Woody Weed Working Bee Sunday15 February 9am until noon
A thicket of Nettle Trees Celtis australis growing out-of-control on the Acton Peninsula. At working bees, we aim to tackle woody weeds like these to prevent such thickets crowding out native plants in the Mount Majura Nature Reserve.
Photo by Jenni Marsh.
Friends of Mt Majura Park Care group will host another woody weed working bee between Hackett Houses track, Blue Metal Rd, and the high voltage powerlines. We warmly welcome all weeders with or without experience.
When: Sunday 15 February at 9am – please arrive on time to meet work buddies and weeds.
Where: Nature reserve gate, Mackenzie St car park, near Grayson St, Hackett – see meeting point on this map .
What: Remove shrubs and seedlings, mainly garden escapees. More information here.
Bring: Enthusiasm, water to drink, sun protection, and wear gardening clothes, gloves
and sturdy shoes and, if you want to, bring some personal garden tools such as a hand mattock or secateurs.
We provide experienced weeding buddies, tools, gloves and delicious cake for morning tea.
Enquiries: secretary@majura.org
Summer Bird Walk 8 February 2026 at 8am until 10am
Young Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus looking at its photographer and you!
Photo by jb2602, courtesy of Canberra NatureMapr.
Join bird enthusiast Peter Miller for an early morning stroll through Mt Majura’s woodland to spot, listen to and learn about Mt Majura’s birds. We plan to walk on rough foot tracks, and off track on uneven ground.
Meet on Sunday 8 February at 8am sharp – at the nature reserve entrance at Tay St, North Watson (at the volunteer registration point on this map).
Bring: Sturdy shoes, water, binoculars or camera with zoom and a field guide if you have them. Or you can link to canberra.naturemapr.org on your smart phone. Bring a gold coin donation for a printed copy of Mt Majura’s birdlist.
If you have questions, contact: FoMMnaturewalks@gmail.com
No bookings required.
Further information:
http://canberrabirds.org.au/observing-birds/identification/
Butterfly Walk and Talk Sunday 22 February 10:30am – 12:30pm
Common Grass-blue Zizina otis butterflies are very common in Canberra gardens and the reserves with over a thousand sightings on Canberra NatureMapr. This pair were photographed recently in a local garden by Jochen Zeil.
Courtesy of Canberra NatureMapr
Where: Mount Majura Nature Park gate, off Antill St dirt carpark, 100m past Fison St, Hackett
What: An easy, informative walk with Dr Suzi Bond biologist, butterfly expert, and author of A Field Guide to Butterflies of the ACT.
Bring: Sturdy shoes, water, binoculars or camera with zoom and a field guide if you have them. Or you can link to canberra.naturemapr.org on your smart phone. A gold coin donation would be appreciated.
Note: This event will be cancelled if it is raining. Bookings not required.
For more information and a map: see here.
Mondays @ The Fair Report
Our convenor Jochen Zeil has recently submitted the report on FoMM’s environmental grant for 2024-25 including our documented weed control efforts. We applied successfully for a follow-up grant, for continued contractor work and for displays explaining the history of The Fair and other FoMM projects and the assets at Mt Majura we are trying to protect. You can now find the acquittal (summary) for the 2024/25 grant and the application for the follow-up 2025/26 grant on the FoMM website here. Our thanks to Jochen for the substantial amount of work involved in administering the grants.
The 2025-26 grant has been funding the contract spraying of our most serious weeds according to the Weed Management Plan and our volunteer work of weed control and mapping has been largely directed by this same plan.
Now we need to map areas of untreated St John’s Wort (StJW) that are still a problem so that we can employ contractors again next season if we get another tranche of money for that purpose.
Monday @ The Fair group have been continuing with woody weed control and finding problems with resprouting of previously treated Sweet Briars Rosa rubiginosa – see one example in the photo and recognise that the first treatment must be below the crown, where the stems arise. Dig down to expose the crown. Just cutting stems above the crown and dabbing them is effective for some woody weeds but not for briars. If treating resprouters, as well as spraying or dabbing the clean cut crown with the herbicide, check for lateral roots and treat them – they can also sprout new shoots – for examples see here and here.
Resprouted Sweet Briar dug to expose and cut the crown for treatment. Old stems previously treated unsuccessfully are brown, new stems growing from them are green, and there are several on each old stem piece. The cut crown is in the centre surrounded by the dug-out dirt.
