Welcome to 2025
Summer started well with a good fall of rain in early December, transforming the appearance of the reserve which had been looking really dry after several consecutive months of low rainfall. The rainfall in the first week of December was about 80 mm; monthly total rainfall for April was more than that but since then monthly totals have been pitiful with August the lowest with only 15 mm. (These are rainfalls measured in Watson, often a bit different to the amounts recorded at the airport.)
Luckily the rain then stopped, allowing weed spraying of St John’s Wort (StJW) by a contractor working in dense areas where the weed has become dominant. This work is funded by FoMM’s environmental grant from the ACT government. Areas where StJW is less dense were spot sprayed by Damon Bassett from the Office of Nature Conservation and FoMM volunteers in a cooperative coordinated approach which is the heart of the grant project. If you have the FieldMaps app, check out who did what – it’s all mapped in Treated!
New-Year Working Party Sunday 19 January 9 am – noonWhat: We will be tackling woody weeds to remove Blue Gums, Briar Rose and other weeds near the dam and gully running next to Valour Park. Where: Meet at the entrance to the nature reserve, Tay and Ian Nicol Streets, North Watson. Wear: Clothes which cover your limbs and sturdy shoes; bring drinking water, sunscreen and garden gloves if you have them. We provide tools and gloves and a delicious homemade cake for morning tea. No experience necessary – all welcome. Please come early for an introduction and give as much time as you can spare. For more information and a map of the location see here. |
Mondays @ The FairLately the Mondays @ The Fair group have been concentrating on attacking the priority weeds identified in the Weed Management Plan 2024-29 for The Fair. This plan was developed with FoMM to help manage priority weeds at The Fair using funding from the Restoration program under the Conserving Canberra Budget 2023-2025. While some of us have been spot spraying St John’s Wort, others have been tackling Serrated Tussock Nassella trichotoma (ST) in patches mapped in the outer Fair area, aiming to treat them before the seed heads mature and blow away. We cut back large tussocks and bag any seed heads, then the cut tussocks are spot sprayed, avoiding damage to native plants as much as possible. If we find woody weeds like Hawthorns or Sweet Briars, we cut and dab them as well. |
Volunteers cutting back and bagging heads of ST plants from a dense patch along a small gully in the outer Fair area in early December. Cutting and then spot spraying the ST minimises damage to the Clustered Everlastings growing with them under the Cassinia bushes. Photo courtesy of Canberra NatureMapr. |
So come join the Tussock Team on a Monday at 9:30 at the reserve entrance meeting place in North Watson at the car park in Ian Nicol Street. You will be most welcome to join the crew to help with the restoration of the endangered Grassy Box Woodland. |
Twilight Weeding – Begins 7 January at 6 pmThese summer evening sessions have been popular as people enjoy some relaxed summer time. Join us at The Fair site in North Watson from 6 – 7.30 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 7 January. We will be working in patches of dense wildflowers, hand stripping St John’s Wort flowers from the plants before they set seed, using a method suggested by Damon Bassett. Or we will cut and dab the stems with herbicide, treating them like a woody weed. Meet us at the nature park entrance at the corner of Tay and Ian Nicol Streets. In the cool of the early evening, when there are light breezes and sometimes stunning skies at sunset, it’s a very pleasant social activity. For more information and a map see here. |
Evening weeding in the wildflower patch in January 2022. Photo by Ernestine Kirsch. |
Butterfly Walk and Talk Sunday 2nd February 10 am – noonWhat: An easy, informative walk with Dr Suzi Bond biologist, butterfly expert, and author of A Field Guide to Butterflies of the ACT. Where: Meet at Mount Majura Nature Reserve entrance at the dirt parking area on Antill St marked by a bus stop, under high tension powerlines about 100 m from Fison St, Hackett. Bring: Sturdy shoes,water, binoculars or camera with zoom, a link to canberra.naturemapr.org or a field guide, and gold coin donation. For more information and a map see here. |
See butterflies in the bush on Mount Majura and then look for them in your own garden! This one is an Imperial Jezebel Delia sharpalyce in a Hackett garden last January. Photo courtesy of CanberraNatureMapr. |
Reports on Activities |
