June catchup on news about Mt Rogers

Since the last newsletter there have been several working-bees and other inputs to tell you about.

1. Angharad, Flemming and I worked in the peninsula of land between Oster and Bird Places (Flynn). We sought out, bagged seeds and dug out tussocks of African Lovegrass (ALG) between the houses and the neat little patch of native vegetation in that area. The lovegrass has probably been walked-in but it hasn't helped that newer Bird place residents used 'beyond their fence' as a dump that wasn't very temporary. Fortunately a word to City Services about this being the worst back-fence-interface around Mt Rogers resulted in the residents being asked to clean up their act. Unfortunately people just don't realise that not all grasses are the same or desirable in nature reserves and that garden weeds usually drop seeds before the dumped plants break down as the naive dumpers expect.

2. On Sunday 25 May Ann, Flemming and Ivan met me at Mildenhall place (Fraser) and we again concentrated on ALG but this time alongside the track that most walkers use. In the past month City Services have employed contractors to spray ALG with herbicide and the green dye you may have seen. Their work was very detailed and sometimes included Chilean Needle Grass where they'd also worked along Ginninderra Creek. We assumed the role of beheading Tall Lovegrass and ALG in the areas they had missed and a shallow gully or two. 

The photos show a small clump of Kangaroo Grass (Themeda triandra) and a pretty fungus beside the main track above Spence. 

    

3. On Monday 2 June I led Flemming, Lorraine and Phil on a bit of a wild goose chase at first as our route up to the Bench-Mark tree and down from Five-Ways was pleasingly clear of ALG. This shows the attention-to-detail that Steve brings to his volunteer-spraying. We found more work against Verbascum where we dug out the attractive woolly plants amongst some boulders which would make a wonderful native garden landscape if we had the energy (and weren't likely to be heading for drier weather again). Below this patch we began finding Serrated Tussock plants and dug these out one by one. There were probably 50-60 of them and often they were under shrubs and small eucalypts where the wind-borne seeds had come to rest. In previous years TAMS have organised contractors to walk Mt Rogers in search of the tussocks. Our targets would have been small or easily missed last winter.

We also noticed, with Phil's guidance, that very effective drainage work Phil has done has been tampered with. Someone has replaced the clods of earth or grass tussocks Phil had carefully placed near his drainage channels to direct the flow of water sideways...effectively blocking these channels which are designed to slow water, prevent erosion and send the flow off into the bush rather than having it rush downhill. Perhaps the anonymous worker thought he was rescuing the plants Phil had up-rooted.

4. Anne continues her solo work against Chinese pistachio and any privets or cotoneasters she comes on whilst walking and working cross-country. Claire, Sue, Kirsty, Chris & Barbara, Chris & Margaret, Lynn, Helen & Chris and Glen have sent respective apologies about not being able to currently give practical help for working-bees.

5. I had a call from Daniel Iglesias, Director of the Parks & Conservation Service yesterday asking whether we had received a response to our letter of concern over the track-maintenance situation.
To date I haven't, but he is organising for there to be an on-site meeting between Mt Rogers Landcarers and City Services staff to discuss the way the work was carried out.

6. Cliff commented on the lack of bird sightings around their home for a week or two in spite of the pleasantly warm autumn. There was plenty of small-bird activity on Mt Rogers itself with one mixed flock of small birds, watched by Bron, containing 16 species.
Arjen showed me where he and Jazz find rabbits, and one raced away whilst we were weeding on 2 June.
Peter & Morris emailed that they'd had a wonderful moment being entertained by a flock of 12 Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos (YTBCs) near the 'big stump' (presumably above Deasland Place). The YTBCs are doing the rounds of our Belconnen area seeking out and opening and cones they can find; it's still magic that we can record this visit to Mt Rogers.
Kevin D was busy with binoculars as we began working on Sunday 25th.
Lucy has sent over photos of the 3 Kookaburras she was delighted to find near Waterman Place (Fraser) whilst exercising C & M's Cayenne & Pepper.

