Winter Solstice Working Party Sunday 21 June
Majura Mountain Scouts spread mulch on top of dead Chilean Needle Grass treated with herbicide.
Photo by W. Pix.
Join the Friends of Mt Majura for a warm-up mulching session near the Hackett water tank at winter solstice on Sunday, 21 June; bring garden gloves and a shovel or garden fork if you have one; residents living nearby are especially invited to give a hand and learn about the work to rehabilitate this area.
We will mulch recently planted ground cover plants such as Creeping Saltbush Einadia nutans and Tall Sedge Carex appressa and top up sites with mulch where Chilean Needle Grass was poisoned.
When: Sunday 21 June 2026, from 1pm to 4pm.
Where: Nature reserve behind Rivett Street around the water tank in Hackett; view this map.
For more information see here.
Enquiries: secretary@majura.org
Winter Bird Walk-Talk Sunday 14 June 8 am to 10 am with Peter Miller
Successful fledging of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo Zanda funerea chick from hollow in Red Hill Nature Reserve. Read the story by LisaH here. Lisa watched this family from the end of January until 3 May when the chick flew from the nest for the first time.
Photo courtesy of Canberra NatureMapr.
Cannot promise you will see a fledgling, but Peter Miller is sure to have many interesting stories to tell about the birds in the reserve.
Meet: 8am sharp at nature reserve entrance and carpark off Mackenzie St, near Grayson St, Hackett.
What: Join bird enthusiast Peter Miller to spot, listen to, and learn about birds as we walk through woodlands on the lower slopes of Mt Majura.
Bring: Sturdy shoes, binoculars, camera.
Bird ID app or Field guide.
A gold coin donation for a bird list.
More information http://www.majura.org
Questions: FoMMnaturewalks@gmail.com
Reports
Community Planting on 24 May
Scouts from the Ainslie group Les Explorateurs help volunteers get lunch.
Thanks to the scouts for cooking sausages and onions and for permission to use this photograph.
On a cool overcast Sunday morning people young and old rolled up to plant trees and shrubs on a steep rather weedy hillside which definitely needs some assistance to be restored to a more natural woodland, after years as part of the Hackett horse agistment area. The site had been prepared under the supervision of Environmental Restoration Design Planning (ERDP), contracted by ACT Natural Resource Management (NRM) to provide the Landscape Improvement Plan for the area and to look after the project for two years.
It is off to a good start with all plants in the ground, and volunteers reporting they had great day! A few more than 50 people attended and Rozita Higgs from ERDP says that more than 500 plants were planted.
Thanks to National Parks Association, Parks and Conservation rangers. ERDP, ACT NRM and the scouts for organising it all.
ERDP is very grateful to have been involved in a co-designed and collaborative multiagency project of this scale. Rozita looks forward to monitoring the progress and survival of this future woodland. Thank you to all who volunteered their time on Sunday.
This project is funded by the Australian Government Natural Heritage Trust and delivered by ACT Natural Resource Management, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.
A trailer full of young plants awaiting planting.
Photo supplied by Rozie Higgs, ERDP.
Plant species in main planting
- Eucalyptus blakelyi
- Eucalyptus melliodora
- Acacia dealbata
- Acacia gunnii
- Acacia genistifolia
- Bursaria spinosa lasiophylla
- Indigofera australis
- Chrysocephalum apiculatum
- Xerochrysum viscosum
Overview of the planting site from the north east corner, showing plenty of activity in full swing.
Photo by Jochen Zeil.
Mondays @ The Fair
Despite a bit of drizzle on a couple of Mondays, the group has made progress with replacing guards on the Tall Sedges which were being eaten – the only green feed around, after a very dry April.
They have also been spreading mulch on bare areas to assist the germination and survival of seedlings; some are germinating with the showery weather in May.
Come along any Monday at 9:30 to the Tay St gate to the reserve in north Watson and join in the activities to rehabilitate 10 Ha of what was once very degraded land, restoring it to a woodland like the endangered Box Gum Grassy Woodland which used to cover all the lower slopes where Canberra has built its suburbs. Some of the areas adjacent to the 10 Ha planted zone are rich in wildflowers and our tasks include removing invading weeds to maintain the beauty of these areas. The Bush Capital needs real bush, for the wellbeing of wildlife and us. So, join in FoMM’s activities and give a helping hand to Mount Majura Nature Reserve.
Other Plantings
Planting on Sammys Hill, story here; it’s a bit to the north and across the Federal Highway.
