Reports 2013-14
Report for 13 November 2014 Meeting
Our oldest member, Ken Frazer (1930-2014) died suddenly on Monday 10 November. Active to the last, he was at the Ourimbah Creek cricket match the day before.
Wattle Corner and the Duck Pond Ken had told us how the field north of the tea table on the Landcare site used to grow beans in the 1940s. He earned some useful cash in his teenage years helping with their harvest. What we call the Duck Pond came in useful as a source of water to wash the beans before they were sent to market. The left-hand photo shows Ken aged 23, the right hand one as we knew him, photographed at our AGM.
Diary 11 Sep Penny Pinkess delivered 28 nestboxes for the power poles and, on 15 Sep, 50 plant guards. 25 Sep Paul Watson (WSC) visited to say bore wires to be removed. Ausgrid employee met using site for lunchtime exercise. 9 Oct 3 Newcastle Uni students using us for their degree projects. Penny Pinkess delivered 1500 bamboo stakes, 150 nets, 12 plastic star posts and tools.
Report for 11 September 2014 Meeting
Coral fungus This brilliant splash of orange grew out of a pile of privet sticks, encouraged by our damp autumn. Coral fungi are a diverse group that can be white, pink or purple as well as orange. These are the fruiting bodies that liberate dust-like spores which the wind disperses. Presumably the fungus continues to grow, feeding on the wood that it’s rotting and long after the fruiting body has disappeared.
Spring flowers are really here now, with Gosford wattle, golden wattle, sassafras and clematis all out.
Diary 21 July stray German shepherd dog found on site. 29 July Robyn Urquart came with 12 TAFE students. 5 August sent request for $2,500 funding from Wyong Council. 11 Aug Ken Brookes (WSC) brought historic air photos 1998 and April 2014. New board members of Local Land Services inspected site and met members in the evening. 21 Aug Ian rang owner of German shepherd and black dog that are found hunting on site. Left message. Generator and fuel container removed by WSC. 4 Sep Photographers Hilda and Kelly-Anne (WSC) came to photograph the group at work. The photos will be posted on a new Council website illustrating the work of volunteers in the shire.
Report for 10 July 2014 Meeting
Native spiderworts Trad is a weed because native insects don't feed on it. Here are its four native relatives, which are eaten by insects. They are sometimes mistaken for trad.
Little Annie (Aneilema biflorum) is common in our forest, although rarer elsewhere in the region. While it looks quite like trad, its leaves are both shorter and narrower. Its white flowers are also smaller and they come in pairs, as would be expected from the name biflorum.
Narrow-leafed Annie (Aneilema acuminatum) is one of the rarer spiderworts (family Commelinaceae). It doesn't spread as a groundcover. You come across it as isolated plants in shady places but it only makes itself obvious in summer when it produces pretty sprays of white flowers.
Scurvy weed (Commelina cyanea) is more beautiful than its name would suggest, with flowers of an intense blue. It tolerates sun better than other spiderworts and, while common to the point of weediness in some places, dies out in heavy shade.
Pollia (Pollia crispata) is a rare native in our forest. It looks like a giant version of the introduced trad, and likes to grow in much the same conditions of half shade and moisture.
Diary 15 April Obtained 67 water gum plants from Council nursery. 24 April Ken Brookes (Wyong Council) visited to discuss future of Council infrastructure and zoning of our site. 30 April collected a further 44 water gums from Council nursery. 6 May Jennifer Tyson-Davies (Ourimbah Girl Guides) sought advice on planting native trees at Guide Hall. 8 May Jennifer Tyson-Davies visited. 16 May Two members (BDP & EMP) to Macquarie Uni to give presentation on our history (Local Land Services workshop on bush regeneration techniques). 22 May Transect 2 prepared. 26 May Richard Cassels, Joan Cassels (Narara Ecovillage), Robert Payne (ecologist) and Diane Warman (Uni Newcastle) visited to see techniques of weed control. 12 June New member John Pike. 3 July Contractor Damien Moey visited to discuss this year's work plan. 7 July New member Jo Allen.
