger Landcare Group members advised on the text from time to time. Ginninderra Catchment Group provided significant in-kind help through Dave Wong who spent many hours on the design and the map. 
The aim of this brochure is to entice people to visit our special place. I hope, eventually, to create an article 'The Natural History of Mt Rogers' in order to bring together our shared knowledge, observations and understandings of the history & heritage of the reserve.
If you can't reach the Notice Box or need several copies to give to new neighbours please contact me. 

The next working bees will be from 9 am on Sunday 24 May and Monday 1 June. We'll meet at the Notice box on the Sunday and the Wickens Place carpark on the Monday. We'll take different routes through the reserve seeking out weeds to dig out. This especially includes isolated African Lovegrass and Serrated tussock plants which affect the diversity of the reserve's native plants.
Nerolie, Ted and Wolf were introduced to this task behind Woodger place where we were also able to find an array of local native species. Ivan, Lesley and Ted worked on isolated woody weeds on 26th April finishing near the extensive Tree of Heaven infestation. 

Chris has adopted the project of buying new Perspex for 3 of the notice boards and already repaired the one that's not in use. Margaret & Chris have found a large, fertile Cotoneaster that they "will attend to". 
Steve W saw Speckled Warblers today. Steve & Judy D had a Speckled warbler on their garden's fence on 30th April. Elsewhere this species is in decline. Mt Roger's SW numbers appear to remain steady. Scarlet Robins have also been reported. Local ornithologists are concerned about this species also but, again, Mt Rogers retains its luck in having them present during the winter months.

Enjoy your walks and observations,
Rosemary.


MOUNT ROGERS NEWSLETTER LATE APRIL 2015

MUSINGS :  After early ANZAC Day musings reflecting on the world we have now as a bewildering contrast to the future for which so many have sacrificed so much…I made a laminated notice to the repeat-offenders who use Mt Rogers as a rubbish dump. Condensed, this is the text:
FROM MT ROGERS TO DUMPERS
Please note that members of Mt Rogers Landcare community object to your dumping garden rubbish in the reserve.     THIS DUMPING IS ILLEGAL
Dumping is contributing to the destruction of the last remnant of intact, natural bush on Mt Rogers.
Unusual and rare birds use this area. There are unusual plant species including spring wildflowers which have survived 145 years of change in ‘Fraser’.
Dead shrubs, rank non-Australian grasses, prunings and weeds    DO NOT BELONG HERE.
Take them FREE to the green-waste recycling site at the west end of Parkwood Road, Macgregor between 07.30 & 16.45 daily.
Mt Rogers Landcare volunteers spend hours protecting the reserve from invasive species. Don’t make this work even harder by dumping weed seeds, diseased plants & other rubbish in a place we love.
 I then installed the notice near the decaying piles of the disrespectful gardener’s waste and continued a stroll through the wonderful nature ‘behind’ Woodger Place, Fraser. I took more photos of the Cranberry Heath Astroloma humifusum  that I found on 18th. It’s delightful ground-hugging shrubby plant endemic to southern Australia and would probably be classified as widespread but uncommon. It’s possible I knew the plant was there but this is the first time it’s shown its  identifying crimson-scarlet flowers. I expect Eastern spinebills might take a quick dash to sip nectar from the flowers and perhaps the Common Bronzewing pigeons would later harvest the berries.
These pigeons are the ones that make the “ooming” calls around the reserve. They have only become more common in the last ten years…we’ve noticed their calls around the reserve where previously they kept closer to Wickens & Woodger places. Currawongs and Wattlebirds were active and later I checked out several flocks of small birds. Some were honeyeaters, gleaning insects as they moved through on their seasonal migration out of the ACT and towards warmer, winter feeding places. Peter C had brilliant bird-watcher’s luck 3-4 weeks ago, identifying a Regent Honeyeater moving through Mt Rogers with a migrating but feeding flock of Red Wattlebirds.
There’s nothing like a wander through the reserve for restoring equilibrium. Until the storm grumbled through it was a perfect autumn morning with people and dogs enjoying the sunshine.