Planting Black Gum Eucalyptus aggregata, a vulnerable local species, at Kowen, by Intrepid Landcare volunteers. A project organised by a partnership of Landcare, CSIRO and ACT NRM to improve the genetic diversity in the small natural population at Kowen. See the Landcare pamphlet. And on Facebook see a video here. In Mount Majura reserve there are some trees identified as Black Gum 10 years ago along the gully area near Valour Park, from a previous planting decades ago… see Canberra NatureMapr here for sightings at Kowen and Mt Majura.
Meet Lori Gould, environmentalist and entrepreneur, and her enterprise Environmental Restoration and Design Planning (ERDP) – see story here and the ERDP website for more sites around the local area where restoration is happening. Lori is also researching Latham’s Snipe – watch her talk about it in this video.
On16 May at Casuarina Sands Reserve the ACT Parks and Conservation Service held a Community Planting morning as a part of the Restoring the Upper Murrumbidgee River Program. ACT Parks are putting in canopy trees along sections Murrumbidgee River to improve canopy connectivity. This, in time, will shade out weeds like blackberry along the riverbank and provide shade for the river which will cool the water and improve water quality. Native trees will also drop branches and leaves into the river that provide habitat for fish, platypus, rakali and water bugs. Hope they are being more active about blackberry control.
Following on from our April newsletter about Nyadinang Najung, at1220 Caddigat Road, on the upper Murrumbidgee, south of the ACT, there has been a lot of discussion on Facebook, especially a year ago when the rip lines went in – see here. This project is managed by Greening Australia (GA) in partnership with Conscious Investment Management (CIM) which has provided innovative financing for the project, with repayments linked to the generation and sale of Australian Carbon Credit Units. CIM (through its managed funds) provides financing to Greening Australia to acquire property and develop carbon farming projects which support decarbonisation and long-term biodiversity outcomes. As a registered carbon project with 100-year permanence, GA be monitoring the long-term impact of this project for restoring vegetation, which will support threatened woodland birds and other wildlife too. 150,000 seedlings were planted there in 2025. Will be good to see what monitoring reveals about their survival.
Like to DIY and grow native seedlings yourself? For good advice see here.
Prefer to help others do it at scale? The Greening Australia (GA) Nursery at Aranda does that, and local volunteers can help at the nursery and at on-site plantings as part of the Green Team. See this Gardening Australia episode about the GA nursery here. To volunteer at the nursery, use the email link here or look on this webpage. Jodie, one of the Monday @ The Fair crew, volunteers at GA plantings – ask her about it.
Invasive Plants Spread by Birds
One of the big concerns for FoMM volunteers and all bush carers is the spread of exotic plants from the suburbs into the nature reserves. Currawongs are very good at this. They have a natural role as ecosystem engineers – Currawongs plant Kurrajongs, but when our gardens and streets are full of fruiting exotics like Privets, Callery Pears, Cotoneasters, Ivies and so on, instead of Kurrajongs, Currawongs feast on these exotic fruits and spread them far and wide. How far?
Pied Currawong Strepera graculina regurgitation of Privet Ligustrum sp. fruit.
Photo by sbittinger taken in the Mt Majura reserve approximately 1 km from the nearest suburb, The Fair at north Watson.
Courtesy Canberra NatureMapr.
As the above photo demonstrates, Currawongs can spread seeds at least 1 km, yet the ACT Government Urban Treescapes, City Services apply a 500 m exclusion zone for public plantings of bird-spread species of trees. Until very recently there was no restriction on plantings of Callery Pear but according to the minutes of the February meeting of the Nature Conservation Forum “Callery pear has been listed as having restrictions for Natural Areas. Plant species listed as not suitable for natural areas, including semi-natural open space and native grassland sites, should not be planted adjacent to or within these areas. Callery pear is a species that may be spread by birds ingesting and excreting the seeds, and therefore this species has a 500-metre clearance zone from Natural areas.” It seems 500 m is an inadequate measure for restricting spread of exotics into natural areas; it should be at least 1 km and preferably 2 km.
In the current July 2025 version of Municipal Infrastructure Standards 25 Plant Species for Urban Landscape Projects (MIS 25) there are 78 introduced types of trees listed as being unsuitable for natural areas (out of 147 introduced tree entries). These are the trees planted in our streets and by developers. The next review date is set at December 2026, so there is consultation with relevant stakeholders happening now and additional climate-resilient species have been added to the MIS25 species list to add to the diversity of species available. In February, the Urban Treescapes representative said an updated draft was to be circulated for final review by the end of March/April. Apparently, the public are not seen as relevant stakeholders. There is an argument that since Canberra is designed as a bush capital with many natural open areas and reserves, no suburban area should be planted to Callery Pear or those other 78 species unsuitable for natural areas. And have the newly added species had an adequate risk assessment done on their invasive potential?
