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Happiness is a Butterfly

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Can you picture the skies full of Richmond Birdwing Butterflies again?

That’s exactly what will happen when we work together to Bring Back the Birdwing!

Wildlife Queensland is working with South-East Queensland councils (Logan City, Gold Coast City, Scenic Rim Regional and Moreton Bay Regional) to organise the linking of two core populations of the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly in 2018.

“It is critical that we connect these populations by creating stepping-stone populations of the vine to ‘join the dots’. Without this, gene flow cannot occur and the species simply will not persist in a healthy way.” Matt Cecil, Projects Manager Wildlife Queensland. 

To create these critical stepping-stones, at least 500 vines need to be planted throughout carefully selected locations in 2018. That will cost $12,500.

Propagating, growing, planting and maintaining one Richmond Birdwing Butterfly Vine to ensure it survives and thrives costs $25.

  • Do you think you can help rescue the Richmond Birdwing from extinction?
  • Could you make a tax-deductible donation now to help grow 500 of the butterfly’s host plants?


To become part of this crusade and see how much is being pledged, please click here.
 
 

A note from Phil – September 2017

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Well, this dry it has been challenging to keep our plantings from drying out. Our latest planting on the creek bank and what the Green Army did late last year and early this year is mostly doing all right.


A lot of the planting is becoming established with some struggling and a few lost causes. Becoming harder to find enough water is the problem.

However there are still little delights. Julia Blumhardt, Creek Officer standing in for Leah, had a look at our site and found a couple of new plants (for me) Blood vine (Aust. blackii) and Purple Cheese Fruit (Acronychia laevia) and what maybe a troublesome weed vine, Mysore thorn. 


I am still working with Paul Devine (Habitat Brisbane Officer) to complete the submission for a Habitat Brisbane Application. We’re re-drafting to just include Council land, which covers the road margins and culverts. It has a total length of 900m, which with 10 m margins gives 18,000 m2. We are hoping to have it ready for the October meeting when the management committee meets. Any one who wants more information please get in touch with me. 

Russell Downes stopped by a couple of weeks ago and offered to run his slasher over the Elephant Grass. After a few moments of deliberation (on my part) Russell did point out “it is only elephant grass”. So that would be great as it would enable us to see the lie of the land and treat the Maderia and Morning Glory that is growing quite nicely in the grass. It will also help to keep the channel open. 

If there are any interesting wildlife sightings please let us know. Mine is a pair (unfortunately past..) of Dewfish in a small drying pool. 

Hope to see some of you on Sunday 24 September for the WB or morning tea and please bring a plate to share.

Phil

Soak up some Spring sunshine!

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This Sunday we have four bushcare groups meeting in various locations:

  1. Gap Creek, led by Mike Humphreys – 3374 1467
  2. Huntington on Tuckett, led by Jim Pope – 3374 4181
  3. Brookfield Showgrounds, led by Damien Egan – 0400 737 122
  4. Upper Brookfield on Galvin Road, led by Phil Bird – 0407 664 909
    (you can see Phil’s latest group update here).

Can you spare a couple of hours to help in the restoration of these areas?

It’s not difficult work and newcomers are always made to feel very welcome.

For details, please check our Working Bee Calendar.

Cast your vote!

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The MCCG has been selected as a finalist in the 2017 Queensland Community Achievement Awards and we are a part of the People’s Choice Award.

The People’s Choice is a Facebook poll – a fun way to raise awareness of the achievements and inspiring stories of all finalists.

You can read the bio for the MCCG and cast a vote by clicking here.

Or you can go directly to the poll at https://poll.fbapp.io/qldcaa17 and submit your vote. 

You can only vote once per day, so make sure you share the People’s Choice Award poll with your friends and family. 

The winner receives $500 from Pullenvale Ward, which is pretty handy! Plus each vote that someone makes is an entry for their chance to win a further $100. 

This has been made possible only through the generosity and passion of our talented and dedicated volunteers, and the efforts of the MCCG Management Committee.

A sincere THANK YOU to all who have contributed and who continue to support the MCCG.

To view more details about this year’s awards, please click here.

Platypus-a-plenty!

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Seventy-six bright-eyed volunteers set their alarms VERY EARLY to take part in the annual MCCG Platypus Survey on Sunday 10 September.


They were rewarded with 15 sightings! …. which they believe were of 12 platypus that were active on that morning.

You can read about the survey and see this year’s report, including photos, by clicking here.

Members are also invited to hear all about this year’s survey and all thing platypus at our Cottage Talk featuring Tamielle Brunt this Thursday 21 September at 10am.


Photo courtesy of Ed Frazer

For more info about the Cottage Talk, please contact Dale Borgelt: [email protected] or phone:3374 1035

Birds in tunnels

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We have two WONDERFUL articles guaranteed to fascinate …  They reveal the curious parenting and foraging behaviours of the Striated Pardalote.

Jim Butler’s September issue of Feather Fascination provides a very interesting read: {module_literature,i,176534}

Photo courtesy of Ed Frazer

And if you’d like to see some amazing photos from Ed Frazer, together with an account of his experiences photographing two Striated Pardalotes in a tunnel on his Brookfield property … click here ! 
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Nightlife in the Catchment – Ed Frazer

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During the past eight years I have been using several trail cameras around our property. This has greatly expanded my appreciation of the wildlife which lives alongside us.

Over the 44 years we have been here I have regularly seen during daytime red-necked wallabies, hares and water dragons.  I have occasionally seen possums, platypus, koalas and antechinus, but the cameras have revealed a whole lot more going on during the night.

 

A camera-shy Echidna

I use a number of different cameras and many of them are white and some infra-red flash. They are all triggered by infra-red. The quality of the photos has improved considerably with the most recent models taking 16 megapixel photos.

My method of viewing nightlife is to select an interesting habitat area and set a few cameras up targeting where I think the animals may have regular tracks or on branches I think might be used as perches. Transition zones between bush and open areas are another target. Every few days I swap the cards in the cameras and review them on my computer to see what I have photographed.

Deer on the move

As most of our animals are nocturnal I have seen so much more than I expected. It is the insight into their night life that is interesting as they go about their normal behaviour without being frightened by my unexpected presence.

It is not just the animals.

I have found the regular habitat of a number of very cryptic birds that are seldom seen during the day. Shy species such as Russet-tailed thrushes, Noisy Pittas, Lewin’s Rails, Spotless Crakes and Little Grassbirds are usually well gone before they are seen during daytime.

A Bush-stone curlew poses for the camera

 

Once I have found their hangout I set up a hide and this allows me to photograph them with my good camera. I have also been able to see nocturnal birds such as Bush Stone-curlews going about the normal business instead of looking like statues as they behave during daylight.

The cameras also show me there are a lot more feral animals than I had realised. Foxes, deer, dogs, hares and cats are photographed by the trail cameras almost daily.

Here are a few more examples of the nightlife that occurs on my property:

A fox escapes with … a bandicoot?
 
 

A domestic cat on a night-time prowl
 

A Ring-tailed possum avoids the light