Photo by Waltraud, courtesy of Canberra NatureMapr
Since it has been so dry this summer, the Monday group also watered and mulched the Tall Sedges Carex appressa which were planted by the ANU Intrepid Landcarers about a year ago. The group dug out the relatively small amount of Umbrella Sedge Cyperus eragrostiswhich remained after the black plastic was removed from the edge of the dam.
Jenni getting water from the dam to water the Tall Sedges on 5 January 2026. The black plastic was removed at the same time. Towards the end of January there was very little water left in the dam.
Photo by Barb Read.
Wildlife Monitoring Cameras
Patrick Harvey, our Senior Ranger for the northern reserves, is installing a network of wildlife monitoring cameras on Mount Majura, so if you come across one somewhere, that is what it is – all OK with Parks and Con! Be interesting to see what they reveal. The last time I remember something like this happening, one camera was installed just where there was a rabbit warren…
A Koala Nearby – a Wildlife Camera Story
Very exciting story from the ABC a koala at Wandiyali-Environa Wildlife Sanctuary! Look at the video, see the pic of the koala up a tree taken from a drone and read about the sanctuary.
For more information about Koalas in the ACT see the Conservation Council ACT Region website Gula page and perhaps join the volunteer group surveying suitable habitat on Wednesday mornings.
Training Opportunities Reminder
Be more effective at weeding parties – learn about grass and weed identification and do the mapping course! The more mappers the merrier. Training sessions are free; CPR and First Aid are useful everywhere, go with a buddy and book early to secure your spot.
To register for training and events, please visit the ParkCare Hub Opportunities Calendar by logging in at: MyImpactPage – Opportunity Calendar. Can’t login? Sign up at the ParkCare ACT Hub.
What is Bushcare: Back to Basics? It’s about practical on-ground environmental restoration including restoration principles, purpose and objectives, best practice techniques, prioritisation and planning, monitoring and optimisation of habitat for different types of fauna.
Like an introduction to ParkCare, want to ask questions about it? Do an on-line Volunteer Information Session: Third Wednesday of each month – registration here
Rivers and Wetlands
2 February is World Wetlands Day, and our river system is in the news. When it rains the runoff from the western side of Mt Majura flows into Sullivans Creek, which enters the Molonglo River at Lake Burley Griffin near ANU; the Molonglo River is a tributary of the Murrumbidgee River which flows into the Murray River.
In mid-January sections of the Murray River were listed as critically endangered – read about it here.
There is a current review of the Snowy Water Inquiry Outcomes Implementation Deed (SWIOID). The review, led by an expert panel, is exploring ways to improve the water outcomes and the health of the upper Murrumbidgee River above Burrinjuck Dam. You can read about it on the Upper Murrumbidgee Catchment Network (UMCN) website. If you wish to comment do so by 13 February. (FoMM is a member of the UMCN.) The government Have Your Say consultation website is here.
See photos of the abysmal current condition of the upper Murrumbidgee at Tharwa at The Forgotten River website and make use of the resources there to show your horror that this situation is allowed for what is part of Canberra’s water supply. Public input into the review is needed by 13 February.
The Murray Darling Basin Plan is to be reviewed this year. Much information is available at the Murray Darling Basin Authority’s website. Webinar recordings from last year are on line here.
Water Sparing versus Sharing – can there be a win-win solution for the health of our rivers? A new approach in the Murray-Darling Basin could help farmers, wildlife, and communities thrive together. Instead of separating conservation and irrigation, water sharing integrates both, boosting yields, protecting threatened species, and delivering social and economic benefits. Public support is strong, showing a shared vision for smarter, fairer water management.
Read the recent research here.
River Restoration – see an article about some international progress here.
The (Ramsar) Convention on Wetlands is now 50 years old, the world’s first modern environmental treaty. It all began with a Conference of Parties (COP) in 1971 in Ramsar, Iran, a small coastal city on the Caspian Sea, and came into force in December1975 when it was ratified by 7 countries. Australia was one of those countries. This cooperative framework now supports wetland conservation across 172 countries and new Ramsar wetlands are still being added. See https://www.ramsar.org/ for more information.
