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Public consultation – draft BCC Biosecurity Plan

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Brisbane City Council has announced the release of the draft Biosecurity Plan for the Brisbane Local Government Area.
 
This document is being circulated and will soon be released on Council’s website for public consultation until Saturday, 16 December 2017. In the meantime, Council has kindly provided us with an early release version.


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As the management of invasive species requires all stakeholders to work together, your feedback is extremely important to refine the final Biosecurity Plan.
  
Should you wish to provide comment, feedback or prepare a formal submission in response, this can be done via email to [email protected]
 
For more information, please contact the Biosecurity, Wildlife and Invasive Species Management team at BCC on 3403 8888 or via the above email address.



Please help our Greater Gliders!

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The Queensland Glider Network will soon start monitoring nest boxes in the search for greater gliders and they need your help!

They have installed nest boxes in three locations across Brisbane so there are plenty of dates to choose from! 

Please visit as many surveys as you can!

To book your spot on the survey team, choose your survey date/s and send them to [email protected]

 
                               

The Night Hunter

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Which bird hunts the chicks of other birds by night and roosts secretively during the day?

It is the Nankeen Night Heron.

The November 2017 issue of Feather Fascination provides an interesting description of this elusive bird.

Click here to read the article, authored by Jim Butler.

Planting! Planting! Planting!

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Do you have a green thumb? Do you enjoy planting natives?

Then why not spend a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon with our Mirbelia Street bushcare group?

This Saturday (11 November) the group will meet at 2pm in Pamela Place, Kenmore Hills. They generally meet on the first Saturday and third Sunday of each month.

This Saturday they’ll be planting a large number plants provided by Brisbane City Council.

The area will have been freshly mulched so it’ll be nice easy work! And refreshments are provided.

It’s all hands on deck so if you can help, please give Bryan Hacker a call on 3374 1468.

More details are also available in our Working Bee Calendar.

The McKay Brook Team back in 2016

Help us build a Butterfly List!

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Breaking news!  We have an exciting new project in the  pipeline!

We are building an Online Guide to the Butterflies found right here within our catchment. We anticipate will serve as an identification tool, including local images, food sources and locations. 

We anticipate there will be about 60 butterflies including all the Swallowtails, Whites and Yellows, Nymphs Danaids and Browns, and a representative number of the Skippers and Blues.

CAN YOU HELP US WITH PHOTOS AND/OR LOCAL INFORMATION?

If you can help, please send an email to Ed Frazer at: [email protected]

Here is a lovely photo of a Blue Tiger from Ed to whet your appetite!

Ever feel like you’re being watched? – Chris Read

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Do you ever feel you are being watched? Hanging out in the bush, I often do!

Sometimes I look around and see a Swamp Wallaby staring from the darkest undergrowth, a Yellow Robin hanging on to a vertical tree or a Water Dragon watching from a distance ….

One day at my home in Brookfield, I looked around and found an amazing face watching me from the inside of a glider box, a classic cute face – soft, round, with disproportionately large eyes ….

At first I thought it was a Squirrel Glider but eventually worked out it was a special bird of the night, an Owlet Nightjar.

Owlet Nightjars are related to Frogmouths and occur across all of Australia. They spend their day in hollows and are most common in dry wooded areas. They are common in the Moggill Creek Catchment. At night, they feed on the wing on live insects, like a nocturnal Willy Wagtail.

I have come to learn that Owlet Nightjars are resident at our Brookfield home year around. In my yard, they have about six different hollow homes that they rotate between – some natural and some artificial boxes. I often find one of them at the entrance of the hollow in the day discretely sunning itself. Their call is a soft churring sound and once I came to recognise their calls, I have the pleasure of hearing them regularly both day and night.

My learnings:

  • Protect every hollow tree, they are extremely precious to our native animals & birds;
  • Take time to be present when in nature in Moggill Creek Catchment, there are special surprises everywhere; and
  • Leave a legacy by putting up as many artificial nest boxes as possible.

Return to Bush Bites

Upcoming BCC Events

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The Community Conservation Partnerships Program of the  Brisbane City Council holds a range of range of excellent environmentally-focused workshops and seminars throughout the year. Two seminars are coming up in November:

1. Thursday 16 November:  The art of Community Engagement

Join speakers from Brisbane City Council, Logan City Council and Intrepid Landcare to learn from their experience with community engagement practice. Listen to case studies and generate new ideas during this jam-packed evening.

2. Sunday 12 November:  Restoring Habitats – Beyond the trees – The importance of people to bushcare

Hear from a variety of guest speakers, Habitat Brisbane and catchment groups on how they work with and support their volunteers, followed by practical workshops.

Bookings for both sessions are essential. Check our Events Calendar for details.

Is there a Tuan in your backyard?

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Is something eating your chickens? Backyard poultry is  the target of many predators, including the somewhat elusive and little known Tuan.

The Brush-tailed phascogale is a tree-dwelling marsupial found in parts of the East coast of Australia and more specifically, in the fringe suburbs of Brisbane.

The Tuan is a voracious nocturnal hunter. It forages on insects and small vertebrates but will also attack poultry. 

The Tuan has grey fur on its head and is recognisable by its bushy, black “bottle-brush” tail.  

Click here to see a short Bush Bites article about an encounter with a local Tuan.

For more local information, you can visit the Queensland Museum website. 

Tuckett Street Park on a Sunday

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Looking for a quiet and grassy creekside parkland so you can enjoy nature on a lazy Sunday morning?

Why not try Tuckett Street Park?  Nestled away in Kenmore Hills, this picturesque parkland has wide areas of grassland and a playground for the kids. 

Its great for picnics or a walk by the creek!

A bushcare group meets here on the last Sunday of each month. They do some general maintenance to keep the weeds down, put in new plantings and essentially make the area the inviting haven it has become.

If you can spare some time to help look after Tuckett Street Park, Jim Pope can give you all the details. His phone number is 3374 4181 or email: [email protected]

The group has been meeting for many years and are very welcoming to new starters. Here are some photos from over the years to show what a typical Tuckett St. working bee looks like! 

 The flood aftermath in February 2015   

   

Brushcutting – May 2016:   

  


Time for a break! May 2016:



Into the thick of it! – May 2016:


Watering in new plantings – May 2016:



Simply enjoying the outdoors – May 2016:



The smile says it all: bushcare is not all that hard! May 2016:



Photos on display from Monday 23 October 2017

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Come and browse through the fabulous entries from this  year’s Photography Competition! 

Entries will be displayed at Kenmore Shopping Village from Monday 23 October until Saturday 28 October 2017.

An Awards Ceremony will be held at the Shopping Village at 2.00pm on Saturday 28 October. Make sure to keep it free!