… must come down! Or so the saying goes!
The Varied Sitella has a remarkable foraging method. It hops HEAD-FIRST down tree branches and trunks to find its prey (insects and spiders living under the bark).

Open the July version of Jim Butler’s “Feather Fascination” to see an image of the Varied Sittella on its way down a tree, and read more about these beautiful and uniquely-shaped residents of our Catchment.

Join Mike Humphreys and others from the Rural Environment Planning Association Inc (REPA) for a morning walk along Gap Creek on Sunday 9 July.

You will be guided through a riparian zone which has been lovingly nurtured for over 15 years by a group of dedicated volunteers supported by Habitat Brisbane.

Come along for a walk with nature and enjoy all they have achieved!

The walk will commence at 10.30am on Brookfield Road, Brookfield, near the tennis courts (UBD 177 C/D2). Bring your own lunch, water and sun protection and wear sensible shoes.

RSVP’s to Jenny Hacker are essential by phone on 3374 1468 or via email on: [email protected]

Brisbane City Council has announced the opening of its 2017-18 Community Conservation Assistance program (CCA). 
This assistance is available to help deliver on-ground habitat restoration works within priority biodiversity areas that may otherwise be difficult to undertake.

“Stingless Native Bees” is the topic of our Cottage Talk for MCCG members at 10am, Thursday 20th July.

Tony Goodrich will be bringing a working hive and demonstrating the features of native stingless bee-keeping.

For this popular talk, interested members will definitely need to book their place early by contacting our PR Officer, Dale Borgelt at: [email protected]

Native bees collecting pollen in the company of a lone honeybee. Photo: John Klumpp

The lucky attendees at our public meeting on June 15 were thoroughly entertained by Martin Fingland’s talk on Tracks and Traces of Wildlife. 
Martin showed us plenty of the tell-tale traces of wildlife visitors that we can look out for. 

And full credit must go to the birders in the audience, who were just great at identifying species from single feathers!

Our sincere thanks to Martin for once again sharing his knowledge and providing such an entertaining presentation!

  

WHAT A DAY!

There were many happy faces, with little and large hands and fingers alike busily engaged in colouring, make and do and art and craft activities at our Kids Day at the Cottage on 28th May.

The focus of Kids Day is to share information about the natural environment.

Kids of all ages (and, just quietly, grown ups too!) learnt as they enjoyed close-up contact with the real thing.  We saw wonderful displays and presentations, as always, including all the wildlife Martin Fingland brought along with him for his Geckoes presentations.

There were plenty of fun activities.  Kids wore home-made neckwear (created using natural products) and some even modelled their Richmond Birdwing Butterfly ‘light-captures.’

Making jewellery to proudly wear home!

At different stands, we all learnt about the different features of native flora and fauna—having fun looking at and sorting, tracks, shapes, seeds and shells.

Holding friendly giant burrowing cockroaches is ALWAYS FUN!

And we all enjoyed the fishing game devised by the Girl Guides. Thanks girls!

The tricky Fishing Game!

We extend sincere thanks to our new sponsor Seqwater.

Water was the drink of the day and everyone appreciated the Seqwater filtered refills!

We are also grateful for the continuing support of Lord Mayor’s Suburban Initiative Fund, the Pullenvale Ward Councillor and the Brisbane City Council Creek Catchment Program for their generosity and support.

A big gold star also to our young Star Helpers for pitching in and making the day so happy!

And we must acknowledge the tireless efforts and energy of our Public Relations Officer, Dale Borgelt, who is the dynamo behind these wonderful days. (All images on this page were kindly supplied by Dale). 

CAN’T WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR !!! (Keep it free – the 2nd Sunday in June)

“It is very satisfying to visit places that were bare ground 20 years ago and walk in the shade of trees that I remember as seedlings. Now 15-20 metres tall, they bear fruit and seeds for birds to carry off and drop elsewhere.”

These simple words from the MCCG’s first Chairman, Gordon Grigg, do not seek any reward for the many hours of care that our volunteer members have bestowed upon the Catchment during the past 20 years.

But they do provide the perfect illustration of a shared passion. Our members are driven by a yearning to protect and retain the simple and valuable landscape that welcomes us home each evening and allows us to shed the pressures of our busy daily lives, even if it’s just for a few hours by the creek each weekend.

The MCCG turns 20 in December 2017.

It has been a remarkable journey. In Gordon’s words:

“Every year the nursery gives out thousands of plants to members, the Photography Competition runs, Section Leaders still hold regular working bees (although not all are active to the same extent), and we still aspire to ‘restore the catchment to a state as practicable as possible to the fauna and flora existing in 1788.  We still have a very active association with BCC.  Our membership has grown considerably, about 500 now, and additional activities such as the Creek Health Management Program and Kids Day have since been added to our annual calendar.”

Keep an eye out for how we will pay tribute to the passion of our members and a celebration of our achievements over the group’s first 20 years.