Thanks for checking the Dawn Road Reserve Bushcare Group website and welcome back for 2017. This year we will still be updating the website with select images and information but we are moving our monthly “Many hands” posts and photos onto Facebook and Instagram, including the freshest updates from the working bees. Don’t forget to Follow…
UPDATE (January, 2016): On New Year’s Day, 2016, we saw a smaller koala in the same tree and noted evidence around the base and up the trunk of significant scrapings and climbing marks! This is wonderful news. Will try to get a photo of this second koala over the coming weeks, but they are shy…
The Dawn Road Reserve is filled with birdlife and, led by Dawn Road Reserve Bushcare mentor Janet Mangan, a handful of volunteers combed the reserve for a couple of hours on Saturday morning, May 23, noting and sightings of birds in and around the bushland. From the outset at a point under the powerlines, we…
Those residents who live near – or enjoy exploring – the bushland in the Dawn Road Reserve may have noticed the distinctive Mickey Mouse Plant (Ochna serrulata). Its tell-tale green, glossy leaves with serrated margins plus its bright red stalks that carry berry-like ‘drupes’ – which turn from green to black – are not only…
The showy, bright-yellow flowering Easter cassia (Senna pendula var. glabrata) can grow to around 5m in height and is dotted throughout the Dawn Road Reserve, particularly where there are sunny clearings or openings in the overhead canopy. You have probably seen this eye-catching plant, alongside roads and waterways, or even in domestic gardens. After it…
If you have enjoyed exploring the Dawn Road Reserve, perhaps you didn’t know that it is part of the wonderful Mountains to Mangrove Corridor that is under threat from over-development in nearby suburbs. One local wildlife group is running a petition to ensure a narrow strip of land is preserved to ensure the corridor remains…
Over the past year, the Dawn Road Reserve Bushcare group has struck up a beneficial alliance with Wild BNE’s Christian Perrin, who has taken an interest in the plantlife, birdlife and wildlife in our patch of bushland. So when he suggested a flowering plant walk for Saturday, August 6, yours truly didn’t hesitate to go…
At our May 2016 Dawn Road Reserve Bushcare working bee, volunteers were treated to a special encounter with a pair of delicately coloured birds who seemed quite interested in what we were doing but not at all put off by our presence. With their rose-pink head, neck and underbelly, a paler pink crest with a…
Dawn Road Reserve Bushcare’s next 2-hour working bee is on Sunday, September 11, 2016, from 8am, at the end of McConachie Court. Please come along and join our happy crew as we do lots of important work in your neighbourhood. *** Remember to at least wear long trousers, a long-sleeved shirt, a broad-brimmed hat and sturdy, closed…
THIS FILE HAS REPORTS & IMAGES FROM THROUGHOUT 2015 Dawn Road Reserve Bushcare has returned for 2016, with our next 2-hour working bee on Sunday, March 13, 2016, from 8am, at the end of McConachie Court. Please come along and join our happy crew as we do lots of important work in your neighbourhood. *** Remember to…
When the Dawn Road Reserve Bushcare volunteers position new plants along the special revegetation zone, they usually place a protective mesh cylinder around them until the plants are big enough to withstand the weather. Then, when the cylinders are removed, the growing plants are tagged with pink ties to distinguish them from weed species that…
The stunning blue triangle butterfly (Graphium sarpedon) is very active and frequently seen around the Dawn Road Reserve. Also known as the common bluebottle swallowtail, its host plant is usually camphor laurel (Cinnamomum camphora) trees, a serious weed that can be found across the Reserve. It will also feed on other, nectar-rich native plants. Sources:…
UPDATE (25/1/2016): Watch the fascinating lifecycle of the Monarch butterfly online. Known as the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus or wanderer butterfly), this insect is referred to by enthusiasts as the king of butterflies. While this insect is a regular visitor to the Dawn Road Reserve from late summer onwards for up to eight months (their usual…
Sadly, not everyone loves our bushland and its surrounds. The discarded items above were recovered from a fairly small area beside a steam that runs through a revegetation patch recently worked on by the Dawn Road Reserve Bushcare group and local volunteers. If you live in or near the Reserve, please don’t use it as…
While you are far more likely to see – or hear – wallabies in and around the Dawn Road Reserve, particularly at night, you may be lucky during the day or evening to see the occasional eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus). Our local wallabies – thought to be either red-necked wallabies (Macropus rufogriseus) or black-striped wallabies (Macropus dorsalis) – are…
Usually, the shy eastern long-necked turtle (Chelodnina longicollis, or sometimes known as the snake-necked turtle for obvious reasons) keeps fairly close to the creek, but when we’ve had a decent downpour and the normally quiet Albany Creek starts roaring, these delightful creatures head for higher ground. In this case, this turtle ended up wandering around a local backyard…
Australian Wood Ducks (Chenonetta jubata)– medium-sized ‘goose-like’ ducks with a dark brown head and a paler grey or brownish body, with two black stripes along the back – are frequent visitors to the Dawn Road Reserve. This pair (female at the rear, male in foreground) are scavenging along the recently cleared embankment just before revegetation began.…
Regular visitors in and around the Dawn Road Reserve are the rather noisy sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita). You’ll hear one squawk to its mate or offspring, or evens dozens of them calling to one another as their flock scans the horizon for likely sources of food. According to Birds in Backyards, the large, white sulphur-crested…
Whenever there are small streams or overland flows criss-crossing the Dawn Road Reserve, you are likely to see a north Queensland native water weed called cumbungi (Typha domingensis) – also known as bullrushes or ca’ts tails. Sadly, cumbungi has spread to south-east Queensland and you can find quite a bit of it along the stream that runs…
You see them in many places around Brisbane, including private gardens, but the tall Alexandra palm (Archontophoenix alexandrae) can grow up to 30m in height, with a crown containing around 10-12 long leaves that themselves can measure up to 4.5m. Unfortunately, while they are native to northern parts of Queensland, the Alexander palm has become…
Wild tobacco (Solanum mauritianum) shrubs, which can grow up to 4m in height, can be seen in many places throughout the Dawn Road Reserve. Originally from Argentina, this weed forms dense stands and suppresses the growth of other species. According to the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, wild tobacco likes disturbed sites and its…
One of the newer, yet very invasive, weeds encountered in the Dawn Road Reserve has been Brazilian nightshade (Solanum seaforthianum), a deceptively pretty creeper with lavender florets and berries that are green when immature and bright red when ripe. A native of Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and tropical South America, the Brazilian nightshade has become a weed…
According to the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, broad-leafed (or broad-leaved) pepper trees (Schinus terebinthifolius) are a Class 3 declared pest plant under Queensland law. A native to South America, they have been introduced into domestic gardens and escaped into the wild, invading coastal dunes, wetlands and stream banks. These trees are not only a…
NatureWatch - Albany Creek 