7. I read somewhere recently that someone from the Bureau of Meteorology is asking for records of unusual bird activity for the time of year. Given the warm autumn that's only recently turned to winter both plants and animals may be being caught out.
I saw two magpies defending their old nest from an over-assertive Currawong at Wickens Place yesterday. Was the currawong being annoying or was it really trying to steal nesting material?
Lorraine, in particular, had noted several eucalypts in flower including some of the Snow gums.

Will this mean honeyeaters will stay here longer than usual if nectar is still available? Will insect eggs hatch before they should and then not be around in spring for birds to feed to their young? There are already many very concerning mis-timings happening around the world as the result of the climate changing. This causes population crashes when hungry animals higher up food chains just can't survive and when migration schedules are changed.

8. Karissa, the Ginninderra Catchment Co-ordinator, has helped with our grant application for Natural Resources Management funding to reprint/create a new brochure for Mt Rogers. Ann and I have spent about 6 hours on the new text and Pamela sent over a magnificent photograph taken from the second summit towards Belconnen & Lake G.

9. Steve D had several paintings accepted for the recent Wildlife & Botanical Artists (WABA) Exhibition at CSIRO. It is a tremendous accolade to have work accepted for this Australia-wide display where the theme was bringing art, conservation and science together.
And for an even greater accolade, Steve’s delightful painting of a Crested Tern won the People’s Choice Award at the exhibition!  Well deserved, Steve!

10. At the WABA event's dinner David Lindenmayer spoke passionately about the criminal lunacy of logging ancient forests in Victoria for paper. Felling these forests with 300-400 year old trees is sending the Victorian state faunal emblem to extinction, increasing atmospheric carbon when the living trees could absorb it and disturbing the water-filtering properties of the forests' vegetation for Melbourne's water supply. Not buying Reflex paper produced by Australian Paper Mills is one way we can help. APM has yet to sign up to the Ethical paper Campaign & I don't think Office Works has either.

As you'd know from overseas, clear-felling forests causes even more damage and loss of species like Orang Utans and Sumatran tigers. When the debris is burnt carbon is released into the atmosphere as well as the toxins and carcinogens that are emitted whenever timber, wood or logs are burnt.

Thank you all for your contributions of reports, muscle-power, awareness and appreciation. Keeping our conversations going and fostering sharing communities in all our facets of life is the only way we'll come through these threatening times.

Teamwork! ACT Government and community landcare

Thank you to Brian Bathgate, Tristan Adrian and Jane Carder, of ACT Government, for the impressive, detailed spraying of African Lovegrass that has occurred on Mt Rogers recently.

This is a huge boost for our Landcaring efforts against the grass. It thoroughly complements the work done by Steve Davidson (one of Mt Rogers Landcare Group).

It ensures that, on working-bees, we can concentrate on the most isolated tussocks as we move through the reserve.

Landcaring team-work and efficient division-of-labour at its best!

(We hear you have also done similar work at Umbagong Park, along the Ginninderra Creek.)

Rosemary

View from Today's Gardening....looking towards One Tree Hill beyond Hall

Today I was working on St John's Wort (SJW) that has infiltrated the Cryptandra patch. It's not a good idea to disturb the soil but we'll see what is left and what responds by September and then, hopefully, spray with a cone attachment to focus the herbicide. Apart from Plantain there are very few weeds until you reach the edge nearest the track. Something has germinated in hundreds but time will tell which species it is. There's nothing much in flower but the Cryptandra have tight, tiny, cream buds waiting for butterflies later on. Some grasses (Nine Awn and Spear grasses) are in flower. Rocky, thin soiled native grassland as it should be. 

Up behind the single watertank I watched a Mixed Feeding Flock (MFF) which included a Speckled Warbler. It perched, preening, in a shrub for a while and it dawned on me that since it had been foraging around amongst the grasses and leaf-litter its feathers were probably wet and in need of grooming!