Report for 10 April 2014 Meeting
History in air photographs
The two photos show the changes in our Landcare site from 1941 (upper photo) to the latest Google Earth in 2010. Footes Road is outlined in red, with the later addition of the connection to Palmdale dotted.
Changes in infrastructure have been:
The Council Weir over Ourimbah Creek (extreme right) that provides town water pumped to Mardi Dam
The M1 Freeway with the Rest Area connected to the Ourimbah turnoff
Several water bores providing additional town water from a deep aquifer under the Ourimbah Creek floodplain.
We have helped restore rainforest remnants (dark patches along the creek in the 1941 photo) expand back onto the floodplain and Wyong paperbark forest (endangered in the area) to expand into wetlands; biodiversity to increase, with more than 350 native species now recorded in the area.
Diary 17 Feb Ian attended all-day first aid refresher course. 26 Feb 10 TAFE students on study visit. Visit & inspection by Wyong Council staff Maxine Kenyon (Director, Community Services), Nikki Bennetts (Landcare Coordinator), Penny Pinkus (Support Officer). 11 Mar Peter Murray (WSC Roads & Drainage) contacted re entrance access. 15 Mar Terry Downley of Penrose Landcare visited site. 20 Mar Carolyn Jenkinson & Dan Keating (LLS) inspected site progress. 29 Mar 24 members of CC Birding Group visit. 7 Apr Penny Pinkus (WSC) conducted risk assessment.
Report for 12 February 2015 Meeting
Controlling trad We have been given some bins that are very convenient when strategically placed in places we need to weed. Here is Ian making sure that light doesn’t get in through the lid to allow the trad to grow. On a larger scale, Penny from Wyong Council has given us some sediment-control cloth. This is to make corrals where trad is deposited. Here it can be sprayed with herbicide without fear of inadvertently spraying native seedlings.
Weed germination: While trad fortunately doesn’t set seed, weeds like nightshade and Brazilian fireweed have seeds that stay in the soil for years. They are “asleep”, but can germinate when conditions suit them, that is, when a dense canopy of privet is killed. Botanists have spent years in finding out three of the conditions that tell the seed when to wake up.
1: The seeds sleep as long as the day and night temperatures of the soil stay nearly the same. That's the case under dense privet. When the night temperature of the soil is different to the day, it's a signal for the seed to germinate. That corresponds to the canopy being opened up.
2: Seeds need light to make them wake up. Red light wakes them and near infra-red light sends them back to sleep. Opening up the forest gets more of the wake-up light mixture to the ground.
3: The fertiliser nitrate works too. When privet is killed, fungi and bacteria release nitrate, which stimulates germination.
The overall result is that soil can be full of seeds of these short-lived weeds and, as long as a forest canopy is there, they stay asleep. That helps to explain why many of the weeds that grow up while the native forest is establishing itself become less of a problem later, when a canopy has grown over.
Diary. 13 Nov Ken Brookes (WSC) brought printouts of historic air photographs showing progress since 1998. 15 Nov group of 8 birdwatchers from Sydney visited. 17 Nov member Ken Frazer's funeral. Penny Pinkess (WSC) delivered 20l Roundup. 21 Nov David Green (LLS) phoned to report on his attempts to contact RMS re privet on freeway shoulder, but no meeting arranged yet. 3 Dec contacted Penny Pinkess re defective lock on Rest Area access gate. 2 members Attended Wycare Christmas party. 10 Dec lock reported to be fixed. 18 Dec Penny Pinkess delivered cloth for weed corral construction. 20 Dec David Green (LLS) reported that a meeting with John Francis (RMS Mardi Depot) will be arranged for January 2015. 5 Jan Latham's snipe sighted near Black Rock Pond. 23 Jan 4 members attended Australia Day award nominees dinner at WSC
Report for 13 February 2014 Meeting
Rare tree now fruiting The photo shows a seedling tree of the yellow ash, Emmenosperma alphitonioides This is a rare tree in our catchment, with only a few original trees surviving along Ourimbah Creek and its tributary Rocky Creek. Every so often, it has a boom year for fruit production. It’s mysterious how different trees somehow coordinate their fruiting in this way. The advantage to the tree is that seed-eating insects aren’t able to build up their numbers year by year, and a smaller proportion is destroyed by them in a boom year. Perhaps it’s a specific weather event that triggers this mass fruiting.