This newsletter was really to be about the inspiring Wander and Wonder walk we had on 7th April but writer’s block and Weed Swap intervened….so here’s a resumption:

RUBBISH:  Eight of us gathered at Wickens Place for Tuesday 7th’s WANDER AND WONDER WALK. On arrival Anne and I noticed a pile of party left-overs near the burnt-out car that (like the one in Scullin) still awaits removal. We collected the bottles and cans into a bag. I found, later, that the two black plastic bags were also filled with similar recyclables. Let’s hope the NO DUMPING signs I’ve requested come soon.
The valiant Litter Patrol people are not directed to separate the rubbish they collect from recyclables so we thought it best to take away the lazies’ left-overs. At the sorting point, plastic bags are not opened by the operators as the bags’ contents could pose risks to their safety. This applies around the suburban collections as well as for the Litter Patrols’ finds in public open spaces.
LERPS & EUCALYPTS:  As we signed-on I dealt out some useful reference books. The Field Guides were no match for the first observations when we paused to examine eucalypts with pinkish leaves. On some trees near the car-park and around the region it’s hard to find any remaining green, functioning leaves. Searching for Number_6 Lerps_Insects leads to a South Australian Primary Industries article on lerps and the small to minute psyllid insects which make their marks on millions of hapless leaves. Under a hand-lens or a good microscope the lerps are seen to be shelters which the sap-sucking insects secrete to cover themselves. Some can seem like filigree, miniature palaces. Insectivorous birds forage for the lerps’ sugary secretions but the sheer density of the 2015 infestation seems to have overwhelmed the gleaning birds.
LICHENS:  After yesterday’s rain the lichens we found beside the narrow dirt track looked subtly colourful and almost lush. Like mosses they absorb water quickly. Here, as in the drier parts of the continent, lichens play a vital role by colonising bare soil and holding the soil’s particles together prior to vascular plants establishing themselves from seeds. Erosion of Australia’s soils has increased dramatically since hard-hooved stock were brought in to graze ancient land where soft-footed macropods didn’t break up the surface or displace lichens and mosses. Damage to lichens and surface-hugging alpine plants and the highly adapted Alpine flora is the main reason for keeping horses and cattle out of the High Country.
WATTLES & SHELTER:  We stopped to check the deep amber-coloured sap oozing from a wattle’s trunk. Tyronne said the Ngunawal people would heat the sap and use as glue for, for example binding shaped stones to wooden hafts for axes. Mixed with ash the sap made a sore-healing poultice. Maybe the 15ml rain had softened the sap as it was malleable but, as Rosalie & Tony noted, not sweet for those contemplating eating it.
Nearby there was a partly broken-down, dead wattle. It already looked like a ‘cubby’. This reminded us of the cubbies we’ve seen young people build on Mt Rogers. Usually they collect branches and arrange them tepee-like. Great to realise that the being-outdoors-adventure isn’t completely lacking in the current youngest generation.
Indigenous people knew, by ancient trial and error, which trees yielded bark for shelters. Pause to consider, as we reach for the central heating’s switches, how the people would have sheltered from the recent days’ stormy weather and sudden cold after the summer’s warmth. More details on plant-use are illustrated and explained in Ngunnawal Plant use: a traditional Aboriginal plant use guide for the ACT region.
MORE TREES :  Kirsty pointed out the tunnels laid bare on a bark-less, fallen branch. Borers had eaten their way under the bark, writing hieroglyphic messages until death took over the tree, its bark was shed and the ‘script’ was revealed in a range of subtle colours. Near some stumps, piles of powdered dust showed where beetles had attacked them and reduced their timber cells to rich nutrients for younger plants. Timber, which looks rotten and useless to us hosts a range of insects, beetles, larvae and bugs that are essential food for birds especially in winter.
Barbara related bird-calls to species we came across, sharing the messages about the distinguishing features and the honeyeaters’ migration. Tony found the Golden Whistler illustration as custodian of the McComas Taylor local bird Field Guide. On several occasions autumn colour drew our attention but, on Mt Rogers, this is for the wrong reasons. Usually the colourful leaves were found under a branch where bird’s droppings had left Chinese pistachio, Cotoneaster or Pyracantha berries’ seeds to develop into saplings. Fortunately Anne specialises in seeking out these environmental weeds and cutting & daubing them before they’re mature enough to have their own berries. Angharad, Ann and I found our first Chinese Rain Tree on Mt Rogers during our March 22nd working-bee. Watch this space as the deciduous trees produce thousands of black, fertile, ball-shaped seeds! The seedlings form a mini-forest in gardens. Take care when buying invasives from nurseries!
GRASSES:  Olga has an artistic interest in native grasses. We were able to find a range of species, albeit rather autumny, near the Cryptandra Patch. Quite close by is a residual grouping of Barbed Wire Grass. The number of tussocks is increasing steadily. Mt Rogers probably has at least 20 different native grass species and some are scattered throughout the reserve in small patches and probably where the soil is shallowest. Chris D has worked on bagging Verbascum seeds and then cutting down the 1m tall flowering spikes. Often this also involves searching amongst the grasses for the newly germinated plants with their soft greeny-grey leaves.
OBSERVATIONS:  So many people help with the working-bees and with our monitoring of plant and animal activities on Mt Rogers. This all feeds into knowing where the next efforts are needed. And observations build into a valuable record of the natural world of Mt Rogers.

Rosemary, Mt Rogers Landcare….6258 4724……25.04.15.