September 28, 2021

National Tree Day planting thriving

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bushcare, Mt Gravatt Conservation Reserve | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Tuesday Bushcare Team planting Basket Ferns

By: Michael Fox

Restoring the Mt Gravatt Conservation Reserve habitat is one of the most satisfying projects I have ever undertaken. I realised this today when our newest volunteer, Eleanor, PHD student at Western Sydney University, commented on our National Tree Day planting.

Eloise helping me glue fern to log.

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Tuesday last week the team ‘planted” eighty Basket Ferns Drynaria rigidula. When I say “planted” we actually super-glued many of the ferns to rocks and logs. Basket Ferns naturally grow on top of rocks and logs so we decided experiment. The most successful approach seems to be wrapping the fern with woven coir matting with extra extra coir to improve water retention while the fern gets its roots into the rock or log. I always thought of ferns as plants you find in moist gullies not on top of mountains and particularly not on top of rocks.

Gorse bitter pea Daviesia ulicifolia

National Tree Day in a time of COVID has been challenging so it has been amazing to see the plants thriving with 95% survival rate, some flowering already and new growth on most. The Gorse Bitter Pea Daviesia ulicifolia, Hardenbergia violacea Native Sarsaparilla and Goodenia rotundifolia Star Goodenia are all flowering already.

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Plant Local to Feed Locals

The Poison Peach Trema tomentosa has new growth and is already Feeding Locals. This fast growing tree is an excellent pioneer plant for habitat restoration as it also food for caterpillars of Speckled Line-blue Catopyrops florinda butterflies, Splendid Ghost Moth Aenetus splendens and fruit eating birds like Australian King Parrot Alisterus scapularis and Pale-headed Rosella Platycercus adscitus

We have already found Lydia Lichen Moth Asura lydia and Brown White Banded Noctuid Donuca castalia on site. Today we found a Burton’s Legless Lizard Lialis burtonis.

  • Lydia Lichen Moth Asura lydia
  • Burton’s Legless Lizard Lialis burtonis
 

February 23, 2012

Help us Clean Up the Mountain – Sunday 4 March

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Mimosa Creek Precinct, Mt Gravatt Environment Group, Roly Chapman Reserve Bushcare, Showgrounds Precinct, Wildlife Corridor | Tags: , , , , , , , , |
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Kerstie Olsson is Coordinator for our Mt Gravatt Summit Clean Up this year.

Kerstie is a busy professional however she and her children have enjoyed being part of the Mountain Clean Up in the past. So this year she has volunteered to take on coordination.

Why do families like Krestie’s keep coming back to pick-up other people’s rubbish? I suspect that like me they love being in the bush combined with the simple pleasure of working alongside a group of enthusiastic cheerful individuals and, of course, there are always the surprises. Just ask John McCrystal how he felt to look up and see a Koala walking down the road towards them.

Please join the team at Mt Gravatt Summit – 8am to 10am Sunday 5th March and perhaps have a coffee at Echidna Magic Cafe afterwards.

Register online – Mt Gravatt Summit – Clean Up Australia

Alternative Clean Up sites around the Mountain

If climbing a mountain seems too energetic for a Sunday morning you can join:

Galahs Eolophus roseicapillus - Mt Gravatt Showgrounds - Feb 2012

Lizi Drysdale at Mt Gravatt Showgrounds

2012 will see Mount Gravatt Girl Guides and Mt Gravatt Environment Group partnering to landscape the Guide Hut as the first step in our Pollinator Link between Mt Gravatt Reserve and Bulimba Creek. Pollinator Links will bring birds, butterflies and native bees back to suburban backyards.

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Brett Simpson at Roly Chapman Bushland

Roly Chapman Bushland is a beautiful peaceful habitat along the banks of Mimosa Creek. Be quite as you cross the pedestrian and you may see turtles sunning themselves on the rocks.

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Tailed Emperor Polyura sempronius - Acacia Way - Aug 2010

Melissa Harris at Toohey Forrest – Mt Gravatt Campus Residence

Griffith University Mt Gravatt Campus is an important part of the Mountain habitat and home to amazing butterflies like the Tailed Emperor.

 

February 19, 2012

Environment Minister visits Mt Gravatt Lookout

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bushcare, Mimosa Creek Precinct, Mt Gravatt Environment Group, Wildlife Corridor | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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(l-r) Michael Fox, Susan Jones, Hon Vicky Darling MP, Hon Phil Reeves MP

Wednesday 15th, Sue Jones and I joined Hon Vicky Darling MP, Minister for Environment and local member Hon Phil Reeves MP, Minister for Child Safety and Sport at Mt Gravatt Lookout to officially present the independent environmental report: Mimosa Creek Precinct – Flora, Fauna and Fauna Corridor Assessment,  Biodiversity Assessment & Management Pty Ltd – Nov 2011.