Later amongst the SJW work I was joined by another MFF which included 3 or 4 Double-barred Finches and a White-eared Honeyeater. A Golden Whistler sat above me for a few minutes. All sheer magic.

As I was leaving, Bob and Beau came through and we had a wonderful conversation. It included some of his observations from 30 years of living here and almost as many of walking Mt Rogers. Beau posed for a photo on the rocks. He succeeded James after whom we named one of the cross-country tracks.

The other reason for this post is to thank Flemming and Ivan for a stoic weed-bashing session on Sunday last. We worked near the southerly concrete drain in amongst the dense Wattles. These and trees had been perching points for many birds so there were Privets, Cotoneasters, Briar Roses, Pyracantha of all ages and sizes. It's uneven ground as there's plenty of fallen timber over which rank grasses have grown. It really felt good to have tackled this corner at last. It needs to remain dense for the small birds but not dense with weed species.

Anne's worked on the Chinese Pistachio reducing the numbers of their beacon-autumn colours.

On Monday 5 May we'll meet at the Wickens Place Car-park at 9 am. There are some large African Lovegrass tussocks in the good peninsula between Bird and Oster Places so we'll walk over and tackle them. Steve has made a significant impression on the Paterson’s Curse (PC) under the powerlines, but detailed PC-weeding will be necessary there as there's some lovely flowering clusters of Glycine there also.

Sunday 25 May will be the next weekend working-bee. Maybe colder weather will mean that the sap's not running well enough to take up herbicide but we'll know, closer to the time.

Reverting to Gardening.... Pamela and Noel are keen Mt Rogers supporters and live in Rechner Place, Flynn. On Saturday 18th October their native garden will be open to the public as part of the Open Garden scheme. Since they moved in they have created a really diverse and significant garden after the removal of Cotoneasters and other tree-symptoms of neglect. It would be a great opportunity to see what can be done when gardening sensitively near a nature reserve and to hear the garden's story.

Pamela also thought we, as a group, could offer visitors a glimpse of Mt Rogers whilst they're in Flynn. If anyone would like to be a guide in taking visitors up to the summit please let me know.

AND if anyone is able to spare a couple of hours to MEET & GREET the garden's visitors that would be a very welcome contribution.

Rosemary.

MT ROGERS NEWS – LATE APRIL 2014

Owlet Nightjar and European wasps.  Peter discovered and photographed an Owlet Nightjar peeking out of one of the nest-boxes in the gully. These Starling-sized, nocturnal birds have sugar-glider-like faces and I wonder whether this similarity has some benefit or is co-evolution at work. The bird also used the box nearest the Wickens car-park as a daytime roost so glance towards the box as you walk nearby. They sometimes alternate the daytime roosts they use. Peter also reported finding the entrance to a European Wasps nest on a scruffy Flynn nature-strip. Call Canberra Connect 132281 or 6162 1914 for help with these invasives.

Frogmouths.  For Frogmouth devotees Stringybark Graphics have a new T-shirt design featuring frogmouth images on a creamy background. Check out their website for designs though the frogmouth tees may not have been added as yet. I was lucky enough to see them at the Folk Festival.

Spinebills.  An Eastern spinebill has just called from the garden reminding me that at least three were dashing around here after Correa and Grevillea flowers the other day. They were joined by a male Golden Whistler checking out the insects in a small eucalypt.

Eagle.  There is a Little Eagle on the Mt Rogers species list from years ago but it’s pure chance when they and Wedge-tailed Eagles are seen when glancing upwards. A short commotion from the garden’s magpies made me look up to see a possible Little Eagle soaring between Florey and Melba or perhaps following the creek-line. Little Eagles are listed as endangered in the local region as houses spread into the country they forage in.

