Wet and dry!

One day it is hot and very summer-like, the next it is more like winter. The Geraldton Carnation Weed love it. We have been continuing to remove the new seedlings.

21 October 2012

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4 November 2012

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11 November 2012

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More campers

Must be the time of year ... someone decides that Shenton Bushland is the ideal place to camp, light camp fires, throw rubbish around ...

Also came across some kind of Callitris (or Cypress) and a Geraldton Wax that will need to be removed.

Removed Geraldton Carnation Weed - lots more still to remove!

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In search of sun orchids

This is the time of year when the scented sun orchids are flowering.

According to a 2010 Friends of Kings Park publication "For People and Plants" article (Sun Orchids, Successful and Immoral), the Sun Orchid family are not fussy about whether they are pollinated by their own species or not - with the result that it can be difficult to identify one species of sun orchid from another.

This year we have found an abundant display of Sun Orchids within the bushland. We think they are Thelymytra macrophylla, but who knows? See photos below.

We also saw some Cow Kick trigger plants (Stylidium schoenoides)

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Spring time is here

The bushland is looking beautiful with lots of orchids and wildflowers out. Well worth a visit! We have been mostly working on Geraldton Carnation Weed and some of the bulbous weeds (especially watsonia and ixia) that we are keen to keep under control. The regular spring showers we are having are prompting lots of Geraldton Carnation Weed seedlings to keep coming up ...

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Continuing on with Geraldton Carnation Weed

After working on the Ixia we have now moved onto the Geraldton Carnation Weeds.

Not sure if our Ixia strategy is working - I don't think we are really controlling them - may need to explore other options.

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Sunday, 2nd September

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Sunday 9th September

Drug dens, foxes and rats!

Seems like the bushland is being visited by various pests - Dorothy found a drug den, and Joe Tonga lent us a camera that captured images of a fox and a rat. Not quite what we were hoping to see! We also came across a feral bee-hive inside a broken grass tree.

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Lachenalias and lots of other things

This wattle looks like something from the east.

Corné saw this cuckoo while we were working.

It looks like the Health Department decided to put the put the radiation lab into the car park rather than into bushland - well done (whoever it was)!

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Lachenalia and other things

First job this week was to cut up a tree fallen over the path, then back to removing lachenalia ...

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Corné' Photos

Shenton College student Corné van der Linden has sent in some great photos he took in the bushland recently:

Callose-palmed fence skink (Cryptoblepharus plagiocephalus)

Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera)

Photos copyright Corné van der Linden

Lachenalia and bridal creeper

Found two unwelcome guests - lachenalia and bridal creeper (see below). After an hour or so of removing lachenalia, Corne and I walked around the bushland inspecting orchids emerging after a very short and dry winter ...

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More Freesias

Continued with the freesias this weekend.

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Freesia Weeding

Now that winter really appears to have arrived, the Freesias are flourishing and we have been removing them from the southern end of the bushland.
Lots of flowers are coming along. We have been joined by a Shenton College student (Corne) who has shared these great photos with us:

Coral Fungus

Diviesia triflora

Hibberrtia recemosa

Hovea trisperma

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Planting day(s)

We had a couple of hundred trees (mainly casuarina) germinated for us by APACE that we planted out along behind the fence.

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Winter not really

Warm sunny days, cool nights ... an endless autumn rather than any real winter ...
However, some winter weeds are coming up - freesia and the occasional lachenalia - so we are gradually moving into our winter weeding pattern.
John, Michael, and I worked down at the southern end of the bushland, removing some Natal grass that persists in coming up after we dig it out - must be quite a seed bank in the soil - which we wish to deplete.

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Checking in a known problem area for Freesia and Veldgrass, there is quite a bit of freesia coming up. Michael and I also inspected the known problem area for Lachenalia to see what is happening there (it has been sprayed for the past few years) - very little lachenalia visible yet. Will need to come back in a few weeks.

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Bulbs begin to emerge

The bulbs are coming! Recent rain has spurred them into action. So, Vicki, Michael, John and I have been gradually moving away from Veldgrass to focus more on the bulbs - freesia and watsonia are the main ones. Also explored a potential black-flag infestation that we might try to control by covering with weed matting for a few years to see what happens.

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Sunday, 6th May

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Sunday 13th May

More of the same ...

Most of April has been fine weather (apart from rain at the beginning and end), so we have continued veldgrass weeding and identifying spots to spray.

April 1

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April 15

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April 29

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Committee Meeting

On 11th March - Michael, John and I weeded in south-west corner. Came across a patch of Natal grass to remove.
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On 18th March I took a potential new volunteer Tom for a tour around the bushland.
At 9 we had a committee meeting - looked at our activities plan for next year - and decided to experiment with using weed matting to control Black Flag.
Also explored ways of recognizing and celebrating the contribution that Janice Marshall made to the way we manage the bushland. Sadly Janice died last week.

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A cool morning - for a change

It has been hot - so it was nice to have a relatively cool morning in the bushland.

Michael, John and I worked mainly in the south-west corner, removing veldgass. Came across a bit of fountain grass that we removed, and some couch grass to spray. Otherwise, just lots of spiders.

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