Like many visitors Minister Darling was pleasantly surprised by Mt Gravatt Lookout,  the view over the CBD with the ranges beyond, Echidna Magic Cafe and picnic area all within a unique habitat which is home to Koalas, Echidnas and forty five butterfly species. With two hundred and sixty-three native plant species this unique 66 hectares has 10% of the species diversity of the whole 22.6 million hectares of Great Britain.

Koala Phascolarctos cinereus - Photographer Alan Moore

Delivering this report is another step in a process that started in July 1893 when, in response to community action, Mt Gravatt was declared an environmental reserve. Prior to that Mt Gravatt and surrounds were designated as a railway timber reserve.

In 2012 the problems are different but whole of community action is more vital than ever as we work to build long term security for this extraordinarily diverse habitat by engaging private property owners, community groups, university and school as well as local and state government departments in a collaborative effort to restore vital wildlife corridors. Therefore Mt Gravatt Environment Group initiated this report as an independent ecological assessment of the areas of Mt Gravatt Reserve and Roly Chapman Reserve covered by our Mimosa Creek Precinct Landscape Plan, including potential wildlife corridors links. The report was half-funded by an $8,000  State Government grant which was matched by in-kind support from researchers  Biodiversity Assessment & Management Pty Ltd.

Key findings

Fauna and Flora Habitat Values

  • Essential habitat for Koalas within Roly Chapman Reserve can be preserved and expanded create wildlife corridors through Vegetation Communities 9 and 6:
    • Endangered habitat -Vvegetation Community 7 (pink); and
    • Of Concern habitat – Vegetation Community 8 (orange).
  • Forty-seven terrestrial vertebrate species recorded during field survey – two are considered species of conservation significance:
    • Koala – Phascolarctos cinereus
    • Topknot Pigeon Lopholaimus antarcticus
  • Nine species of Endangered or Vulnerable plants

    Topknot Pidgeon Lopholaimus antarcticus

    can potentially be restored by habitat restoration allowing natural regeneration.

  • Essential habitat for Tusked Frog Adelotus brevis – bushland to west of and including Fox Gully
  • Three species of mosquito eating micro-bats identified during field research:
    • o   Gould’s Wattled Bat Chalinolobus gouldii
    • o   White-striped Freetail Bat Tadarida australis
    • Eastern Bentwing Bat Miniopterus oceanensis.

Recommendations – Movement Corridors

  • Ground fauna, particularly mammals, have suffered series declines.
  • Corridor A – greatest potential
    • 25 metre wide corridor connecting old farmland with Mimosa Creek across Klumpp Road
    • Significant increases in useable habitat possible:
      • 9 hectare addition with revegetation of farmland
      • 4 hectare addition with revegetation of grassed and weed-infested area along Mimosa Creek – Vegetation Community 6
  • Extensive revegetation of farmland and restoration of grassed and weed-infested
  • Corridor B – narrow potential corridor connecting Fox Gully with Mimosa Creek
  • Corridor C – revegetation programs to complement existing vegetation

Report in Action

  • Findings used in submission for purchase of old farm as part of BCC Bushland Acquisition program
  • Mimosa Creek Precinct Landscape Planupdated to provide a masterplan for restoration and reconnection of Mt Gravatt and Roly Chapman Reserve
    • 18 property owners committed to restoration of Fox and Firefly Gully wildlife corridors
    • $8,000 contributed to corridor restoration by local residents
 

December 20, 2011

Bringing butterflies to your garden

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bushcare Articles, Pollinator Link, Showgrounds Precinct, Wildlife Corridor, Wildlife of Mt Gravatt Reserve | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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Living on the edge of Mt Gravatt Reserve we often have butterflies visiting our yard. Today I videoed this Cabbage White Pieris rapae feeding on the Thyme flowers in our rose garden.

Michael Braby in Butterflies of Australia describes this erratic flight and feeding behaviour. This butterfly is using his proboscis or haustellum, a hollow straw-like tongue, to feed on nectar. The proposcis in normally kept rolled and extended for feeding.

Southside Community News - December 2011

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Our Pollinator Link initiative, described in my Southside News article, aims to bring more butterflies to suburban backyards.

