News

Autumn newsletter is out now!

March 19, 2026 by mccgadmin

The Autumn Newsletter is ready to read online.

As always the newsletter is jam packed with articles and fabulous photos, so what are you waiting for. Grab a cuppa and enjoy this edition.

Autumn_2026

Quarterly Talk Tuesday Evening March 24th Kenmore Library

March 8, 2026 by mccgadmin

Tuesday 24th March 2026

Kenmore Library

(access via after-hours lift)

DOORS OPEN 6.30 pm TALK 7-8.30 pm

Refreshments provided

Quarterly Talk:

Climate change in Brisbane’s west – a local take on a global phenomenon

Guest Speaker:

Charles Worringham

President, The Hut Environmental and Community Association

Sitting between the D’Aguilar Range and a growing city, residents of Brisbane’s west are unusually well placed to observe and appreciate the natural world, as well as to benefit from the services and opportunities offered by a major urban centre.

Yet the same global changes that have made cities like Brisbane possible have also exerted pressures on local ecosystems – through population growth and movement, land use change and habitat destruction, pollution, invasive species and other forces.

Climate change is one of these fundamental pressures, yet as a global phenomenon, it often seems remote and its effects difficult to grasp. How does it manifest itself locally? Are there measurable indicators of change in our area, and what implications might they have for local ecosystems and their inhabitants – fauna, flora and people?

This talk will provide an update on recent climate science findings, review some significant effects known to be occurring elsewhere, and then focus on observations from our region and immediate area. Current and in-progress monitoring projects for Brisbane’s west will also be outlined.

After a career in movement neuroscience at the University of Michigan and QUT, Charles is pursuing local projects through THECA, and has written extensively on India’s energy transition.

Wildlife Matters: From Your Backyard to the Brisbane River: Caring for Creeks in Rain and Flood

February 15, 2026 by mccgadmin

Brisbane’s creeks are so much more than pockets of urban bushland, they are vital lifelines that shape the city’s resilience in both everyday life and in times of crisis. With every heavy downpour or flooding event, creeks and their surrounding catchments play a crucial role in storing, slowing, and channelling vast amounts of stormwater, helping to protect homes, businesses, and the wider river system from even greater damage.

Everyday choices at home have a direct impact on the health and performance of these waterways. Litter, garden clippings, and chemicals washed from Brisbane’s suburbs can block drains and end up in creeks, reducing their ability to carry floodwaters and increasing the risks of local flooding and erosion. This pollution also harms native wildlife and degrades the natural “sponges” that healthy creeks provide, which help absorb and filter rain before it reaches the river.

It’s easy to be a part of the solution. Dispose of rubbish thoughtfully, keep chemicals away from drains, and compost garden waste instead of blowing or raking it onto the street. Native gardens stabilise creek banks, support biodiversity, and reduce maintenance, while rain absorbing gardens and permeable paths allow more water to soak slowly into the soil.

Between severe storms, restoring creek corridors with native vegetation and removing blockages can make all the difference. These actions help our waterways buffer the impact of floods, reducing peak flood levels and the speed of water surges. Brisbane’s community catchment groups regularly organise tree planting and weed management days, creating greener, safer neighbourhoods for everyone and healthy habitat for native wildlife.

By looking after your local creek, whether through small changes at home or by joining a bushcare activity with your catchment group, you play a vital part in building a flood-resilient, thriving Brisbane for the future. For more details see:

https://www.moggillcreek.org.au/events-activities/monthly-working-bees-on-public-waterways/

Moggill Creek

Words and photo: Tracey Read

_______________________________________________

Published in the October 2025 edition of the Local Bulletin

The Summer Newsletter is out now

January 8, 2026 by mccgadmin

As another year comes to a close, the Summer edition of the MCCG Quarterly Newsletters is published. As always a lot of interesting short articles are included and it is a visual delight featuring the highlights of the photo competition for 2025.

Click here for a great read on what’s been happening with Moggill Creek Catchment Group.

Announcing the Winners of the 2025 Photo Competition

November 4, 2025 by mccgadmin

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! The 2025 MCCG Photo Competition was a huge success. Thank you to all the photographers for your entries and congratulations to all the winners. Over $1300 in cash went to the prize winners, thanks to the generosity of our local sponsors.

This year 26 entrants submitted 100 photos for the open categories with photographs taken within the Brisbane and Ipswich Catchments. This has been the largest number of entries in the last 7 years of the competition!

The photo competition could not run without the fabulous volunteers who generously give up their time each year. A massive thank you to the photo competition organising committee lead by Rebecca Bain with support from Robyn Frost, Bostjan Kobe, Janine Nicklin, Bruce Siemon and Geoff Lawrence and to all the volunteers who also support during the week.

Enjoy the winning entries in each category and start snapping in preparation for the 2026 Photo Competition!

