News

Platypus-a-plenty!

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Seventy-six bright-eyed volunteers set their alarms VERY EARLY to take part in the annual MCCG Platypus Survey on Sunday 10 September.


They were rewarded with 15 sightings! …. which they believe were of 12 platypus that were active on that morning.

You can read about the survey and see this year’s report, including photos, by clicking here.

Members are also invited to hear all about this year’s survey and all thing platypus at our Cottage Talk featuring Tamielle Brunt this Thursday 21 September at 10am.


Photo courtesy of Ed Frazer

For more info about the Cottage Talk, please contact Dale Borgelt: [email protected] or phone:3374 1035

Birds in tunnels

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We have two WONDERFUL articles guaranteed to fascinate …  They reveal the curious parenting and foraging behaviours of the Striated Pardalote.

Jim Butler’s September issue of Feather Fascination provides a very interesting read: {module_literature,i,176534}

Photo courtesy of Ed Frazer

And if you’d like to see some amazing photos from Ed Frazer, together with an account of his experiences photographing two Striated Pardalotes in a tunnel on his Brookfield property … click here ! 
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IT’S HOLIDAY TIME !!!

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Fun activities are waiting for all budding scientists and young lovers of nature!


Cubberla-Witton Catchments Network has announced their Spring School Holiday Activities and we must say the program looks pretty amazing!


 		 There will be something to please children of all ages and interests!
Hands-on involvement as well as crafts and storytelling ….
Lots of action and fun-filled learning for a variety of age groups.
 

The program and registration form can be found in the flyer below and on the Cubberla-Witton Catchments website.

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MCCG 20th Anniversary Photo Book – Call for Photos

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We need your very best Catchment photos!
As part of the celebrations for our 20th Anniversary, MCCG plans to produce a photo book. It will contain about 60 pictures and text to describe the history, achievements, community involvement, the beauty of our catchment and its environmental challenges.
We’re particularly after photos of early catchment group activity, and especially before and after photos of restoration work started in the early days of MCCG.  Photos showing the catchment and MCCG activities, such as working bees, restoration work, MCCG members (particularly those who started MCCG), flooding events, and catchment flora and fauna will all be useful.

Submitting photos: – please have these to us by 22nd September 2017

 Digital Photos Email to the MCCG Secretary [email protected]. Each photograph will be acknowledged
 Non-digital Pictures Post to the MCCG Secretary at PO Box 657, Kenmore 4069. The photos will be scanned and the originals returned, if a return address is provided.

A rare shot

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September 2017 marks the first time the Red-capped Robin has been photographed in our Catchment!

Ed Frazer took the magic shot on Wednesday 6 September.

Click here to view the photo in our Classified Bird List.

 Handy Hint: Press Ctrl + F, then type Red-cap to search for the robin.

Wildlife Matters Symposium

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The Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland is hosting an afternoon and evening symposium and dinner with celebrity guest speaker John Dee on Saturday 9 September. 

Hear wildlife experts and activists speak from their experience on how the climate of change we currently face is impacting Queensland’s iconic plants, animals and ecosystems.


Please contact WPSQ directly for more information by phoning them on  (07) 3844 0129, or visiting their website.

It’s National Threatened Species Week!

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National Threatened Species Week  runs from 3rd to 10th September.

It aims to draw attention to plants, animals and ecosystems in Australia that are under threat and to encourage the community to actively make choices that help conserve and protect our natural heritage.

  • Click here to view a list of Queensland’s endangered animals
  • Click here to view a list of Queensland’s endangered plants.  

Brisbane will host a number of displays to celebrate the week.  You can view these in the Queen Street Mall from 8am – 2pm on National Threatened Species Day, Thursday 7 September.

The Swift Parrot, which has been sighted in our Catchment
This photo (taken outside the Catchment) is courtesy of Tom Tarrant

Click here for more info.

**CANCELLED** McKay Brook Working Bee

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Please be advised that the McKay Brook working bee for  Saturday 2 September HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

The next Section 11 working bee will therefore be Sunday 17 September.

So please keep an eye on the Working Bee Calendar. We will advise plans for 17 September closer to the time.  

Help Urgently Needed!

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HELP US KEEP ALIVE A TRULY ICONIC LOCAL EVENT!

And you  won’t even need gardening gloves!

Our PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION team REALLY needs some helpers ….

None of us wants to see 2017 as the final year of the iconic MCCG Photography Competition. It has been held held every year in October since 1998 and generally offers over $1500 in cash prizes.

It’s hugely popular and each year it attracts entries of amazing quality from the young and the not-so-young, It has an Open category, a Young Persons category and a special competition for schools in the catchment. The annual display at Kenmore Village is a local attraction which people and schools look forward to each year.

If you click here you’ll see some of our winning entries for 2016 and you’ll understand why!

…  if you’d like to be part of this event and help keep it alive, the Photography Team would love to hear from you! 

We need you, just for a few hours throughout the year! 

Please send an email to [email protected] to learn about how you can help.

For general info about the Photography Competition, click here.

Fish Snapshot! WHAT training Sunday10 September

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The latest Waterway Health Assessment Training (WHAT) workshop, run by Brisbane City Council, is free for catchment group members.  It will teach you techniques that can be used to assess the abundance and diversity of stream fish species. 


The main aim of this activity is to collect information on the status and habitat requirements of fish in freshwater streams.
This information has direct conservation value to will help answer questions such as:
 

1. What is the distribution and abundance of native and introduced (exotic) fish species?

2. How is the distribution and abundance of native and exotic fish species changing with time?

3. What are the key types of threat (e.g. habitat degradation, invasions by exotic species) that

    affect native Australian fish species?

4. Can particular habitat elements or the composition of fish communities be used as indicators of

    overall stream quality?


Presenter:  Leo Lee from Save Our Waterways Now

Places are limited at the Chapel Hill venue so RSVP to Michael Thorley ASAP via email: [email protected]