Local families and people from far and wide have come to help build a Wildlife Corridor through your school.
This volunteer work has been going on, once a month, since Feb 2012, so that is 13 years !
Last year I was not available to lead the Bush Care due to caring for my Mother up north. However every other year we have made it a monthly priority to commit time, money and energy ; to bringing Wildlife Colour and Movement to our Neighborhood and your School grounds.
Today is World Biodiversity Day ! When Biodiversity has a problem, Humanity has a problem !
The Mount Gravatt Environment Group looks forward to continuing our Social and Environmental Partnership with MG SHS; planting/ building “homes and supermarkets” for your local birds, bees and butterflies through engaging locals and students.
Our mountain community is hurting after two Koala Mums and Joeys were hit on Mt Gravatt Outlook Drive in the last week.
The first was found early morning having been hit at night. Koala Mum, Angela, didn’t make it, she died leaving Joey Monty an orphan in care.
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A couple of days later a second Mum, Myra, was hit on the road and taken to the Koala Hospital were she was discovered to be lactating.
Click on image to watch rescue
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Alerted, my neighbours, Miranda and Scott started the search for Myra’s joey. No success. so my neighbours returned to the search at night. A glimpse of eye shine alerted Miranda and the joey was located high in a tree beside the road.
Proud rescuers … wide smiles.
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Time to call in the rescue at height experts. A real community effort. High lift fire brigade bucket trucks arrived: Luna from Roma Street and Juliette from Wishart Station.
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Yasha wrapped up safe.
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Yasha was wrapped up warm to help manage shock and taken to hospital.
The story has a happy ending … Yasha was reunited with Mum the next morning.
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Unfortunately even though the speed limit on the mountain has been reduced to 40 kph there still too many incidents with koalas being hit by speeding cars and increasing reports of dangerous hooning on the road at night.
Community members are concerned that the gate is not being closed at night. Shutting the gate at night not only dramatically reduced hooning it also had a dramatic impact on the volume of rubbish collected at Clean Up Australia:
I am getting reports that the gate is not being closed at night at all which would explain the speeding cars at night and tragedies like the death of Monty’s Mum.
My understanding is that closing the gate is manged by contract staff. So does this mean we are not receiving the service Council pays for on our behalf? Local community member Vicky has committed to regularly monitoring the gate closure times.
You can help by calling the Council Call Centre on 07 3403 8888 to lodge a request for the gate to be closed at night.
The Clairvaux McKillop Bushcare Team returned again yesterday clearing another huge area of weeds and having fun finding beetles, spiders and millipedes.
Underside of Leaf Beetle with legs tucked away.
One interesting find is a Leaf Beetle we have not found before in the Reserve. I have been getting frustrated trying to identify the species. However, now I know there are over 3,000 species I feel a bit better. “Beetles in the family Chrysomelidae are commonly known as leaf beetles. In Australia there are over 3,000 species of leaf beetles feeding on living roots, leaves, stems, flowers, pollen, fruits and seeds. Some larvae feed inside living plants.” Queensland Museum I have submitted our observations to iNaturalist and hope to get a species id so it can be added to Flora and Fauna of Mt Gravatt Conservation Reserve.
Millipede
It is common for these beetles to drop to the ground when disturbed probably a defence mechanism. These cute beetles tuck their legs in very neatly effectively creating a flat surface that will just slide off the leaf.
The team also found a Millipede which have an important role in recycling the leaf litter on the forest floor releasing valuable nutrients for the flora.
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Pyramidal Theridion
Our first spider find was Pyramidal Theridion Theridion pyramidale: resembling a pyramid in shape and Theridion is a genus of tangle-web spiders with almost 600 described species around the world.
I was impressed that team members identified Golden Orb-Weaver Nephila edulis without my input. They also talked about the way the web glows gold in the sun. The Atlas maps shows these spiders are found all over Australia.
Black-headed Orange Wasp Gavrana spinosa is a new species for Flora and Fauna. Ichneumon wasps are not dangerous for humans but they perform valuable pest control services in our gardens by parasiting moth larvae.
Mt Gravatt Environment Group works hard to build a strong community as well as a strong wildlife habitat. Over the years we have lobbied for a cycle path and bridge across Mimosa Creek behind the Hibiscus Centre and public toilets at the Summit.
Now we have worked with neighbours in O’Grady Street to build and open a Street Library for the community.
Read a mystery
Built by Roger Medland of Carina Men’s Shed using second hand windows donated by Jason Olsson-Seeto. Hosted by the Slinger family (#59) the Library was installed by a team of O’Grady Street neighbours.
Read about wildlife
Unlike a traditional library our Street Library is stocked with books donated by community members and you are not required to return books to the Library. If you enjoy a book and want to keep it to read again or you would like to pass it on to a friend that is fine.
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Visit the Library is you are looking for a mystery to read or you are interested in our Australian wildlife.
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We also have kids books and a range of DVDs.
Hoot is one of my favourate movies: based on the book by Carl Hiaasen it is a tale of kids fighting to protect the habitat of endangered Burrowing Owls from aggressive development.
Please visit our Street Library to find a good read.
We are particularly looking for childrens’ books for our Library. If you have books to donate you can leave in the Library.
Join 926 other subscribers
Volunteering Mt Gravatt Conservation Reserve
Maps of walking tracks
Follow our restoration work
Links
Report Koala sightings
Contacts:
Co-Presidents:
Michael Fox
Laurie Deacon
Susan Jones - Secretary megoutlook@gmail.com
Mount Gravatt Environment Group 