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.
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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.
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
Sponsored by Cr Greg Adermann
1st Place
David Edwards
Capparis sarmentosa
2nd Place
Anne Love
Pinwheels
3rd Place
John May
Buckinghamia blooms
Image not supplied
Highly Commended
David Edwards
Eupomatia laurina
Highly Commended
Chris Bruton
Wattle
Native Birds
Sponsored by Kenmore Bridge Club
1st Place
David Edwards
Is three a crowd?
2nd Place
Anne Love
Powerful Owl
3rd Place
Kim Wright
Rainbow Bee-eater pair
4th Place
Andrew Taylor
Snack time
Image not supplied
Highly Commended
Kim Wright
Sacred Kingfisher
Highly Commended
Joseph Pappas
Bee eater eats bee
Image not supplied
Highly Commended
David Edwards
Take off
Highly Commended
Anne Love
White-eared Monarch
Highly Commended
Tony Thulborn
Ambush
Image not supplied
Native Animals (excl. Birds)
Sponsored by Dr Christian Rowan MP
1st Place
David Edwards
Resin bee gathering
2nd Place
Anne Love
Platypus
3rd Place
Andrew Taylor
Warning
4th Place
Alexander Davies
Blending in
Image not supplied
Highly Commended
Anne Love
Rakali
Highly Commended
Isabella Grigg
Firefly trails
Highly Commended
David Edwards
Robber fly with mouthfull
Highly Commended
Andrew Taylor
Sniffing about
Highly Commended
Ed Frazer
Ladybird
Image not supplied
Highly Commended
Chris Bruton
Swallowtail
Silver
Sponsored by Haemen Mendis Jewellers, Tropic Gardener, Kenmore Village Florist
1st Place
Rosemary Pollock
25 years strong!
2nd Place
Anne Love
Silver spider
3rd Place
Andrew Taylor
Silver lining
Highly Commended
Melanie Harris
Tawny Frogmouth Chicks
YP Our Catchment
Sponsored by Pisces Enterprises
1st Place
Joseph Pappas
Tawny family
2nd Place
Evie Drummond
Lorikeets
3rd Place
Aurelia Fischer
Beautiful garden visitor
Highly Commended
Eva Henricksen
Standing guard
Highly Commended
Jasper Drummond
Skink
Highly Commended
Jasper Drummond
Orchid with tiny spider
Highly Commended
Joseph Pappas
Possum
Highly Commended
Mathilda Buchberger
Lace monitor
Chairman’s Choice YP
Sponsored by Amcal+ Pharmacy
Evie Drummond
Baby miner
Chairman’s Choice Open
Sponsored by Fiori Kitchen and Bar
Isabella Grigg
Firefly trails
People’s Choice YP
Sponsored by Pisces Enterprises
Joseph Pappas
Possum
People’s Choice
Sponsored by The Pet Chalet
1st Place
David Edwards
Is 3 a crowd?
2nd Place
Anne Love
Powerful Owl
3rd Place
Kim Wright
Rainbow bee-eater pair
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
Tamielle Brunt
B. App. Sc. (Wildlife Science), PhD.
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 is published in:
Join us for the next MCCG Evening Talk where our Chair Sandy Pollock will present ‘Vines of Moggill Creek Catchment – the good and the bad climbing and twining plants of our area’.
Tuesday 26th September
6.30pm for 7-9pm
Kenmore Library (access via lift)
Everyone Welcome! Refreshments provided
Speaker Bio:
Sandy Pollock has been studying plants since the early 1990’s. He is a BSc. graduate from the University of New England (NSW) and has worked extensively in natural resource management, including within forestry and National Parks. He has participated in weed control projects in Victoria and Queensland and has been involved in plant identification for over 30 years. He is currently a Senior Botanist at the Queensland Herbarium, located at the Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens.
The Moggill Creek Catchment Group invites you to join the annual platypus survey to help monitor the local population.
Date and time
Sunday, September 10 · 4:30 – 10am AEST
Location
Brookfield General Store 550 Brookfield Road Brookfield, QLD 4069
AGENDA
4:30 am
Meet at the Brookfield General Store to be allocated to your site Team Leader
5:00 am – 5:30 am
Be allocated to your site by Team Leader
5:30 am
Be set up at your site ready to observe
5:30 am – 7:30 am
Start survey
7:30 am – 9:00 am
End survey and travel to Breakfast at The Cottage, Gold Creek Reservoir
8:30 am – 9:00 am
Summary of sightings
Sign up for your free ticket through Eventbrite
It is time to get snapping and get your entries ready for the 2023 Photo Competition!
THE Common Keelback (Tropidonophis mairii) is a species of non-venomous snake found throughout much of eastern Queensland. They are also known as the Australian Keelback, Water snake and Freshwater snake. They are a relatively common snake within the Moggill Creek catchment and can be frequently observed during wet conditions.
Keelbacks are named for the strongly keeled scales extending over their entire body longitudinally across the scale. This gives them a ridged, somewhat jointed and chain-mail armored appearance that is very distinctive. Highly variable in coloration, they typically range from olive green to dark pastel brown, always with irregular darker cross bands, giving a strongly striped and speckled appearance. Some individuals are very dark greyish-coloured. Their belly surface is rusty-pink or cream. While the above description defifines them reasonably well, this species closely resembles the venomous Rough-scaled snake (Tropidechis carinatus), and identifification should always be confifirmed by an experienced reptile expert.
Within the Moggill Creek catchment, Keelbacks can be found in a variety of habitats, including wet and dry forests, wetlands, man-made dams and grasslands. However, they are most common in damp environments close to water and will readily swim or hunt in shallow pools. They can grow up to 1 m long, but are more often seen at around 30-50 cm. Relatively placid, non- venomous, unaggressive reptiles, Keelbacks are not considered dangerous to humans. They are opportunistic feeders, eating a wide range of prey, including amphibians, tadpoles, fifish and small reptiles. They are also known to be one of the few Queensland snake species that can eat juvenile Cane toads, without being harmed by their skin toxins. For this reason, some researchers believe them to be valuable in providing some measure of control of this familiar pest species in some parts of the state.
Interestingly, Keelbacks can produce a distinctive odour when threatened or alarmed, that snake-catchers and handlers often comment upon. They may become more noticeable during periods of high humidity or within heavy rainfall events in summer, often in the evening, but also during the day. At such times, they seem to be much more actively intent on fifinding food (usually native frogs) than being concerned about the presence of humans, and sometimes many individuals may be observed in a single evening. At other periods, like most other Queensland snakes, they are shy, furtive and seldom seen.
While observed year-round, October to January appear to be the peak months of observation for this species, with the fringes of the Gold Creek Reservoir a known hotspot in our catchment. Other records are known from the Creekside area, Pullenvale and some parts of inner Kenmore, always close to watercourses. Like all snakes, this species should never be handled or closely approached. If required, a reputable snake handler/catcher should be employed to remove them from domestic indoor situations.
Sandy Pollock
Wildlife Matters is published in:
