Mt Rogers working bee on Monday 5th June

Greetings Mt Rogers Carers,

On Monday 5th we will meet by 09.30
at the ‘eastern' arm of Schwarz Place, Flynn.

We’ll be continuing our seek-and-pull-out mission against Privet, Ivy and Cotoneaster seedlings which have grown from berries in gardens beyond Mt Rogers.

I will bring gloves and some ‘minimal disturbance’ digging tools.

The weather won’t be as warm as the last few days and the grass may well be damp.

Thank you,

Rosemary

Next working bee: Sunday 28 May

 The next working bee on and for Mt Rogers will be on Sunday 28th May. 

We’ll be meeting in Rechner Place (North) from 09.30. 

We will be seeking out and pulling seedlings of privet, ivy and other ‘woody’ weeds.

Identification skills quickly learnt-on-the-job and small tools and gloves provided.

Thank you,

Rosemary

Sunday 26 March working bee

Mt Rogers’ landcare next working bee is on Sunday 26th,
meeting at Wickens Place, Fraser by 09.00am.

Continuing our efforts against Fleabane, Thistles and Verbascum.

The grasses aren’t so tall now as they die down.

Thistles and Fleabane seeds blow away on the wind so the next few days seem like last chances.

No previous experience necessary…BYO secateurs useful!!

Thank you to the TCCS mowing teams who have  neatened up the reserve’s edges.

Perhaps next month we’ll have a PRIVVVVY PARTY? 

A whole army of Mt Rogers community volunteers seeking and digging out Privet, Ivy and Cotoneaster seedlings like these.

These privets have germinated from a blob of bird poo after birds ate berries and brought them in from suburban gardens and public land easements. 

If we have some rain they’ll dig out with small tools as we wouldn’t want to disturb the leaf litter and soil too much.

Thank you,

Rosemary

Landcare session dates for 2023, for your diary!

 Greetings to Mt Rogers Carers.

    If you’re able to be part of Landcare sessions during 2023 please would you note these dates in your calendar and diary now as information about tasks and activity locations is not always ready a week before each session!

These are scheduled Landcare Working-Bee sessions. Individual volunteers spend many hours in the reserves working on specific projects, observations, recording species or targetting the priority invasive species.

Mt Rogers 

Morning sessions for about 2 hours

First Monday of each month………..…..6th February  08.30

Fourth Sunday of each month…………26th February 08.30

Treating the priority target weed(s) or priority tasks ‘of the day’.

Main carpark area: Wickens Place, Fraser but

Due to the size of the reserve the meeting places and parking locations may vary each time.

My email: rosemary@blemings.org                Those who have expressed an interest in volunteering for the reserve will receive notification prior to each working-bee.

Future months…………………Monday 6th March 09.00

                       …………………Sunday  26th March 09.00

                       …………………Monday  3rd April 09.00

                       …………………Sunday   23rd  April 09.00

                      …….……………Monday  1st May 09.00

                      ………………….Sunday   28th May 09.00

                      ………………….Monday  5th June 09.00

                      ………………….Sunday  25th June 09.00

                     …………………  Monday  3rd July   09.00

                     …………………  Sunday  23rd July 09.00

                    ………………….  Monday 7th August 09.00

                    ……………………Sunday  27th August 09.00

                    ……………………Monday  4th September 09.00 or 08.30

                    ……………………Sunday  24th September 09.00 or 08.30

                    ……………………Monday  2nd October 08.30

                    ……………………Sunday  22nd October 08.30

                    ……………………Monday  6th November 08.30

                      ………………….Sunday  26th November 08.30

                   …………………….Monday  4th December 08.30

Thank you for your interest and involvement.

Rosemary
Mt Rogers Landcare Group convenor 

Mt Rogers in November 2022

 

The photo shows why we currently hesitate to ask others to join in the group’s Landcare activities. Phil and Roger were seeking out Chinese Pistachio and a Prunus to cut and daub. They wore gaiters and are experienced at making their way through the rank,  introduced grasses knowing that grass tussocks, rocks and fallen  timber make the going unpredictable. Ted and I returned to a Euphorbia patch to pull out new plants that have grown since our previous weeding in August. We returned to one of Mt Rogers 65+ original eucalypts where a huge patch of honeysuckle was removed in 2019 - 2020. Some honeysuckle had re-sprouted and I pulled ’Sticky weed’. 

The repeated heavy rain events have made the main gravel track around Mt Rogers more eroded and very boggy in places. Mick Lee from the TCCS depot at Charnwood has been to inspect the track several times and, with Phil, is developing a repair plan for the most significantly impassable sections. We reported the track’s state and installed temporary notices saying so, hoping that TCCS would receive fewer calls at a time when they are extremely busy throughout the ACT. 

Wildflowers have had a wonderful season again with paper daisies, orchids, lilies, flowering shrubs, wattles and a succession of eucalypts enticing pollinators to their flowers. As Mt Rogers was scraped bare when the reservoirs and powerlines were installed we no longer have many of the native species that can be seen at Hall Woodland, on Percival Hill at Nicholls and Gungahlin Hill south of Crace. 

Around some of the boulders and near rocky areas wildflowers persist. These places are habitats for the species of skinks, lizards and snakes. With all the grasses growth, bare ground for basking reptiles to warm up their bodies is scarce. Perhaps this is why more snake sightings have been reported….they are more obviously on the  move from their ‘home bases’ or seeking other animals to eat. 

The next Mt Rogers working bees are scheduled for mornings on Sunday 27th November and Monday 5th December. 

Working bees, late October, early November 2022

The next working bee dates for the Mt Rogers Landcare Group are:

• Sunday 23rd October from 09.00am. Working uphill from the easement between Hammett place, Spence and Carey place, Melba.
• Monday 7th November. Details TBA.

Rosemary,

Landcare Group Convenor

Mt Rogers Newsletter, September 2022

As Mt Rogers begins to emerge from a very wet and damp-cold winter the native wildflowers are beginning to bloom. The most obvious blooms are from at least four species of Wattle with the early wattle showing its creamy-yellow flowers in the middle of winter. By September the Cootamundra wattles have lost their glory but they still attract many insectivorous birds which come to feast on the invertebrates that prove that the invasive wattles are good habitat. The Wattles ‘take it in turn’ to flower as others will provide nectar and pollen as enticements to pollinators in November and later in the summer. Later again Cockatoos and Superb Parrots will come into the reserve to feed on the Acacias’ seedpods.

              Many native wildflowers are much smaller than people expect especially if they are more familiar with large daisies, camellias, roses and other species from overseas. The rainy seasons we have had have rehydrated the soils to such an extent that native shrubs are very showy with masses of blooms even though the individual flowers are intricate and small. Particularly at ground level wildflower species have evolved very specialist mechanisms and structures for attracting visitors and dusting them with pollen for transferring to other blooms.

              It may seem that there hasn't been much Landcare activity on Mt Rogers recently. Two or three working days were cancelled due to weather. Because so many Privets, Cotoneasters and Firethorns have been removed over 25 years, the group's land caring has increasingly focused on herbaceous and grassy invasive species. The woody weeds reached the reserve as berries eaten and carried in from gardens by hungry birds. The La Nina seasons we have had mean that woody weeds still in suburbia and gardens produce millions of berries to re-invade the ACT's reserves. We are already finding that Privet seedlings are present under branches and trees where birds have perched and pooed.

              At least three winter working bees were spent pulling out Euphorbia plants. These European, green-flowered species are popular with gardeners seeking novelty, have caustic sap and spread rapidly. We are monitoring infestations of berry-spread Honeysuckle, Ivy and Blackberry and are on the lookout for new incursions when going ‘cross-country’.                                               

             As last summer ended volunteers began to remove thousands of Fleabane seedheads to prevent the seeds blowing away in the wind. We also removed the seemingly dead stalks as buds around the roots seemed likely to reshoot in spring. Now we are also digging up the rosettes of new Fleabane leaves as we search through the reserve’s rank, introduced grasses in search of young Verbascum plants’ rosettes. Fleabane has its uses but is a major herbaceous invasive in Australia’s agricultural areas. Here’s a quote from The Weed Forager’s Handbook by Adam Grubb & Annie Raser-Rowland.  “We use Fleabane …to remove fleas from our dog.  Boil large bunches [of fleabane] in water and add the strained-off liquid to the bath when washing your canine. Many human medicinal qualities have been attributed to it too, most widely as a tea to treat diarrhoea.”

              There are two species of Verbascum that have invaded degraded land in the ACT region. Thousands of the soft, hairy-leaved species of Great Mullein, Verbascum thapsus are present on  Mt Rogers. The Landcare group has focused on removing the dried-off seedheads during several working bees as each contains thousands of tiny seeds smaller than two joined dots.. Verbascum detail, including the plants’ uses and the fact that the seeds remain in the soil for years, is in this Wiki entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbascum_thapsus

Sometimes Verbascum rosettes are growing amongst the kangaroos’ preferred fodder and native Weeping Grass, Microlaena stipoides.

              Scores of Thistles were removed to prevent further distribution of their ‘parachute’ seeds but we’re still finding ones we missed, particularly those that grew cryptically under or up through shrubs and trees. This effort and daubing – spraying the invasive grasses, CNG, ALG and ST, that come in on wheels feet and mowers is also an individual effort rather than happening in a working bee session. We try to reduce the amount of herbicides used or use them as a method of last resort. Similarly, and we are helped by the La Nina damp soil, we apply the no dig method or minimal digging whenever possible. Dormant seeds respond by germinating when shading plants are removed and the soil is aerated. Digging also damages the essential fungal and microbial networks that we are all finding out much more about.

              As the weather warms up we are already seeing more insects emerging with photos of several interesting species of butterflies and moths already being recorded near or on Mt Rogers. Sightings include Blue Tongue lizards which means that Brown Snakes will also be basking to warm up or on the move through the reserve. Be cautious with your off-leash dogs ………as the sign says:

Snakes live here.

They are not usually aggressive.

If you meet one stay calm and

back away slowly while

maintaining eye contact

 If a dog is bitten Pet Ambulance can

be called 0448 789 039 or 0417 485 788

Note: They are not permitted to administer antivenin.

The team at Canberra Snake Rescue

and Relocation will come to your property 0405 405 304

to assist if you have reptilian visitors.

 The reserve is shared habitat.

Native wildlife, plants & rocks

are protected from interference

or removal by ACT laws.

              And as for Mt Rogers’ birds, we saw Scarlet Robins during the winter months but they may have already moved out of the ACT. Seasonal migrants moving in as it warms up include Cuckoos that don’t call “cuckoo”, Orioles and Noisy Friarbirds. There have been many Grey Fantails around hawking on the wing for insects we might disturb. The GFT’s are often part of Mixed Feeding Flocks of smaller birds with each species seeking out preferred invertebrates or seeds in bushes, on the ground or amongst the trees’ foliage and canopies.

               If you’re caring for young people there’s many in-nature activity ideas and nature treasure hunts available on the Nature Play CBR website.

              And there’s the URBAN FIELD NATURALIST project site and companion book:  A Guide to the creatures in your Neighbourhood. Both are about, becoming and being naturalists; observant people who pause, ponder, record and share experiences whilst out and about in the nature around them.

              Will there be any fungi emerging as the soils and leaf litter layers warm up? An inspection mirror is good for looking under toadstools without knocking them over and magnifying glasses give intriguing views of leaves, flowers and mini-beasts. Enjoy Sprummer!!

 

Rosemary  

Convenor, Mt Rogers Landcare Group www.mtrogerslandcare.blogspot.com   62584724