Skyscapes.  Did you realise there are Cloud Watchers’ societies and that they have galleries of photographs for appreciators? Mt Rogers is a great place for skyscapes and it’s not necessary to view from the trig point. For me, a large part of the appeal of Mt Rogers is the openness and the times to pause and ponder that our walks offer. Do you feel better for being there or for being out in all its weathers and moods? Conversations suggest that being outside amongst nature and having the exercise opportunities is a major reason for valuing Mt Rogers. There are escalating moves to have those benefits expressed more widely and quantified so open space and de-stressing- exercise can turn up as positive eco-system services in budgeting. I suspect that nature’s values are another of those items governments don’t want to know about.

The tracks debacle.  Letters have been sent to Ministers Corbell and Rattenbury about the grading work carried out on the blue-metalled track to the tower and the track south from the summit. Angharad, Graham M, Phil G and I have spent hours on these and on on-site checks supported by comments, suggestions and thanks from a dozen other Mt Rogers folk and Ginninderra Catchment Group’s co-ordinators. The timing of the work, the way the grading was done and the reasoning prompted our concerns. Mt Rogers is managed by TAMS as it is an area of urban open space rather than part of Canberra Nature Park. It would seem that the main problem is lack of communication between agencies. Over time areas like Mt Rogers and Ginninderra Creek’s corridor have been found to have areas of much greater conservation value than was ever appreciated when TAMS and the agencies were set up 40-50 years ago to manage places vital for infrastructure.

Volunteers’ management tasks.  Following the Monday working-bee on 7^th April we asked Steve to turn some spraying attention to the mass germination of Patersons Curse (PC) under the power-lines east of the Wickens Place car-park. We dug out many isolated PC plants avoiding disturbing the soil which would encourage other seeds to spring into life. The PC Steve worked on were growing amongst introduced grasses which might be affected by the chemicals. We’ll continue this detailed weeding on May 5^th as the conditions have obviously favoured PC seeds waiting in the soil. The same story is repeated around the region as the rain events have offered opportunities to many species we consider weeds. The Weed Forager’s Handbook gives details of many weed species which can be eaten at some stages of their lives. Ones I’ve come across recently include Green Amaranth, Onionweed, Blackberries, Blackberry nightshade, Chickweed, Sticky-weed, Dandelion, Fat Hen, Fennel, Mallow, Stinging nettle, Wood sorrel, Plantain, Purslane, Salsify, Sow thistle, Wild brassicas, Prickly lettuce, Briar Rose hips. They’re not all present on Mt Rogers and another mentioned is Nasturtium which is overtaking parts of my veg garden at present.

Mowing.  Around Belconnen the mowing schedules are way behind, or rather they have been swamped by the enormity of the task. The most obvious grass is African Lovegrass because it seems to be able to take advantage of moisture regardless of the season. As usual in late summer, the native Red-leg Grass is growing strongly and adding a maroon tinge to the nature strips. Bluebells are also flowering with determination in many places. The plants don’t seem to mind harsh conditions and bare soil. Another native is Fuzz-weed. There are two species of Vittadinia around Mt Rogers noticeable at the moment with fuzzy seed heads and perhaps a few remaining pale purple, daisy-like flowers.

Fungi.  You’ll have noted the array of toadstools that have also responded to the damp and still-warm soil. The sheer variety is staggering even in areas close to home. There are 10c-piece size orange ones hiding amongst the grasses that need weeding out of our front garden. There were three Stinkhorns in a Macgregor garden. They have red starfish-like arms that exude a foul-smelling slime which blowflies and other insects find irresistible. The insects distribute the spores for the fungus. Fungi’s fine hair-like-hyphae have spread throughout the mulches and leaf-litter and enzymes are helping to break it down into nutrients for the other plant species. Large and smaller insects, snails and slugs and possums are amongst the animals that feed on fungi. Hopefully we can encourage children to look at the fungi-undersides using a mirror rather than kicking them over to see what the gills are like. There are also a few puff-balls around. They show how minute the fungal spores are and how easily they disperse on breezes or by being touched and carried by paws, on fur and footwear.

On a completely different note…..but still about environmental awareness….

Following a suggestion from a family member my phone number was given to an ActewAGL contractor who is a member of the ActewAGL Energy Efficiency team that is changing light globes to energy efficient ones. Farhad Elavia came to change our globes and those of several Flynn neighbours this week. He can also fit draught-excluders to outside doors.

The service is FREE and the new ‘globes’ are quicker to warm up, more energy-efficient and brighter than the first compact globes that came out. They come with a 2-year guarantee. The task takes about 20 minutes and there’s a call from ActewAGL to verify that the change-over has been carried out to your satisfaction. Farhad lives in Belconnen and once studied at University of Canberra. The phone number for booking is 1300 789 002.

I mention this in the hope that we can make our homes cheaper for us to run and lessen our footprints on the planet. This reminds me that I’ll try to source some Wood is good signs that explain that fallen timber needs to remain as habitat for wildlife and not be taken home as firewood.

Rosemary, Convenor Mt Rogers Landcare Group. 6258 4724

A letter has been sent to ACT Government Ministers re grading of tracks at Mt Rogers

Several of Mt Rogers' volunteer landcarers, with Landcare Group Convenor Rosemary Blemings, wrote to ACT Government Ministers Simon Corbell (Environment) and Shane Rattenbury (Territory & Municipal Services) in early April, regarding grading of tracks near the summit of Mt Rogers which had created erosion hazards and was not in accordance with the government's own ecological guidelines.

Here is a short extract from the letter, which is long and detailed, with quotes from the relevant government guidelines and operational plan, and photographs showing the results of the grading.

The group seeks assurance from the Ministers…

"Primarily — that no more work of this type will be undertaken, i.e. work that is unwarranted and not in compliance with your Government’s own ecological guidelines.

Additionally — We would be further interested to know how this work came to be approved and funded given it does not comply with the operations plan nor the guidelines.

The cost of this work was obviously substantial — nevertheless we would like to know what reparations are planned in order to make the work compliant with your ecological guidelines.

Indeed it is a matter of much more general import to ensure that your own ecological guidelines are not only followed, but also where, due to operational error, they are not complied with, that effective restoration and reparation is actioned.

Finally, the fact that the Bush Fire Operations Plan is purported to be a tool with which to keep the community informed of works planned, yet clearly does no such thing, is a concern for us as volunteer land-carers, as it must be for all volunteers involved in land management of reserves that are impacted by that plan."

Should you wish to read the letter sent by Mt Rogers Landcare Group to the ministers please contact Rosemary. 

LANDCARING UPDATE APRIL 2014

Thank you to Steve D who has continued his dogged pursuit of African lovegrass (ALG) with the spray-pack and herbicide. He is targeting those plants which are away from the mowers’ routes.

You’ll have noticed that rain-restored-ALG is flourishing all around Belconnen on nature strips and median strips. The TAMS mowing program just can’t keep up. On sunny days native bluebells shine through the grasses and thrive in the harshest bare places.

Phil G alerted us to the damage caused by a grader’s work on the blue-metalled track up to the telecommunications tower. The track down towards the Bainton Crescent corner is now a flat clay track with, it seems to us, little attention to the likely flow of rainwater. Phil has been wielding his shovel over several years in order to create small but effective drainage routes for run-off. These channels have been self-restoring with germinating seeds beginning vegetation’s role of diverting water across-country where erosion is less likely.

Anne, Angharad, Garry and I worked at removing young Paterson’s curse plants and cutting & daubing Chinese Pistachio when we found them whilst walking & weeding earlier this week. Angharad has also researched how grading should be carried-out so we can follow-up on how Mt Rogers has been land-managed.

Rosemary, Mt Rogers Landcare,  09.04.14.

What is an Autumn working-bee like?

Sunday 23 March saw six of us working against woody weeds in the SW sections of the reserve as accessed from Rechner Place, Flynn.

Anne went off up the Lily Track on a solo mission against weeds such as Chinese Pistachio and any Privet, Cotoneaster that were visible. It’s called the Lily track because, about half way up, there are a few clumps of Blue Grass Lily (Caesia calliantha) which is a reasonably rare species. It has put Mt Rogers on the map in a way, because the ACT has called for data on the plants’ presence in reserves.

As we assembled the gear and put on gaiters we heard of a major consequence of plastic bag rubbish. A cow, with calf-at-foot, on a property in Hall’s hinterland had recently sickened to skin and bones. The vet realised it had swallowed something which was blocking its gut. Should the animal just be left to die or could something be done? The bag was removed but it was almost a week before the valuable cow began to look as though it would recover.

Whilst we wouldn’t have exactly that problem on Mt Rogers the case is a reminder 1) that plastic rubbish is a major disaster also for marine animals which ingest bags and the disintegrated pieces, in some cases mistaking the bags for jellyfish, their normal food; and 2) that Mt Rogers remains clear of rubbish because the quiet-achievers pick up foreign material on their daily walks. 

Do you see neighbours who put plastic bags full of recyclables into their yellow-lidded recycling bin? It’s my understanding that no soft plastic should be in these bins. Any recyclables contained in plastic bags end up as rubbish because it’s too risky for the sorters to open bags up to see what’s inside.

Aisha, Flemming, Ivan and I set off up the ‘mountain bike’ track constructed some 3 years ago north of Schwarz Place. We spotted the Bursaria, Dianella and Box-leaf wattle (Acacia buxifolia) planted at the end of the drought and the Barbed-wire grass (Cymbopogon refractus; e.g. photos below - zoom in to get more detail) I planted before that. All seem to be doing well amongst the rocks and (sometimes) rough grass there. 

We checked out the Broom patch, finding 5–6 established young plants to pull or cut & daub. Their seeds have come from gardens on the edge of the reserve, possibly brought over by ants. From there we moved east through the bush and found occasional Serrated Tussock (ST) tussocks. Aisha is no stranger to these invasive grasses having been part of a family and then a Guides group which worked on tussocks near the Benchmark tree. Aisha and family returned at the end of 2013 from a three-year posting in London. She was very involved in a landcaring group there, where their leader would summon them to the next working-bee with wonderfully poetic reminder-notices.

ST is easily confused with the local, native grasses except that the latter usually have a few flower-heads remaining at this time of the year. ST flowers are beautiful, pendulous tresses but they aren’t easily seen so it’s easy for the light-weight seeds to blow away or be carried by passing animals even before we notice them. Much of the grazing-land on the Monaro is ST-infested and the grass is rarely palatable to stock.

Ivan has a particularly keen eye for the weed African Lovegrass (ALG) and he spotted several isolated tussocks of this invader around today’s parking spot at the southern end of the gully. If you’re not sure what it looks like, the Wickens Place carpark spaces are surrounded by this weed-grass. It’s been stimulated into new flowering by the useful rain we had some weeks ago (the photo below shows the delicate flower heads). Let’s hope TAMS mows there soon and the seed-heads dry-out before shedding the seeds for us to walk into the reserve. Steve D has made a concerted effort at spraying ALG around the track and deeper into the reserve this last week. Another quiet achiever, like Anne, who works away in the reserve when timing suits them. For others the official times suit most of the time.

Flemming has perfected the art of being ready with the brush-tipped wand when loppers or saws have cut off privet, cotoneaster, hawthorn and broom stems. Timing is critical as the glyphosate must be applied within 5 seconds of the cutting … not always easy when working under a decaying wattle or larger shrubs.

We moved east towards the view over Belconnen and the Bainton Crescent cactus garden, seeking out Verbascum (also called Mullein) plants. A tall spike of attractive yellow flowers grows from a rosette of very soft felty leaves. By now, though, we could see the resulting thousands of seeds and carefully cut the heads off into the bags we’d brought for seeding flower heads.

At one point Aisha chanced on a brownish Bearded Dragon lizard. It remained in freeze-mode for several minutes and we wondered whether there’s a conflict between being scared of us as huge threats and wanting to run away or doing what it’s learnt and staying immobile in the hope of being invisible. Apparently there are about sixty species of Dragon lizard in Australia, and they have adapted to many different habitats. Six species occur in the ACT, with the Botanic Gardens being an accessible hotspot for seeing the Gippsland Water Dragon.

By this time Chris had joined us after their walk and breakfast. He’d speeded up the journey by using his electric bike. He’s been busy during the week too by fixing up a nest-box again as the second branch of its host tree fell over. Both Chris and Aisha had tales to tell from England about using rose-hips like itchy-bombs by putting them down classmates’ backs during boring lessons or in the playground.

During the 2.5 hours’ work we probably came across 30 Briar roses. Their hips are bright red now to attract birds to eat and disperse them. On several occasions we came on quite a few plants together, usually under a tree’s branch where the bird had perched. The rose-hips are very rich in Vitamin C and make jelly, syrup and jams. Rose-hip tea can be made by simmering 7–10 hips in water for 5 minutes but for the preserves you need to take on the painstaking-task of removing the seeds and irritating hairs inside the hips. I seem to remember they are pectin-rich … ideal for jam-setting. We found one bush with a single pale pink flower. A simple reminder of how much breeding has gone into our garden roses.

Our finale turned out to be two large Cotoneasters, fortunately with minimal numbers of berries. Whilst the others toiled with these I cut off the branches of an ivy with unusual leaf-shape which had completely covered and grown through a rotting trunk.

The ivy was very popular with honey-bees and when I looked there were masses of buds and enough small yellow flowers to attract the pollinators. There was also a discernable sweet perfume pervading the scene, perhaps to attract flies as well as the bees. We don’t think of ivy as having berries but the flowers are obviously successful in bringing in pollinators and the birds take any resulting berries.

In the course of our wander and weed walk at least two flocks of small birds came through, foraging amongst and calling from the trees above us. Towards the end a group of magpies had realised that we’d disturbed the soil and were taking advantage of any exposed invertebrates and the minimal-digging situation.

We also noted several wildflower species persisting amongst the sometimes-rank introduced grasses. Bluebells (Wahlenbergia sp.) and New Holland daisies (Vittadina sp.) preferred the barer soil where kangaroos habitually bask or rest during the day. Yellow Rush Lily (Tricoryne elatior) also awaited stronger sunlight. We wondered if Anne, working separately still, came across native St John’s Wort (Hypercarium graminium) in flower, even though Mt Rogers isn’t its usual dry-eucalypt habitat. Some were flowering on The Pinnacle last Friday. We came across Slender Tick Trefoil (Desmodium varians), an inconspicuous plant with creamy-pink flowers. Its seeds readily stick to laces, socks, sneaker-fabrics and fur … a nifty way of dispersing. Its relative Vanilla Glycine (Glycine tabacina) didn’t have its purple flowers here but they turn up as real survivors around the region, sometimes right on the edge of kerbs. Australian Bindweed (Convolvulus erubescens Sims) trailed between the grasses and we did see one plant with its sun-seeking pink flowers open.

Amongst the boulders Urn Heath (Melichrus urceolatus) was showing the pale yellow or creamy yellow flowers that will persist through winter and feed nectar-seeking animals when food is scarce.

The eastern edge of our wander was where Chris photographed a brown snake and I’d seen one, perhaps the same animal last year as I approached the Urn Heath’s boulder-refuge.

When we were back at the car Anne emerged from her 2.5 hours to report concerns about the Tree of Heaven infestation. We’ll have to look into obtaining official help with this.

With these sightings, and the stories and experiences we exchange, working-bees aren’t all work! There’s variety of action, and problem-solving skills are always needed. We don’t just share anecdotes, we learn from each other whilst working together … one way the Mt Rogers community shows its concern for the bush we share with countless other species.

Rosemary,  23.03.14.

Convenor Mt Rogers Landcare Group.