The Digital Atlas of Australia has a map of 120 Ramsar wetlands here. There is one, a tiny one, in the ACT, zoom in on the map to see it. It is the Ginini Flats Wetland Complex along the creeks on the east side of Mt Ginini. See its management plan here. It is a mosaic of subalpine Sphagnum bogs and associated fens, wet heath, wet grassland communities and surrounding Snow Gum woodland that occurs within Namadgi National Park.
The Ginini Flats wetland complex is an important refuge site following the 2020 Orroral bushfire, as it is the only major Sphagnum bog that did not burn in the ACT. For up to date information see here. Be warned – Ramsar wetland documentation is lengthy!
ACT Natural Resource Management (NRM) has a Natural Heritage Trust funded project on Managing threats to high country wetlands with the focus on Ginini Flats.
Sphagnum bogs are habitat for the critically endangered Northern Corroboree Frog Pseudophryne pengilley. See a video here from winter last year when Taronga Zoo released captive bred frogs back into the Brindabella mountains. Look at this page for the role Tidbinbilla plays in breeding them and read this ABC story from 2024.
For information on Sphagnum moss see here and here.
The Ginini Flats are also important habitat for the vulnerable migrant Latham’s Snipe Gallinago hardwickii.
Photo courtesy of Canberra NatureMapr.
News Stories
Canberra Nature Map Newsletters – see here to download the latest one or earlier ones. Always fascinating stories and great photos of local wildlife.
Bees and Bugs
Have you seen many honey bees lately? Will flowering trees swarming with bees be a thing of the past? Varroa Mite is spreading in the ACT – see story here. While beekeepers can adapt their management of their hives to cope with Varroa, feral honey bee populations, pollinators in our gardens, are likely to be much affected.
The good news is native bees are not affected by Varroa Mite Varroa destructor. For more about native bees see this story. For suggestions to help native bees see here. And see the Bee Hotel Workshop in Events below.
Want to know what bee is what? Be a citizen scientist and put close up photos of bees on to Canberra NatureMapr or iNaturalist. It’s not easy to identify small bees so here are some useful sites to help:
For Images of bees and other pollinators https://www.padil.gov.au/search/pollinators – a technical key
More great photos but also quite technical:
https://michaelbatley.github.io/Bee-ID-SM/main.htm
https://michaelbatley.github.io/Bee-ID-SH/main.htm
Peter Abbott’s book: Native bees of the ACT and NSW South Coast A Spotter’s Guide Revised Edition 2025 is available from the bookshop at the Australian National Botanic Gardens, other bookshops and online – see here.
Rutherglen Bugs Nysius vinitor are tiny but numerous; seen recently on flowers such as the Clustered Everlastings which have been so spectacular in areas of the Mount Majura reserve. See here for id and here for recent CSIRO/GRDC research on these native bugs as crop pests.
Rutherglen bug on Clustered Everlastings Chrysocephalum semipapposum flower heads at The Fair. Lots of little grasshoppers also around these Everlastings and ants in some places.
Photo courtesy Canberra NatureMapr.
Flightless Female Moth – see here. I was lucky enough to see one of these on a flowering Bursaria at the Fair. I knew adult Sun Moths lack mouth parts and only live a few days, but I had not come across wingless moths previously. As a Canberra NatureMapr moth expert said: “Many/most case moths (Psychidae) also have flightless females who may not even leave their case…” and some other groups of moths also have wingless/flightless females. How strange!
No New Oil and Gas
For something to do to encourage the government to meet its emissions reduction targets, sign a Wilderness Society letter to the prime minister to not proceed with a current proposal for further exploration for oil and gas in marine areas adjacent to Victoria and Tasmania. The letter is available here.
To see the actual proposal from the government for the Otway Offshore Petroleum Acreage Release and make a separate submission by 6 February, see here.
Climate Targets Advice at a Glance here
Events and Exhibitions
February till 18 Feb 9:30 – 4:30 at the Visitor Centre Gallery, ANBG – Postcard from Black Mountain by Morgyn Phillips – postcard-sized images of landscapes, tracks, flora and fauna.
Monday 2 February 2026 is World Wetlands Day Wetlands are where you will find sedges and rushes. Do you remember “Sedges have edges…”? Look at the stems with heads on them and see the video here to remind yourself how to tell them apart from grasses.