If you have citrus trees you may find the leaves being eaten by the caterpillars of Orchard Swallowtail Papilio aegeus butterflies.

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In Mt Gravatt Reserve the caterpillars of these spectacular butterflies feed on Crow’s Ash Flindersia australis. 

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which builds this delicate chrysalis suspended from a branch

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emerging as this spectacular Orchard Swallowtail butterfly we found in the garden this week.

 

December 11, 2011

Envirionmentalist of The Year and Bushcare Group of 2011

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bushcare, Gertrude Petty Place, Roly Chapman Reserve Bushcare, Rover Street Bushcare | Tags: , , , |
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2011 has been a big year for Mt Gravatt Environment Group so to receive two top awards from Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee (B4C) is a very satisfying way to round off and prepare for 2012.

I was personally awarded Environmentalist of The Year which is a great honour coming from some of the most committed and experienced environmentalists I have ever met.

Mt Gravatt Environment Group was awarded Bushcare Group of 2011 which truly reflects the extraordinary work of a large number of community members but particularly our Bushcare coordinators:

Our achievements also build on the strong support of Kate Flink, our BCC Habitat Brisbane Officer, the B4C team, Ann Moran and Alan Moore who presented our Environmental & Photography Workshop, community groups like Mt Gravatt Men’s Shed, McGregor Lions Club, Southside Sport and Recreation Club and Mt Gravatt Historical Society, Griffith University, BCC Mt Gravatt Library and local politicians Phil Reeves MP and Cr Krista Adams and their excellent staff.

Now it is time to take a holiday and get ready for an even more extraordinary 2012.

 

December 1, 2011

Christmas with Mt Gravatt Environment Group

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bushcare, Gertrude Petty Place, Photography, Wildlife of Mt Gravatt Reserve | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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Saturday 26 December – Morning tea after a morning pulling weeds and planting at Gertrude Petty Place Bushcare. A simple happy and appropriate way to celebrate another successful year.

Our Gertrude Petty Place team have been steadily cleaning up the gullies and doing restoration planting. To October the team has put in 211 volunteer hours and planted 249 native plants most of which were propagated by the team members themselves.

Female - Spotted Pardalote - Photo A Kittila

Missing from the photo are Sheamus O’Connor who organised the Mt Gravatt SHS planting at the start of the Summit Track and Brett Dugdale – Rover Street Bushcare … and Kate Flink our wonderful BCC Habitat Brisbane Officer who was taking the photo.

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Black-faced Monarch - Photo A Kittila

It is important to note that 211 volunteer hours is only the time spent on-site. As well as that time our volunteers spend time on propagation, talking to school and community groups, applying for grant funding, preparing track guides and coordinating corporate groups like Conservation Volunteers Australia and McGregor Lions.

Others generously contribute information and photos of wildlife like the Spotted Pardalote Pardalotus punctatus and Black-faced Monarch Monarcha melanopsis. Andrea has added three bird species to our Flora & Fauna of Mt Gravatt Reserve bringing our count to fifty one bird species in the Reserve.

 

November 30, 2011

CVA team roll up weeds on Mt Gravatt

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bushcare, Gertrude Petty Place | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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Removing weeds with Tree Popper

By Susan Jones

Last Saturday, Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) brought a corporate group of twelve young volunteers to assist Mt Gravatt Environment Group with weed removal at the entrance to the Summit Track.   Their main targets for the day were Creeping Lantana Lantana montevidensis and Mickey Mouse Plant Ochna serrulata.

Group leader, Fabian was interested in trying out our Tree Popper on the Mickey Mouse Plants, as he had not seen one of these used before.  The tool is placed around the main stem of the ground at ground level, the pincers are closed firmly and the tool levered towards the user.  With very little effort the weed emerges from the ground with its deep tap-root intact.

Whilst the blokes were grappling with Mickey Mouse Plants, the girls were rolling up Creeping Lantana like a carpet.  After shaking off the dirt, the ‘carpet’ was laid out to dry.  Once the materials has dried out, it will be returned  to the earth as mulch.

Rolling up Creeping Lantana

Thanks to Conservation Volunteers Australia  and the volunteers for a great day’s work!

Conservation Volunteers organise groups of local volunteers, often corporate groups, as well as volunteers from around Australia, New Zealand and the rest of the world.