Native Plants & Fungi

Native Birds

Native Animals (excl. Birds)

YOUNG PERSON

Our Catchment

Chairperson’s Choice Young Person

Sponsored by Discount Drug Store Kenmore

Lyla Heatley

Bush Turkey

Chairperson’s Choice Open

People’s Choice Young Person

MCCG AGM & Guest Speaker Wesley Nielsen Tues Nov 25th

October 23, 2025 by mccgadmin

Moggill Creek Catchment Group AGM

Tuesday 25th November 2025

Brookfield Hall (Showgrounds)

DOORS OPEN 6.30 pm AGM & TALK 7- 9 pm

Refreshments provided

2025 AGM – MCCG Committee Nomination Form 2026

Guest Speaker: Wesley Nielsen – WiFi Enabled Nest-boxes in Local Parks

Wesley has been passionate about our native fauna all his life. Growing up on a Land for Wildlife property in Brisbane’s Western suburbs gave him the opportunity to discover our often hidden arboreal fauna by inspecting nest boxes.

Over the last few years, Wesley has begun the journey of taking the experience from a 10 year career in electronics product design and manufacturing to develop the first standalone and purpose designed nest box monitoring station.

Wesley’s dream is to use this technology to enable all members of the community to discover our native arboreal fauna and in doing so capture the date required for anyone across Australia to develop best practice tools like nesting boxes and other systems to support the conservation of these precious species.”

There will also be a small quantity of Platypus merchandise left over from the 20th Anniversary Platypus Survey for sale.

Cash and Card payments accepted for merchandise and for renewing membership.

Wildlife Matters! Nest Building by a Potter Wasp

October 15, 2025 by mccgadmin

A few months ago, a large, beautifully marked wasp appeared, building a mud nest just outside our front door and well in under the eave. It was a Potter Wasp, Phimenes arcuatus. It had chosen the stem of a potted Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina) and, as time went by, its frequent arrivals each day carrying a ball of mud, led to it constructing a series of mud cells, each to hold an egg and each built on top of the previous one, gradually encasing the stem of the fig. It was fascinating to watch its marvellous skill, fashioning the moistened mud by using its forelimbs and mandibles to make each dome-shaped ‘pot’. At the top of each cell it left a very carefully made entrance hole, circled by a lip, and just the right size for the female wasp to insert her ovipositor (photo 1) to deposit an egg in the cell. Female Potter Wasp laying egg in mud nest

Her next task was to find and insert a caterpillar to nourish the wasp larva after it hatched (photo 2). Sometimes the cell would remain open for many hours, even overnight. Were caterpillars of the right size hard to find? Had the wasp died? And then we’d find the entrance sealed and the wasp would do some more mud work, perhaps to obscure where the entrance was, before she started on the next cell up the stem, building it partly on top of the one just finished so that the nest as a whole gradually extended up the stem. A video of the whole process can be seen on the MCCG YouTube.

Female Potter Wasp bringing caterpillar to feed larva

And then one day I noticed that one of the wasp’s wings was fraying, shortening it be a third. How could she fly? But she kept coming. Then one day ‘she’ arrived with two intact wings! And the penny dropped; apparently there was more than one wasp! And maybe more? As the cells extended up the stem, the wasps put on more mud, obscuring the definition of individual cells.

From about mid-December 2024 and on through March the cells extended up the fig’s stem by about 20 cm. While cells at the top were still being built and provisioned, exit holes low down showed that mature adults were already emerging at the bottom (photo 3). Eventually the upward extension came to an end about the end of March. Counting the exit holes in early May, at least 25 new adults had emerged. It seems to have been a successful nesting season.

Complete Potter Wasp nest showing exit holes

Words and Photos by Gordon Grigg

Published in the October 2025 edition of the Local Bulletin

20th Anniversary Platypus Survey and Celebration – Sept. 14th 2025

September 30, 2025 by mccgadmin

Thank you again to all the volunteer Platypus Spotters and Supporters for, joining us for the 20th anniversary of the Moggill Creek Catchment Group’s Platypus Survey! The longest running platypus survey!

A huge effort from all involved and I cannot thank you enough for your patience and support!

We had more than 80 volunteers across 53 sites, and 12 platypuses were spotted!

I mentioned that the lower numbers with such a huge survey effort may be because we are coming to the end of breeding season. There may not be as much movement from the males anymore (their job is done) and the females would be in their burrows, hopefully nesting with babies! The babies will emerge early next year!

A big thank you to the Team Leaders – Melanie Venz, Beck Bain, Damien Egan, Sophia Broese van Groenou, Aaron Wiggan, Julia Wharton and Suzy Philip, a massive thank you for helping wrangle such a mammoth effort. To the Moggill Creek Catchment Chair Tracey Read for organising the celebrations and the many people and organisations who supported the event, we really could not have done it without you ALL!!!

Enjoy watching the video for the 20th Anniversary Platypus Survey and Celebration!

Until, next year take care,

Tam.

Dr Tamielle Brunt

Platypus Watch

Wildlife Queensland

2025 Photo Competition

August 31, 2025 by mccgadmin

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

Get your cameras out and start snapping to enter this year’s competition. There is over $1500 up for grabs in cash prizes, thanks to the generosity of our local sponsors.

Entry is open to all members of the public with photographs taken within the Brisbane and Ipswich Catchments. See the flyer below for details on Open categories and Digital Young Persons (prep – year 6) category.

The 2025 Photo Competition forms can be downloaded now

General Entry Form

Terms and Conditions of entry for the Digital Young Person category