Woody Weeds Working Party
When: Sunday 20 October 2024 9am till noon
Please arrive by 9am to meet workmates & weeds and stay as long as you wish.
Where: Along the Hackett Houses track, starting at the Blue Metal Road entrance to the reserve in Mackenzie Street, roughly opposite Grayson Street, Hackett.
Why: To tackle woody weeds mainly garden escapees such as Grevillea rosmarinifolia Rosemary Grevillea which is invading the threatened box gum woodland on the lower slopes of Mount Majura.
Enjoy a spring morning seeing native wildflowers in the company of friends as you remove the weedy shrubs which could crowd out the natives if left to grow and spread further.
Bring: BYO water, sun protection, garden gloves, and wear sturdy shoes & gardening clothes; we provide the tools and cake for morning tea. All welcome.
For a map of the meeting point and more information on woody weed control see FoMM’s website. |
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| The tiny but beautiful complex flower of the critically endangered Canberra Spider Orchid Caladenia actensis found in several locations on Mount Majura. This one was photographed this spring by RangerRiley, courtesy of Canberra NatureMapr |
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Spring Wildflower Walk
When: Sunday, 13th October 2024, from 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm
Where: Meet at the car park nature park entrance Mackenzie Street roughly opposite Grayson Street in Hackett, click on this map to view the meeting point.
Wear suitable clothing for the expected weather and comfortable and appropriate footwear.
Bring sun protection, and a camera or mobile phone to take photos. A gold coin donation for the updated Flora List – more species have been added this year, natives and unfortunately many exotics.
Enjoy Mount Majura’s Floriade on a stroll with local plant ecologist Michael Doherty and see what is in bloom on the mountain this spring.
For more information see FoMM’s website. |
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Plant Sales in October – Native Plants for Your Garden
Need some happy, healthy seedlings for your garden or project? Shop at Greening Australia or the Australian Native Plants Society for an amazing selection of local native wildflowers, grasses, shrubs and large trees.
Greening Australia
When: Friday 11 October, 10am – 2pm Book your spot
Where: Greening Australia, 1 Kubura Place, Aranda ACT
Prices: Purchase by full or half tray only, starting from $3.30 per plant. Mix and match any 20 plants (full tray) or 10 plants (half tray). Payment is by CARD ONLY.
RSVP: Please ensure you book a timeslot – limited spaces available.
Australian Native Plants Society Canberra
When: Saturday 19 October 2024 from 8:30
Where: at the Australian National Botanic Gardens
See this website for more details and the list of species for sale, which includes over 500 species, some being local ones. |
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Monitoring Termites and Goannas
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| Don Fletcher, a retired ecologist, is leading the National Parks Association (NPA) Goanna Project, which is citizen science research about the conservation of Rosenberg’s Goanna Varanus rosenbergi. These goannas nest in termite mounds so there is a current project to map all the termite mounds on Mt Majura and Mt Ainslie, where there is a small population of Rosenberg Goannas. |
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| Part of Mount Majura where students have carefully surveyed and mapped termite mounds. This screenshot from FieldMaps shows their tracks and each dot is a termite mound which has been photographed. Red dots are Gluegun Termites Nasutitermes exitiosus, and the few blue dots are Milk Termites Coptotermes lacteus. |
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| Don Fletcher opening up a Gluegun Termite mound on Black Mountain in May 2024 at the start of the termite mound monitoring project. Now nearly 1500 mounds have been mapped in this project and eventually photos of them all will be added to Canberra NatureMapr. |
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| For the last couple of years the local goannas have been monitored by volunteers including FoMM members Hamish and Terry. This year the focus is on the population in Namadgi and Jodie has begun to participate in this exciting project. She writes:
“I’ve only done one day so far and we set out 30 traps. we weren’t expecting to see any goannas on that day but were lucky to stumble across one which was caught, weighed, measured and microchipped. Blood was also taken for genetic testing.
It was very interesting and a great opportunity to learn about these amazing animals. It is also great to be able to help this important research.”
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| Jodie’s photo of the “new” goanna having its portrait taken. The pattern of markings on both sides of the head are distinctive and enable individual goannas to be recognised. |
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Don is offering spaces on goanna trapping trips to Naas Valley Sundays to Tuesdays and there are still some of those spaces left. The sign-up link to one session is here, and the tabs for all the other sessions are visible from this one, near the top of the form.
You can read more about the goanna project on the NPA website. |
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Reports on Activities
Spring Bird Walk on 22 September 2024 |
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| Dad and junior Gang-gang Cockatoo at Mount Majura last April. Female (not in photo) had just fed juvenile. Endangered Gang-gangs Callocephalon fimbriatum are often heard with their distinctive “squeaky gate” call in the area around The Fair. Photo by Louisab courtesy of Canberra NatureMapr. |
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| “Spring is sprung, the grass is riz, I wonders where the birdies is. They say the birds is on the wing.” By Anon.
Nineteen people walked in the area of The Fair and across to the dam early in the morning with Peter Miller as leader and saw and heard plenty of birds, especially some going for a drink at the dam. So no need to “wonder where the birdies is” anymore.
Because of the change in season, walk organizer Jenni says they saw a lot of birds that are not normally seen. They were passing through our Majura woodlands on their various local migratory journeys.
Some noteworthy birds were mistletoe birds among the mistletoes, an olive whistler, some vulnerable varied sitellas, Daphoenositta chrysoptera, vulnerable white-winged triller Lalage tricolor, red browed finches, fan-tailed cuckoo, quite a lot of honeyeaters: 10 yellow-faced, 3 white-naped, 6 fuscous, Ptilotula fusca, a rare native species . The group heard noisy friarbirds which have just returned. Male fairy wrens were in their beautiful blue courting colours.
The season is early, birds are early, so the walk was perfectly timed. |
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| Thunderstone Excursion on 9 September 2024
The Mondays@The Fair group plus some other VIPs who help FoMM, went with Tyronne Bell for a walk up the Blue Metal Road and learnt about how he sees the landscape and plants with a different cultural perspective. We learnt some interesting facts about how Ngunawal people used local plants. |
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| Tyronne Bell whistles through a leaf base from Dianella revoluta (Black-Anther Flax Lily), a high pitched sound like a baby bird, which attracts snakes! Luckily none were attracted to the FoMM group. Photo from W. Pix. |
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2024 ACT National Trust Heritage Awards: ACT Weeds Manual – Presented on 10/09/2024
The ACT Weeds Manual is a resource instigated by Vera Kurz and created for volunteers, by volunteers. It is an educational tool which provides practical advice, equipping the community to make informed decisions about removing priority weeds based on a strategic approach and sound ecological principles. Margy Burn, who edited it, nominated it, and it won two awards! |
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| Photo (left to right): Vera Kurz, Tenzin Phuntsho, Martin Bajt, Minister Rebecca Vassarotti, Margy Burn, Sarah Hnatiuk, Bren Burkevics (Executive Group Manager, Environment, Heritage and Parks, and Conservator of Flora and Fauna), and Volunteer Programs Manager Lauren McQueen with the awards for the Weeds Manual. |
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Photography Exhibition at Wildbark
Drop in to Wildbark to see 160 stunning shots.
In partnership with Belconnen and Gungahlin Arts Wildbark ran a Threatened Species Day photography competition which attracted 150+ images of rare and threatened species from around the country. The exhibition is on display until December. |
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Global Nature Positive Summit, Sydney 8 – 10 October
A big event – talkfest and exhibition. Hosted by Tanya Plibersek and Penny Sharpe, respectively Ministers for the Environment in the Federal and NSW State governments. See the website for program, speakers, exhibitors, nature positive stories. |
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