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…
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…
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…
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…
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 