Have you ever over summer seen pretty purple flowers growing on 1m tall plants along our creeks? Ruellia tweediana (Mexican Petunia), a very serious riparian weed indeed!

This plant is particularly common along lower Moggill Creek and McKay Brook. The species must surely have been introduced as an ornamental and has spread rapidly along the riparian zone, out-competing most native herbaceous species.

As with other invasive plants, it’s best to catch this plant when it is first spotted. Young plants can be pulled by hand, depending on the nature of the substrate they are growing in. However, Mexican Petunia soon develops rhizomes (underground stems) which make it very difficult to hand-pull. That leaves us with herbicides.

Cody Hochen, Land for Wildlife officer, advises that Amicide 625 (2,4-D 625) at 30ml/10L of water is effective and is registered under PER11463, also being registered for using along waterways. If there are Persicaria (see below) and various other native species present, these are also likely to be killed by this herbicide. Note that the use of glyphosate (Roundup) is discouraged, especially in proximity of lomandras, which are very sensitive to glyphosate.

As seen in the photo below, Mexican Petunia is tolerant of high levels of shade, spreading under existing trees.

If you need additional advice, please give Bryan Hacker a call on 3374 1468.

Yes! There’s still time to register for the Brisbane Biodiversity Seminar East Region at Woolloongabba tonight! (Tuesday 7 March)

This session is entitled: Weed Control: More than one tool in the shed

Presenters include:  Liz Snow (Biosecurity QLD), Stefan Hattingh (B4C), Spencer Shaw (Brush Turkey Enterprises), Richard Copeman (Northey Street City Farm)

Please check our Calendar of Events for more info and how to RSVP.

Note: these informative seminars are conducted by Brisbane City Council.

is a joy forever … as the saying goes!  We invite you to read the latest edition of Jim Butler’s “Feather Fascination” and to be struck by the vibrant beauty of the Rose-crowned Fruit-dove!

In this issue, Jim explains how these little birds forage, where they originate from and how they contribute to seed dispersal within our forest ecosystems.

They’re very active within the catchment right now so why not read the article, then keep an eye out to see if you can spot one!

Click here to read on!

Would you like to improve your recognition of common and important grasses? 

A comprehensive workshop presented by Dr Sheldon Navie may help you! The aim of the program is to develop participants’ skills, knowledge and understanding of how to identify grasses found across South East Queensland. It will be divided into three parts:

1. Basic Grass Structure: roots, stems, leaves, flowers, seed-heads and  other grass characters important for identification
2. Recognition of Common SEQ Grasses: turf grasses, weed grasses, pasture grasses and native grasses
3. Identification in the field – infield identification will require you to bring a hat! Water and sunscreen available on the day.

The workshop will be held on Monday 13 March from 8:30 am until 1:30 pm at the IndigiScapes Centre, 17 Runnymede Road, Capalaba, Qld, 4157.  The cost is $130 per person (inc GST).

To register, click here.

If you or your team are interested in furthering your identification skills and knowledge, courses can be customised to a project and delivered on site to suit your business needs. For more info, call Tara Looby on 0411 157 639 or email: [email protected]

A major Symposium of Science and Practice sponsored by Healthy Waterways and Catchments will be held at the Robina Community Centre and Auditorium, Gold Coast, 23-24 March 2017.

Members with a particular interest in sub-tropical rainforest may find this of interest.

It has been a decade since the last major rainforest conference in Eastern Australia and this 2-day event will feature guest speakers such as Tim Low, Professor Roger Kitching AM, Professor Carla Catterall and Professor Ralf Buckley among many others. Thematic presentations will fall into 4 streams:

1. Rainforest Restoration
2. Values
3. Threatened Species
4. Climate Change. 

For more info, click here.

Join Ian Venables, member of the Queensland Ornithological Society and Bird Life Australia, on Friday 31st March at Kenmore Library, as he shares some of the oddities found within the bird kingdom.

Presented by Brisbane City Council. For details, please visit our Calendar of Events.

Dr Sue Turner’s talk this coming Thursday – Having an eco-friendly garden in the suburbs – has unfortunately been cancelled. Dr Turner has kindly agreed to give her talk later in the year (date to be confirmed).

In this month’s Feather Fascination, Jim reflects on the past five years sharing his infinite love of birding through his column.

But he also invites you to let him know the topics that interest you!

What can we do together for the birds in our district?

Click here to read on.

A Feather Fascination moment!! This stunning Little Wattlebird
paused and posed on 17 April 2016
at Adavale St Brookfield – (photo courtesy of Alison Staines)

We are very excited to announce that four new birds were officially recorded in the Catchment in 2016!  They include: 

• Black-shouldered Kite
• Little Eagle
• Little Wattlebird.

This in itself is a remarkable result!

But the most recently observed new bird is particularly interesting. A male Hooded Robin was observed at Brookfield on the afternoon of 12 December 2016.

What is remarkable is that this bird was observed in Brookfield at all!

Photo courtesy of Julie Sarna

The distribution of the Hooded Robin does not include Brisbane but is spread over much of mainland Australia. This solitary bird was only observed once, so it was probably a bird that became disoriented, arrived in our Catchment by mistake and quickly went on its way back to its usual habitat. When this happens, the bird is called a ‘vagrant’ in the Australian databases and bird lists.

The observation of the Hooded Robin is spectacular because it is so beautiful and this is exactly what makes bird surveys and time-in-the-bush so rewarding.  The male is a beautiful jet black and pure white robin, while the female has more subdued grey-brown colours.

If you’d like to see a list of all the birds in our catchment and where to find them, please visit the Bird Project section of this website.  

Incidentally, the Hooded Robin is number 210 on the Moggill Creek Catchment Historical Bird List!

Why not give start off your New Year by giving something back to the environment?

We have two working bees scheduled for Sunday 29 January – one at Huntington (Section 3) and another (Section 4) behind the Brookfield Showgrounds. Both commence at 8.30am.

Please click here to see more info about specific locations and times.