 

November 10, 2011

Flora, Fauna and Fauna Corridor Assessment

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bushcare, Mimosa Creek Precinct, Mt Gravatt Environment Group, Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |
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The researchers have finshed and the report is now available to help us plan restoration of our wildlife corridors and provide scientific evidence to support funding applications to support implementation of our Mimosa Creek Precinct Landscape Plan.

The report was prepared by Biodiversity Assessment and Management Pty Ltd with funding provided by the Department of Environment. Click on link to download a copy Mimosa Creek Precinct Flora & Fauna Assessment Nov 2011

Koala sightings Fox Gully

The report assessed the potential for the development of three potential wildlife corridors linking Mt Gravatt Reserve with Mimosa Creek. Koalas are breeding on Mt Gravatt and already starting to move into the Fox Gully corridor, see map, so our initiatives like our Community Gully Day are increasing important.

This research and report was made available through the strong support provided by Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee (B4C), Griffith University School of Environment and EcoCentre, Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club (BOIC), and Cr Krista Adams.

Particular thanks to our local state MP Phil Reeves and past Environment Minister, Hon Kate Jones who supported our application for research funding.

 

November 9, 2011

Blue Banded Bees and Variegated Fairy Wren

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bushcare, Mt Gravatt Environment Group, Pollinator Link, Showgrounds Precinct, Wildlife of Mt Gravatt Reserve | Tags: , , , , , , , , |
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A Blue Banded Bee – Amegilla cingulata getting nectar from one of our special Bottle Brush Grass Tree – Xanthorrhoea macronema.

It is particularly pleasing to photograph my first Blue Banded Bee today because I am currently writing an article on Pollinator Links for the Southside Community News. Pollinator Links are a form of wildlife corridor that has potential to work in our fragmented urban landscape and they are a key strategy in our Mt Gravatt Showgrounds Precinct Landscape Plan.

Blue Banded Bees are an Australian native bee and an important pollinator of our food crops like tomatoes. Some plants will only release pollen when the flower is vibrated rapidly – buzz pollination.

The importance of these and other native buzz pollinators is highlighted by the fact that the commercial honey bee – Apis mellifera, cannot perform buzz pollination. The Blue Banded Bees website cites significant benefits for crops such as tomatoes, kiwi fruit, eggplants and chillies. Blue Banded Bees are thought to improve yields in Australia by at least 30% overall.

I also managed to photograph one of our beautiful Variegated Fairy Wrens Malurus lamberti. A male in full breeding colour. There was a least one female around but she would not sit still for a photo. These delicate little birds like scrubby areas where they are safe from predators, often Lantana. So part of our bush restoration work is ensuring there is that there is replacement habitat established before we remove large areas of Lantana. As we establish Pollinator Links we aim to bring special birds like these back into our community backyards.

 

October 17, 2011

Mt Gravatt Showgrounds Precinct Landscape Plan

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bushcare, Mt Gravatt Environment Group, Rover Street Bushcare, Showgrounds Precinct | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Showgrounds Precinct - click to enlarge

Mt Gravatt forms an inspiring backdrop for Showground events like last Sunday’s Green Heart Fair and the Showgrounds link our mountain heart with our community in a way unique in Brisbane and possibly the world.

The Mt Gravatt Precinct Landscape Plan aims to build those community links as an integral part of the environmental restoration of this important and diverse Australian bush habitat only 10 kilometres from Brisbane CBD.

Click here to download the plan: Mt Gravatt Showgrounds Precinct Landscape Plan – ver 3.0 email

The plan is based on our vision for the restoration of Mt Gravatt and complements the Mimosa Creek Precinct Landscape Plan.

Pollinator Links, a key part of the Landscape Plan, will link Mt Gravatt Reserve with Bulimba Creek via the Showgrounds and Jo’s Creek. Pollinator Links are an innovative approach to creating wildlife corridors through the fragmented urban landscape. These urban ecological corridors will allow pollinators such as Sugarbag Stingless, Leafcutter and Blue-banded bees (all recorded on Mt Gravatt) to move between fragmented habitats.  Birds like Grey Fantails and Golden Whistlers, butterflies like Orchard Swallowtails and Tailed Emperor will also utilise these pathways, thereby returning these species to our backyards.

While the environment is the key focus building and maintaining long-term financial and community commitment requires creation of shared value through identification of business opportunities and community benefits derived from habitat restoration. The Showgrounds – Mountain Link Track is one example of shared value creation – creating easier access to mountain walking tracks and opportunities for “King of the Mountain” type tourism events based at the Showgrounds.

Any feedback or ideas for business or community opportunities? Email Mt Gravatt Environment Group

 

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