This year was also a boom year for the fruiting of guioa, Guioa semiglauca. The fruit is small, but tastes pleasantly acid, rather like tamarind. Unlike the yellow ash, the seeds die if they are dried, so we sow them immediately after sweeping them up from beneath the tree.
Road as a natural habitat We have a dirt road running right through our site that we keep clear of fallen trees, but which is progressively developing into a tunnel that is bridged by a rainforest canopy. Blue metal (basalt chippings) keep it from becoming too muddy in wet weather. Brown cuckoo doves and other species of native pigeon often can be seen on the road, eating grit. Under the rainforest canopy the pigeons won’t be so easily seen by hawks, while the basalt grit is rich in many minerals as well as being tough enough to help grind up seeds. Another user of the road is the bassian (or scaly) thrush. Some reports refer to it as “secretive”. On our site it doesn’t seem to avoid people walking along the road, and just runs along a few metres ahead of them. However, it blends in with the leaf litter so effectively that it seems to disappear as soon as it stops between runs. And then, particularly this year, brush turkey chicks like to use the road as they fossick for insects.
First aid box now animal habitat When our first aid box was vandalised, we changed it to hold our daily record of working hours. Now, a brown antechinus has taken the box over and will presumably keep it free of any creepy crawlies that might bite us when we take out the record book. It is yet another example of how wildlife can coexist comfortably with infrastructure, as long as suitable native vegetation can be maintained around it.
Diary 11 Dec visit by 29 members of Cumberland Bird Observer’s Club. 17 Dec Wycare Christmas Party. 15 Jan Council slashed around bores, except No 8. 16 Jan gathered and sowed seeds of Guioa semiglauca . 23 Jan Ken Brookes (WSC) visited to discuss maintenance under power lines. 25 Jan Group of 12 from “Follow that Bird”. 4 Feb Council re-graded road to bores. 5 Feb Council lowered water level behind weir for repairs to fish ladder.
Report for 14 November 2013 Meeting
Drought breaks The drought of the past four months was only relieved by odd showers that never saturated the soil. That’s no bother to larger trees, because they have deep roots that suck up water stored in the floodplain soil. Small seedlings have a harder time, however. We can’t plant seedling trees during dry spells, because we don’t have the time and energy to keep them watered when they are scattered over our large site. But now we suddenly have frontal rain from the south meeting a monsoonal trough from the north dumping thundery showers, and that’s interspersed with more light rain. It’s ideal weather to plant the seedlings like the cedar (pictured). It too is at an ideal planting stage, with plenty of roots, but not potbound.
What rainforest and wetland plants like Since we started planting trees way back in the year 2000, we have been able to learn what is most successful – that each species thrives best if we satisfy its individual requirements. For instance, we have had pencil cedar saplings die where floodwaters have waterlogged their roots, while bangalow palms have grown on unaffected. On the other hand, seedling bangalow palms have suffered far more in periodic droughts and, every winter, we lose some because wombats and wallabies like to eat their succulent hearts. Wyong paperbarks are not harmed by floods, but they don’t like being shaded. This means that they die if they are crowded out by rainforest trees and vines. Paperbarks can grow on poorer soil than rainforest species. And so, paperbarks are good for planting in those low-lying areas where the poor growth of weeds indicates an infertile soil. You wouldn’t put red cedar in places like that. It needs a really fertile soil, is best above flood level and needs to be protected from hard frosts. Also, it grows best where it does not have to compete with other red cedars. This means that it is an ideal species for scattered planting within thick stands of privet that keep the frost off. As the seedlings grow, the privet can be killed in ever-widening circles around each tree. As the privets die, their roots and shoots are converted into nutrients. In this way, the growing cedar tree gets the fertiliser that it needs to grow way above the dying canopy of privet.
