News

New Year Resolution?

January 16, 2024 by mccgadmin

Happy New Year!

Was your resolution this year to join a bush care group and get outside and enjoy the fabulous bushland, creeks, walks and parks of Moggill Creek Catchment?

Then click on the link to find out all you need to know for our working bees dates, contacts and locations of our bush care groups operating throughout our catchment.

Tree Planting

An Unusual Weed – Wildlife Matters!

December 5, 2023 by mccgadmin

I recently came across an interesting weed in the parklands adjacent to our bushcare site in Brookfield (see photo). Golden dodder (Cuscuta campestris) is a parasitic plant that is unable to produce its own chlorophyl and is therefore non-photosynthetic.

Golden-Dodder-Cuscuta-campestris-2-photo-Camel-Yueh-licensed-under-CC-BY-SA-2.0

Golden-Dodder-Cuscuta-campestris-2-photo-Camel-Yueh-licensed-under-CC-BY-SA-2.0

It is categorized as holoparasitic because it is unable to complete its life cycle without attaching itself to another plant. It begins life normally, as a seed that germinates in or on the soil. The bright yellow leafless thread-like stems that emerge from the seeds will die quickly (within 5-10 days) if they can’t reach another (green) plant. The stems produce small root-like structures called haustoria that penetrate the host plant’s stems or leaves to extract water and nutrients. Once it attaches itself to the host plant, the vestigial root of the dodder in the soil dies and the plant becomes entirely dependent on its host. Golden dodder produces dense clusters of small cream to white flowers, 2-4mm long, with five pointed petals. The resulting globular seed capsules contain up to four seeds.

Golden dodder is native to central North America and belongs to a genus of over 200 yellow, orange or red parasitic plants worldwide. Formerly treated as the only genus in the family Cuscutaceae, it now is accepted as belonging in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. The genus is found throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world, with the greatest species diversity in subtropical and tropical regions. Dodder can grow and attach itself to multiple plants. In tropical areas, it can grow more or less continuously and may reach high into the canopy of shrubs and trees.

Dodder is a significant pest of crops, particularly of plants belonging to the daisy family (Asteraceae), but it also parasitises a wide range of both naturalised species and native plants in grasslands, open woodlands, coastal vine thickets, riparian zones and wetlands. It causes damage by absorbing food material from the host plant, but the dense mat of stems it produces can also cause shading of the ground vegetation layer. It is considered to be a minor environmental weed in south-eastern Queensland. In general, dodder infestations range in severity depending on the host species, the time of attack, and whether any viruses are present in the host plant. By debilitating the host plant, dodder reduces the ability of plants to resist viral diseases. It can also spread plant diseases from one host to another if it is attached to more than one plant.

Golden-Dodder-Cuscuta-campestris-1-photo-Jim-Pope

Golden Dodder (Cuscuta campestris) photo: Jim Pope

Golden dodder is also commonly known as Angel’s hair, Beggar vine, Love vine and Strangle weed. I am told that the name ‘Love vine’ stems from the fact that native American women were apparently told to break off a piece of the dodder, call out the name of a young man they were interested in and throw the vine onto another plant; if it grew there, the affection was mutual!
Jim Pope

Wildlife Matters is published in:

Red-necked Wallabies – Bush Bites with Ed Frazer

December 5, 2023 by mccgadmin

We have about 10 Red-necked Wallabies living on our property in Brookfield and see many of them every day at dusk and dawn.

They generally are eating the lush grass around the many small dams on our property.

As well as the grass they eat several weeds including the tough Sida retusa, which is almost impossible to pull out by hand.

This year our huge Avocado tree has had over 200 fruit, many which are too high for us to pick even with an extension picking stick. They eventually fall off and the Red-necked Wallabies have been feasting on the windfalls. They don’t wait for them to ripen. They eat the hard flesh and skin and only leave the seed.

Red-necked Wallabies Ed Frazer Male Red-necked Wallaby eating unripe Avocado

Most of the Wallabies on the property are females with joeys. Until recently we have had a large male we could identify because of his floppy ear which looked like it had been half chewed off in a fight. Now he seems to have been replaced by the male in the photograph chewing on an unripe Avocado.