Trench Warfare on WeedsOn Sunday 15 December a few willing weeders braved the forecast heat and worked in the shady trench which runs below the Hackett Tank. It is a delightful haven thanks to all the prior weeding and planting there. Now the bulk of Blackberries Rubus anglocandicans and Umbrella Sedge Cyperus eragrostis have been replaced by Native Raspberries Rubus parvifolius and Tall Sedge Carex appressa, with Hardenbergia vines, Cassinia bushes, Wattles, and smaller wildflowers growing well. It is so close to the Hackett houses on the reserve boundary that inevitably more weeding will be needed as invasive species are spreading from the suburb. Small Privets and Ivies in their hundreds were the most common weeds we could easily pull out, with a few larger ones needing the cut and dab technique. And there were some more unusual plants to keep us on our toes and frozen fruits on skewers to refresh us, thanks to Margy. |
Native raspberry growing in the trench area sheltering an Indian Strawberry Potentilla indica plant. Photo by Margy Burn. |
Webinar: Fixing our Nature LawsThe Conservation Council ACT Region discussed new legislation needed both federally and in the ACT on 3 December. For a promised recording of the webinar and other information see this site. |
A clip from the Conservation Council presentation on the Nature Conservation Act problems. See their website for suggested solutions. |
Events and Exhibitions |
Nature at the ArchivesThe National Archives latest exhibition features prize winning photographs from the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition over the last twenty years. This exhibit is free and runs until 27 April. Parking is also free at weekends. See here for more Information. Art in Nature at the Botanic GardensSee an exhibition of en plein air landscapes by Sophie Baker at the ANBG visitor centre until 19 January. For more information on events at the Gardens see here. Gungahlin Arts @ WildbarkThe National Threatened Species Day Open Photographic Exhibition has been extended for the holiday season, so you’ve still got plenty of time to explore this incredible collection of images featuring some of Australia’s most vulnerable flora and fauna. For a preview of the prize-winning photos see here. Conservation ChallengesThe Threatened Species photos at Wildbark are beautiful, interesting and unfortunately illustrate the problem Australia has with protection of species from extinction. The species chosen by photographers are mainly the iconic ones – first prize went to a whale with its calf, and another prize went to a grassland, but flora were poorly represented (I did see one orchid as well as the grassland). I also saw one butterfly, one beetle, one frog, but many cute, furry animals – koalas, quolls, gliders, etc and plenty of birds – parrots such as gang-gangs, glossy blacks, and others, also regent honeyeaters etc. Australia has set a target to prevent new extinctions of native species, support the recovery of threatened species and maintain their genetic diversity. This is part of our commitment to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) signed in 2022. Our current approach to limit extinctions depends on listing individual threatened species and developing and implementing threat abatement plans for them. These plans exist for the iconic species, like the ones in the photo display, but not for the bulk of animals – the invertebrates, poorly known and ignored, despite their importance to our ecosystems. Read this recent article in the Conversation to see the scale of the problem. The target of no more extinctions seems to be unattainable. A new approach is needed with appropriate legislation. The BiodiversityCouncil website has more on this story and a link to the published journal paper. For more on invertebrates see this website. |
Orange Assassin Bug Gminatus australis a common invertebrate predator, kills and feeds on spiders and soft body insects like caterpillars. Welcome them to your garden. Photo courtesy of Canberra NatureMapr. |
Annual Report from Greening AustraliaFor some good news read about progress in GA projects and a profile of one local Canberra volunteer, Sarah Hnatiuk, in the GA annual report. Annual Reports from the Invasive Species CouncilAnnual reports are available here. |
Another invertebrate, Bronze Orange Bug Musgraveia sulciventris a native species but a pest on citrus as it draws its nourishment from the young stem tips with new leaves. If you are game enough, you can harvest them (wearing gloves), cook them and eat them! See the story in the Canberra Times on Boxing Day. Photo courtesy of CanberraNatureMapr. |