Tall Sedge Carex appressa in the foreground and in the distance fringing around the edge of the lower of the twin dams near the Blue Metal Road in the reserve in January 2026.
Photo courtesy of Canberra NatureMapr.
Tuesday 3 February 6:30pm – 8:30pm Branching Out: Mulligans Flat Wetlands Walk A gentle evening walk from Wildbark, Throsby, hosted by the Conservation Council ACT Region. More info and register here.
Wednesday, 4 February 4 pm TERN Webinar Lifelines in the Desert – the critical role of oases in biodiversity and heritage See here for more information and to register. TERN webinars are recorded and can be accessed on their website.
Thursday 5 February 2026 – 6:00pm to 7:00pm Bruce Lindenmayer Memorial Lecture Distinguished Professor David Lindenmayer speaks on ‘Re-imagining fire in the land of fire’ See here to book and for more information. Free, but donations accepted.
Sunday 8 Feb 2026 8am -10am Peter Miller kindly volunteered to do a late Summer Bird Walk at The Fair. For more information see the story near the top of this newsletter.
Thursday 12 Feb 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm CANBERRA NATURE MAP ASSOCIATION INAUGURAL AGM, at Downer Community Centre.
Saturday Feb 14 from 10am to 12pm at Flynn Community Hub MAKE YOUR OWN NATIVE BEE HOTEL ON VALENTINES DAY Workshop organised by ACT for Bees. Free, but $10 refundable deposit required when booking here.
Sunday 15 Feb 9 am – noon FoMM Woody Weeds Working Bee – see story at top of this newsletter.
Wednesday 18 Feb 4 – 5 pm ParkCare Volunteering Information Session – online – register here
Wednesday 18 Feb 6pm – 8pm Conservation Council Townhall with ACT Environment Minister Suzanne Orr at Kingston – see here for info and to register.
19 – 20 February at the Canberra Theatre Centre
| Join the Garabari Experience – the creation of the Murrumbidgee River
Garabari is an immersive, high-energy gathering where audiences and performers move together in a powerful dance experience. Blending Wiradjuri culture with pulsing techno rhythms, it invites you into a new civic ritual – connecting people, story and country. |
Sunday 22nd Feb 10:30am -12:30pm Come along if you would like to join a FoMM Butterfly Walk on the slopes of Mt Majura, which Dr Suzi Bond has agreed to lead. See story above in this newsletter.
Thursday 26 February 12:30pm – 1:30pm Lunchtime talk at the Australian National Botanic Gardens: Chris Mobbs ‘Bragg Street Park, Hackett – Increasing biodiversity through water harvesting’. Booking link: https://www.trybooking.com/DHLQG Bookings open from 23 January.
Saturday 28 Feb 9am – 12pm Conservation Council ACT Region organised easy walk Branching Out: Cotter Dam Discovery Trail & Explorer Track see here for information and registration.
Saturday 28 February, 9.30am to 5pm Workshop 1 – Permaculture Design Principles see here for more information. More workshops in March and info on other ways to get help with permaculture garden design from an experienced local guru.
Sat, 28 Feb, 12:30pm – 3:30pm at Gungaderra Homestead, Harrison, a Frog pond workshop run by the FrogWatch Coordinator Anke-Maria Hoefer to build a pond at the Environment Centre. Get tickets here. Not free, but flexible pricing available.
Anytime until October 2026 Display in the corridor of the Parliament of Australia Animals in the Parliament House Art Collections – 9 am to 5 pm – see here.
Final Feature
Has it been a long hot summer? No – the heat waves have been interspersed with some cooler weather, thank goodness. But it has been dry – shower icons in the forecast often come to nought. The dams on Mount Majura are at low levels but still providing water for wildlife. Not much water about in urban areas; think of the animals in your surrounds – provide some water for them. See Birdlife Australia’s advice on how best to do that here – a formal bird bath is not needed, but scroll down to check out the video of Powerful Owls making use of one.
Birds are not the only animals that appreciate a splash in a cool pool of clean water. This Echidna Tachyglossus aculeatus left its home on one of Canberra’s reserves and found the bird bath in a neighbouring garden was just the thing for a paddle on a hot day. It climbs up from the boulder behind the bird bath.
Photo by ROWLAD, courtesy Canberra NatureMapr.
Thank you to those who contributed stories or photos to this newsletter.