We have known these Wallabies since the early 1970’s and we are pretty sure they are all related. They are fairly confident around us, but they don’t allow us to come too close. When we first came to the property we used to feed them bread at the back door, but we found that after a neighbour’s dog came onto the property the wallabies disappeared for several days. This made us realise that we shouldn’t make them vulnerable to attack if they became too tame so we stopped feeding them. Dog attacks and road kills are their main danger so please watch out for our wallabies when you are on the road at dusk and dawn.

Words and photo: Ed Frazer

Hidden Giant Neighbours – Wildlife Matters

December 5, 2023 by mccgadmin

Wildlife Matters

The start of the summer rains is paired with holes appearing on the trunks and branches of smooth-barked eucalyptus trees. These holes, which are always found in pairs, expose the tunnels of the giant wood moth (Endoxyla cinereus), a species which is common along the east coast of Australia, but seldom seen.

After feeding on the cambium layer of a eucalyptus tree for 1-2 years, caterpillars of this giant moth are ready to pupate. But before they can, they must form an escape route from the tree for their adult selves. This is when the caterpillars chew a large exit hole in the tree, roughly 3cm wide. In case of rain entering this hole and filling up the chamber inside, the caterpillar also clears out a smaller hole below. This smaller hole is where the caterpillar initially entered the tree, years before. With an escape route in place, the caterpillar then will create a protective barrier to keep itself safe while it pupates inside the tree. This includes a sticky webbing, coated in a mucilaginous excretion. It lines the entrance to its pupation chamber with this repellent web, then plugs itself off from the rest of the world with a pellet made of silk and compacted strips of wood. Once it is safely sealed away, it will pupate by shedding its larval skin and then remaining, relatively motionless for ~60days.

During the peak of summer (late November – January), these moths will finally emerge from their hidden chambers. The pupa first dislodges its plug, pushes through the revolting web, and inches its way out of the exit hole. Once it is half-exposed in the exit hole, the moth will flex its flight muscles from beneath the pupal skin until it breaks the skin and a few legs escape to pull the rest of the moth out. The grey moths emerge from their pupal skins with crumpled wings, but they soon expand these and dry them on the trunk of the tree.

Giant-Wood-Moth-2-photo-Jessa-Thurman

The adult moths have no mouths and therefore live on their stored fats. They do not need much time in this stage, as they only seek to mate and then lay thousands of eggs. This short adult period, when the moths are exposed to the rest of the world, has left people shocked whenever they encounter this gentle giant as they have never seen it or heard of it before. You might be lucky enough to spy the holes of these moths from September to January, and if you are very observant, you may spy one emerging from their tree!

Jessa Thurman

The Summer Newsletter is out!

November 12, 2023 by mccgadmin

Another fabulous newsletter for you to enjoy! In this edition you will hear the stories behind the winning photos from this year’s photo competition. Read all about the recent events in the Chairman’s report. There are animals galore with platypus, bandicoots, frogs, spiders, and lots of flora.

Sit back, relax and enjoy the Summer newsletter.

MCCG AGM 2023 Tue 28th Nov 7pm

November 11, 2023 by mccgadmin

Please join us for the MCCG AGM 2023

Tuesday 28th November

Brookfield Showgrounds

6.30 for 7pm (9pm finish)

Refreshments provided

Guest Speaker: Helen Schwencke, of Earthling Enterprises

Talk title: Fireflies of South-east Queensland – their distribution, lifecycles and habitat. A topic that can be answered by Citizen Scientists.

Helen is an experienced ecologist and naturalist, and is very interested in insect life cycles, particularly butterflies and other invertebrates, and the roles they play in ecosystems. Recently she has turned her attention to fireflies. She is working with Dr Lesley Ballantyne, Oceania’s taxonomic expert for these beetles, through establishing the Fireflies of Australia Facebook group, to increase our understanding of these species. She is a science communicator and is a frequent public speaker, also offering a range of resources via the Earthling Enterprises website: earthling.com.au.