City and Environment Directorate (CED) Redundancies
Latest news is that budget constraints are forcing ACT government to offer 130 voluntary redundancies to staff in CED. There are 4200 staff in the mega directorate which was formed by amalgamation after the last local election. We know some of them – our Parks rangers. To see who else work in CED and what they do, look here.
Brief Bites
Grasses, Good and Bad
Grasses – Friends of Grasslands (FoG) brochure
Landcare resources incl videos
Gamba Grass – here
Buffel Grass – here
Native Pines – see article here
TERN webinar on plant litter – see here. Mulch is good!
ACT Landscape Architect? And new offsets policy? here
Nature and wellbeing in urban environments – see here
Global
Listen to Sir David Attenborough here on rewilding and read a short summary of his impacts on us all in the Good Newsletter here.
30 x 30 global commitment – here
Al Gore “An Inconvenient Truth” 20 years – how combating climate change now has economics on its side, as well as the moral argument – see here
Did climate change influence lizard evolution in Australia? here Warning: rapid climate change is something else …
Birds
Rescuing Baby Birds – advice here
Aussie Bird Count 2025– 64,000 people counted 5 million birds in one week last October – see the results here.
Frogs and Flowers
Anke Maria Hoefer, the FrogWatch coordinator, has sent out a newsletter to all and sundry. If you would like to get it, send her an email frogwatch@ginninderralandcare.org.au
Here is one little snippet about the Green and Gold Bell Frogs, locally extinct since the 1980s:
“After several years of planning, habitat building and extensive testing of the frog ‘saunas’ and ‘spas,’ captive-bred GGBFs were finally released into 16 wetlands across Canberra in early 2026. What … an achievement!
…
Now, as temperatures drop and winter settles in, every sensible ACT frog – including the GGBFs – has gone into hiding to wait out the cold months until spring returns. Only time will tell how the frogs fare over winter, but once the warmer weather arrives, it will be back to action stations with more daytime and nighttime surveys, frog calls, data collection and muddy adventures.
Stay tuned and let’s all hope the green and golden bell frog is back in the ACT for good!”
Terry, one of the Monday@The Fair group, is also a frog watcher, so ask him about it.
Flowers and pollination – a photo essay from pollen to seedling here
Is climate affecting pollination? here
Waragul (Dingos) and Wombats
Dingo population genetics – story here
Dingo management in the ACT – story here. There is a Waragul Consultative Committee as reported in the Nature Conservation Forum notes from the February meeting. The Consultative Committee is working to remove the listing of wild dogs/ dingoes as a pest under the Pest Plants and Animals (Pest Animals) Declaration 2021. See the Dingo page for the ACT government here.
More about the preparation of the draft Wombat Management Plan here. See about the consultation on the draft report here. The final report is expected mid-year, so look out for it soon.
Our River
A special place to walk along the upper Murrumbidgee – see story
Recently launched, Walking Together for Country: A collaborative guide to caring for the upper Murrumbidgee catchment. The guide sets a shared vision for how we can honour Country, embed cultural leadership, and work collectively to care for our rivers, landscapes, and communities.
The Restoring the Upper Murrumbidgee River Program is federally funded but managed by the ACT and NSW governments. There are the usual plans in elaborate documents, but Figure 3 in the ACT one shows that the Molonglo and Queanbeyan Rivers and Ginninderra Creek are out of scope for on-ground works and they will not even be monitored! The ACT gets $7.58 million over 5 years for this work.
Commonwealth actions for improving the health of the Upper Murrumbidgee are outlined here.
See the River Forum in the events section below – it’s on 24 June.
Weather Info
Want more information than you are getting in your phone app? Try some of these BoM sites:
For 7-day forecasts – MetEye
For Climate Data – Climate Data Online – Map search
For Long Range Forecasts – Overview – – Long-range forecasts
For our National Warnings Summary – Warnings and alerts | The Bureau of Meteorology
For Rain radars and Weather Maps – Rain radar and weather maps | The Bureau of Meteorology
For the Water and The Land Webpages – Water and the Land
For Recent and Historical Rainfall Maps -go hereand select what you want to see.
Events and Exhibitions
Now till 14 June at Canberra Potters, Watson Arts Centre in Aspinall St. Bling Bling, joint exhibition by three artists. For opening times see here.
Every evening to 9 pm until 5 July outdoor screening at Lakeside Facade, Belconnen Arts Centre an animated projection, first in the Afterlight program, Language Moves Here by Wiradyuri artists Rechelle Turner and Marissa McDowell. See here for more information.