Diary 20 Sep Ken Brookes (WSC) visited to discuss road maintenance. 2 Oct Entrance slip rail lock faulty. Nikki Bennetts and Penny Pinkess (WSC) brought 1500 nets and 1000 stakes for plant protection. 7 Nov Penny came again, this time with 20 litres herbicide and more stakes
Report for 11 September 2013 Meeting
Weed transformed to native habitat When we first made our shelter and table for morning tea, it was shaded by a large camphor laurel. Rather than killing it suddenly, we arranged for it to die slowly. As a result, the surrounding trees of euodia (Melicope micrococca) and lilly pilly (Syzigium smithii) progressively grew into its canopy. The photo shows what it looks like now. The base of the camphor laurel has become a home to both native species and heritage items. At bottom left is a small birdsnest fern (Asplenium australasicum) in a hollow log, with a rasp fern (Doodia aspera) above it. Above the ring bark the bracket fungus (Ganoderma applanatum) has taken hold. Not shown is the brown antechinus (Antechinus stuartii) that amused us during morning tea by seeking out insects in the bark. The fence post that is embedded in the trunk looks as if it might have been split way back, when this was the border of a field that grew beans during the 1940s. The other piece of wood is a part of a bluegum that was cleaved by a lightning strike in 2010.
Border track Weeds along our border with the freeway have now been cleared so that it’s possible to walk along the boundary fence. Beyond the fence there are valuable areas of wetland that we know are home to at least 10 frog species. It is an important corridor for other animals and plants, as well as being home to vulnerable species such as the Wyong paperbark (Melaleuca biconvexa). The whole system helps to purify the water as it drains from the M1 freeway to Ourimbah Creek. However, it is being invaded by weeds. It would seem to be an area that would respond to joint management as a roadside corridor by the two public authorities, Wyong Council and Roads & Maritime Services (see Diary below).
Diary 18 July Annual Financial Report sent to Dept Fair Trading. 30 July 12 TAFE students visited for 3 h with Robyn Urquhart. 1 Aug 2 m-long strangler fig established on wattle opposite Bore 9. 8 Aug Uni students Holly and Kate for 2 h. 30 Aug Regional Natl Resource Coordinator Eva Twarkowsky contacted re roadside corridor maintenance. 2 Sep Nikki Bennetts contacted re roadside corridor.
Report for 11 July 2013 Meeting
Progress of this years's grant work Our contractors recently sent in a team to deal with privet near Bore 9. This year they are leaving as much privet as possible standing and killing it by stem injection with Roundup. This makes for slower work than cutting at ground level, but has the advantage that there isn’t so much debris to impede our follow-up weeding. They are still cutting and painting the thinner privet. We volunteers then deal with the mat of privet seedlings and a multitude of other weeds.
Regeneration after privet removal In the areas cleared of privet last year native seedlings have appeared, including red ash, lilly pilly, euodia and palms. There seems to be an increase in swamp wallabies too. Beautiful creatures they are, but they do like to browse on these tender new seedlings. Wyong Council has come to our aid with stakes and mesh guards to protect the young plants, so they should survive through the winter.
Iron bacteria The photo shows the bright orange deposit along of the waterways through our site. This is not pollution, but rather a deposit of iron oxides – it’s similar to rust. As the ground water feeds into the streams it has iron (together with a bit of manganese) dissolved in it. Specialised bacteria get their energy from oxidising the iron, which then becomes insoluble, as well as more brightly coloured. This deposit is harmless to drink. However, it would not be welcomed by the people of Gosford and Wyong if it came out of their water taps. For this reason, water engineers add alum salts up at the reservoir to precipitate the iron. As long as they get it nicely balanced, the resulting water should be free of iron and aluminium.