Fireflies are locally popular along Moggill Creek, and although seen only briefly in September, this is a great opportunity for MCCG to learn more about them, and hopefully get some people surveying and doing some simple citizen science about them and their habitats within the catchment.

MCCG Annual Photo Competition 2023 Winners

November 5, 2023 by mccgadmin

The annual MCCG Photo Competition celebrated its 25th anniversary with another fantastic display of images from local catchments at Kenmore Village Shopping Centre on October 16th-21st.

See all the categories and prizewinners below.

Native Plants & Fungi

Moggill Creek Catchment Group Annual Platypus Survey Results 2023

September 30, 2023 by mccgadmin

This year’s annual platypus survey saw 47 volunteers cover 34 sites across Moggill, Gold and Farm Creeks.

There were 9 individual platypuses sighted across Moggill and Gold Creeks. An exciting sighting was recorded at the foot bridge in the Gold Creek Reservoir. After the 2022 floods,we didn’t have sightings of the resident platypus and it was thought it may have been washed downstream. It was great to confirm presence in the pool again.

Platypuses had been in the last few weeks in the usual hotspot area of Huntington Estate, but they eluded us in that area on the survey morning.

Platypuses rely on water for their essential activities, including feeding, mating, and navigating through creeks. Pools play a crucial role in their habitat because they can effectively search for food in water depths ranging from 1 to 5 meters. Currently, the creeks are fragmented due to the dry winter weather, potentially leaving platypuses isolated in the deeper pool areas. While platypuses are capable of traveling overland to seek water, this increases their vulnerability to predators like foxes, cats, and dogs, as they lack the speed to outrun these threats. As a result, these pools are expected to serve as vital refugia for platypuses during the upcoming years of drought.

Citizen Science is an important tool to help monitor wildlife populations. Thank you to all the volunteers who joined bright and early to help gain valuable data on the population. Thank you to the Team Leaders that helped navigate the volunteers to sites and to the Kenmore District Girl Guides Queensland for organising the post survey breakfast.

Footage from of a platypus in lower Gold Creek can be see here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPED7ketkus

platypus-survey-2023

Tamielle Brunt

B. App. Sc. (Wildlife Science), PhD.

Community Tree Planting at Rafting Ground Reserve.

September 30, 2023 by mccgadmin

On Sunday 8th October, between 8.30 – 11.00am Moggill Creek Catchment Group (MCCG), in collaboration with Brisbane City Council, are holding a Community Tree Planting on the Rafting Ground Reserve off Moggill Rd in Brookfield. We are planning to plant around 700 native trees and shrubs in areas near the south-eastern end of the park, which are currently dominated by very long (exotic) grasses and weeds such as Caster Oil plants (see photo).

Wesley DeMuth our Creek Catchment Officer has secured funding from Brisbane City Council to prepare the areas for planting. This will include clearing the grass and weeds, spreading mulch and augering holes for the plants. BCC will also supply the plants. All that we will be required to do on the day is to put in the plants, add stakes and plant protectors where appropriate, and water them in.

One of the areas to be cleared and re-planted with native trees and shrubs. (Photo Jim Pope)

We need plenty of volunteers to help with this event. No previous experience of bushcare is necessary, but you are encouraged to view this video about planting tubestock on the MCCG YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2F0fla2j09Ih-OzSP8yQDAgkzpPVQX5j.

Children are welcome to attend provided they are accompanied by an adult. Volunteers should wear old clothes, covered shoes, gardening gloves and a sunhat. Hand tools, insect repellent and sunblock will be supplied. There is plenty of parking at the northern end of the reserve, (entry at the traffic lights opposite the intersection of Moggill and Pullenvale roads).

Morning tea and refreshments will be provided.

For more information or to book your place, please email Jim Pope

Wildlife Matters! Committed to Platypus Conservation

September 3, 2023 by mccgadmin

Wildlife-Matters-September-2023

Wildlife Matters is published in:

The Bulletin