All June to 5 July exhibitions at BelcoArts including Of Ravens and Rivers by Kerry McInnis and Mike MacGregor, paintings, drawings and sculptures. Also Dear Earth… An open A5 exhibition by artists from around Australia.
Now until 23 Aug – at CMAG – Maria Fernanda Cardoso: Spiders of Paradise – large one-and-a-half metre images of colourful but tiny Peacock Spiders Maratus sp. Read about the artist and this exhibition here and check out the Gallery’s website.
Wed 3 Jun at 12pm – 1pm Webinar on The Future of Canberra’s Urban Forests organised by the Conservation Council ACT Region, see here for info and to RSVP
Thurs 4 June: Charlie Blumer and Jon Darvill ‘Flower power and no bad bees: Getting the big picture on pollinators in the ACT’. Lunchtime talk at the Botanic Gardens (ANBG). Booking link: https://www.trybooking.com/DKZGA
Friday 5 June – World Environment Day theme #Now for Climate
Fri 5 Jun – 10 am – 11 am free Nature Therapy Taster @ Wildbark Throsby – see here for details and to book.
Friday 5 June -12:30 pm – 1:30 pm Greening Australia webinar Rebuilding Nature, Together on successful restoration projects in Queensland and South Australia. Lessons for us? Will be recorded for later viewing. Register here.
Fri 5 Jun – 5:30pm – 9:30pm ACT Environment Awards at Capital Brewing – info and register here
Sat 6 Jun – 12:30pm – 3:30pm Branching Out: The history, plants and animals of Red Hill Nature Reserve walk guided by environmentalist Michael Mulvaney. See here to book.
Sun 7 Jun 10:30am – 1pm Branching Out: The plants and animals of Bluetts Block walk suitable all ages with reasonable fitness. Guides are Alice Wells and Rainer Rehwinkel. To read their biographies and for more information and to register, see here. Alice says “it’s a joy to spend time at Bluetts Block with its diversity of communities and species — its birds, reptiles, mammals and insects, and its plants, fungi and lichens.”
Wed 10 Jun at 12pm to 1 pm Webinar by Bush Heritage on expanding large scale refuges in the mid-west of Western Australia – for more info and to register see here
Thurs 11 June: Dr Heidi Zimmer ‘Why do orchid names change?’ Lunchtime talk at the Botanic Gardens (ANBG). Booking link: https://www.trybooking.com/DKZGB
Tues 16 Jun 6pm – 7pm Impact Hour: Climate reality, climate hope with Professor Mark Howden AC – Vice Chair of the IPCC and former Chair of the ACT Climate Change Council – will explore both the challenges of climate change and the real reasons for optimism. At Dissent Cafe and Bar, Civic – see here to get tickets.
Wed 17th Jun at 07:30pm Canberra Bushwalking Club hosts Dr Simon Copland of the Conservation Council ACT Region to talk about Saving Canberra’s beautiful bushland for details see here
Thurs 18 June: Dr Rosemary Purdie ‘After the rain and floods: chasing the blooming flora’. Lunchtime talk at the Botanic Gardens (ANBG). Booking link:https://www.trybooking.com/DKZGC
Fri 19 Jun – 10 am – 11 am free Nature Therapy Taster @ Wildbark Throsby – see here for details and to book.
Wed 24 Jun 9am – 4:30pm Working Together for the River Forum 2026 at Queanbeyan, organised by the Upper Murrumbidgee Catchment Network – see here for more details on program and to register for this free event.
Thurs 25 June: Dr Fiona Fraser ‘Threatened Species Action Plan: progress and partnerships’. Dr Fraser is the Threatened Species Commissioner. Lunchtime talk at the Botanic Gardens (ANBG). Booking link: https://www.trybooking.com/DKZGD
Sat 27 Jun 10am – 11am at Queanbeyan Library, panel discussion on Local Environment in Action. For more information and to get tickets see here.
Coming Up: Got some great wildlife photos? Get them exhibited! National Threatened Species Day: Open Photographic Exhibition 2026 Entries Close Midnight, Sunday 2 August 2026 – for more information see here.
Final Feature
Wildlife in the reserve can often move freely between the reserve and the adjacent suburbs. Here is one example: a Fox, Vulpes vulpes, found easy digging in a Hackett vege patch to catch its prey – this time it was a White-winged Chough Corcorax melanorhamphos. Recorded on a wildlife camera and posted on Canberra Nature Map by Waltraud.
The Fox in the vege garden.
Courtesy Canberra NatureMapr
