End of summer committee meeting

This was (fingers crossed) the last of our summer weeding sessions - so we continued with removing veldgrass that has survived the spraying (and is just waiting for rain to spring back to life).

At 9am we stopped weeding to have our committee meeting - present John, Dorothy, Vicki, Roz, and myself. Kerri brought around some muffins at 10.

The main issues discussed were weed control strategies and what to do with 'The Barrens' - a degraded area that used to be a rubbish dump (see map below):

The problem with the barrens that it has a lot of asbestos particles in the soil from the time it was a rubbish dump - so we should not really be doing anything that disturbs the soil - or spend many thousands of dollars removing the asbestos.

We came up with the idea of spreading Dryandra Sessilis seeds - to form a dense prickly thicket that will keep people out and provide food for Carnaby's (and other birds).

Click here to view live map Click here to download the GPX data for this map. Note, this data is an XML file - change the name to .GPX to upload to your GPS.

More pit traps

We keep coming across pit traps that ECU students have installed as part of their research projects in Shenton Bushland. Whilst it is good to contribute to the education of future ecologists, we do worry about the disturbance the traps may cause. We will need to monitor the sites and check that they recover once the students have finished.

John and I continued with our veldgrass removal process - working systematically through the bushland to take out any veldgrass that has survived the spraying from last winter. It is also a great way to visit parts of the bushland that we would not usually visit at other times of the year.
Despite the long dry summer, the bushland is not looking too bad at present - the damage from last year's hailstorm is no longer evident, and there does appear to be quite a bit of recruitment of sedgy plants such as alexgeorgia and desmocladus.

Click here to view live map Click here to download the GPX data for this map. Note, this data is an XML file - change the name to .GPX to upload to your GPS.

Thanks to anonymous Cleanup Australia volunteers!

It was nice to see that some community-minded volunteers had come along Lemnos street to clean up along the street verge last weekend - thanks!

The week before, it was very hot, so I didn't stay in the bushland long - just pulled out some Veldgrass along the path.

Click here to view live map Click here to download the GPX data for this map. Note, this data is an XML file - change the name to .GPX to upload to your GPS.

We came across a bee hive that may need to be removed. Rainbow lorrikeets were inspecting the hollow as well as a nesting site.

Click here to view live map Click here to download the GPX data for this map. Note, this data is an XML file - change the name to .GPX to upload to your GPS.

Giant lomandra clump?

Not sure whether this really is a lomandra - i have never seen one as large as this!

John and I are continuing with our veldgrass removal - the spraying has brought it down to levels that we can cope with removing the remnants by hand.

Click here to view live map Click here to download the GPX data for this map. Note, this data is an XML file - change the name to .GPX to upload to your GPS.

Cyclone Fizzle

Working in the bushland this morning was quite unpleasant - very hot and humid - anticipating arrival of Cycline Fizzle (nothing happened except a bit of drizzle).
Despite feeling very languid we did manage to remove two quite large Victorian Ti Trees, and I also came across some Watsonias that had very large bulbs - had obviously been there for some time - but fortunately hadn't spread far. I dug them out.
Otherwise we just focussed on removing remnants of veldgrass that had survived the spraying during winter. There wasn't a lot of it.

Came across this bobtail basking in the humid warmth ...

I have no idea who put these pit traps in ...

Click here to view live map Click here to download the GPX data for this map. Note, this data is an XML file - change the name to .GPX to upload to your GPS.

How could we have missed it?

It amazes me that we can walk past a weedy Victorian Ti Tree many times and never see it until it is so big we can't miss it!

John inspecting the offending ti tree
We also came across a patch of Geraldton Carnation Weed, and also removed the Fountain Grass that I had been unable to get out last Sunday.
There is lots of Pelargonium, Fountain Grass, and Geraldton Carnation Weed in the adjoining Defence Department land.

Click here to view live map Click here to download the GPX data for this map. Note, this data is an XML file - change the name to .GPX to upload to your GPS.

Fountains of Work

This is my first Sunday back after the XMas holidays. John has been working here all through XMas. Thanks John!
We worked in the Southern end of the bushland, mainly removing veldgrass that has survived the winter spraying. We also came across some Victorian Ti Tree and Fountain Grass (lots of it!). I didn't have the tools required to remove the bigger Fountain Grass clumps, so will need to return better equiped next week.

There is also lots of Pelargonium in the Defence Department land that is moving into the bushland - we will need to contact the Defence Department to remove it.

Click here to view live mapClick here to download the GPX data for this map. Note, this data is an XML file - change the name to .GPX to upload to your GPS.