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!

  

“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.

Healthy Land and Water is launching a new database which will house all existing and future water quality and environmental monitoring data collected by community and school groups throughout South East Queensland.

And they are providing training to interested volunteers and teachers during July and August 2017.

If you are interested, please register for a session to be held at various locations throughout South East Queensland. Click here for the dates, venues and the links to RSVP.

If you have any questions please contact either Karen Toms or Nat Parker:

• Karen Toms: email: [email protected]  or by phone: 0448 069 226
  (please note Karen will be on annual leave and unavailable from 16th June – 10th July)
• Nat Parker: email: [email protected] or by phone: 0447 789 273

Note: This training and database is supported by Healthy Land and Water through the Regional Landcare Facilitator program supported through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Programme and Healthy Land and Water, Brisbane City Council, Ipswich City Council, Logan City Council, Redland City Council and Moreton Bay Regional Council.

Want to know more?

You can get involved important work to compile baseline data about fish, aquatic macro-invertebrates, habitat and water quality at one of 12 sites in our catchment. This fascinating and hands-on work will assist decision-making about where effort should be directed in land and water management. Monitoring sessions are held twice a year, in April/May and October/November.  Check out our Creek Health Monitoring Project web page.  You can also email our Secretary for more info at: [email protected]

Keep Friday afternoon 23 June free!

Here is a window of opportunity to view Kenmore State High School’s showcase of environmental projects at Kenmore Library from 1.30 to 2.30pm.

So stop your shopping for a while and come and be inspired by just how environmentally aware these Year 9 students are!

The quality of the showcase is testament to the fact that our environmental future is the hands of some very competent and talented young leaders.

For more info, email:  [email protected]  or phone 3327 1587.

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Do you know someone aged between 16 and 35 who is interested in fun land care activities and networking with other young people?

Over the last 5 to 10 years, a small, brown beetle known as the ‘Celtis Leaf Beetle’ (Menippus cynicus) has started causing noticeable damage to the young leaves of the highly invasive introduced weed-tree Chinese Celtis (Celtis sinensis) around South-East Queensland.

The Celtis Leaf Beetle is native to coastal, central Queensland and we are unsure whether it has moved by itself to south-east Queensland, or if it was transported by people.  

Regardless, it is here in our catchment now and we can only hope that it reduces the vigour of Chinese Celtis!

Photo courtesy of BioSecurity Qld

Hidden away in the waterways and grasses of our Moggill Creek Catchment are some fascinating birds belonging to the little-known group of Crakes and Rails.

There is very limited public awareness of crakes and rails in the waterways of South-East Queensland in general.  Activities such as grass mowing and creek dredging have significantly destroyed their habitat, without replacement. 

Achieving the optimal balance between revegetation, weed control, public amenity and sustaining native birds and plants that already exist in our waterways is not easy.

Within our own catchment, crakes and rails include the Lewins Rail, Buff-banded Rail, Pale-vented Bush-hen and Spotless Crake. The following pictures were taken locally by Ed Frazer.    

Lewins Rail

Buff-banded Rail

Pale-vented Bush-hen

Spotless Crake

A recent article published in the Land for Wildlife newsletter lists some strategies that can be applied to protect the habitat of these wonderful birds. It is a helpful resource/reference for protecting the wonderful—but, in this case, hidden—biodiversity that presently exists in our creeks, swamps and riversides. 

Although perhaps giving the impression that these birds are common, permanent habitat in our suburbs is scarce and many waterways are no longer suitable for these fascinating birds.

Brisbane City Council’s Conservation Action Statement on Crakes & Rails (2010) also provides some interesting facts and figures.

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Our June Cottage Talk, scheduled for Thursday 15th June, has been cancelled.

This is due to our mid-year public meeting being held on the same day.

Please click here for more info. 

YOU ARE MOST WELCOME to join us for our mid-year public meeting!