Diary 17 April Steve Lewer (Dept Environment) came to repeat vegetation transects. 19 and 22 April Carolyn Donnelly (Roads & Maritime Services) contacted re possibility of weed control on the freeway side of our site. 2 May Penny Pinkus (Wyong Council) brought stakes, folding saws and bowsaw blades. 7 May students Brooke Gallagher, Holly Woodward, Kate Cato-Symonds, Kate Higgon joined us for volunteer work. Final report of 3-year grant 2010-13 sent to Environmental Trust. Penny Pinkus delivered 3 trowels, 3 folding saws, 3 secateurs, 3 tool belts and 4 kneelers from Wyong Council. 30 May Robyn Urqhhart with 13 students visited for plant identification and spotlighting. 6 June visited Tuggerah Lakes work on north bank of creek. 18 June Damien Moey (Bangalow Bushland Management) visited to plan this year’s grant-funded work. 27 June Student Andrew Sargent joined us for work between semesters. Penny Pinkus delivered nets and stakes from Wyong Council
Report for the 11th April 2013 meeting
More new species The recent Frog Workshop (see diary) turned up three new species, the rocket frog Litoria freycineti, the golden crowned snake Cacophis squamulosis and the emperor gum moth Opodiphthera eucalypti. Then Ray found the dead animal in the photo, which Nikki Bennetts identified as a new species of antechinus for us: Antechinus swainsonii (Dusky antechinus). This is a good deal bigger than the little Antechinus stuartii that we often see. Males of both species rarely last past the spring breeding season and the male in the photo was lucky to have made it into autumn.
Diary 19 Feb Council sprayer came to spray weeds on road to Council bores. He will return in a few weeks to review progress. Robyn Urquart came with TAFE students. 23 & 24 Feb double flood with site under water. 25 Feb cleaning up after flooding. 5 Mar Carla Whelan (Wyong Council Estuary Management) arranging filmed interview. 7 Mar Kate Cato-Symonds visited to do project on our Landcare group. 11 Mar CMA Creek Meander group visit our site. 12 Mar Phone to Chris Kennedy (Env Trust) – OK to pass over $1,400 of 6 yr grant to next year. 12 Mar New species antechinus found.13 Mar Regent Bower bird bathing at lean-to water tub. Jenny & Joe Ekman (Horticultural Research Newsletter) visit in regard to article on our site. 18 Mar Samantha Willis visit to discuss frog survey. Central Coast Woodturners took block of fallen wattle. 21 Mar Rebecca Dugan (Wyong Council) visit to do Risk Assessment. Brought 150 short nets. 23 Mar Frog Workshop on site 4.30 – 9.00 pm. Three new species discovered.
Report for 14 February 2013 Meeting
Wattles to fertiliser One of the oldest wattle trees on our site has finally collapsed at Deb’s Ditch. This was already a gnarled old tree when we started work in 2000. Wattles fix atmospheric nitrogen, just as other legumes like clover and peas do. This is released when a fallen wattle starts to rot, so that all the nearby trees benefit from a dose of fertiliser and put on a spurt of growth. The fallen tree was a Maiden’s wattle, Acacia maidenii. It was named after the Director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens (1896-1924). He was one of the first people to champion the use of Australian trees in lessening the effects of floods, among many other achievements. Until the fallen wattle was cleared from the road, we didn’t realise that its upper branches supported a thriving community of an epiphyte - the rock felt fern, Pyrrosia rupestris (see photo right). This is the first record of this species on our site, although it probably grows somewhere high in the branches of other trees.
Ferns from spores The recent showery weather will also help the other two epiphytic ferns that we have. These are the birdsnest fern and the elkhorn. Of the two, the birdsnest is easier to spot, because its spores germinate in the more humid and shady areas and therefore closer to the ground.
