Native bees love Red-flowering Gum

Stingless Native Bee hive – insulated with polystyrene

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By: Michael Fox

A hive of Stingless Native Bees Tetragonula sp. are a fascinating and helpful addition to your Pollinator Link garden, particularly if you are growing Macadamia, Avacado, Strawberries, Rockmelon, Watermelon, Mango, Blueberries or Citrus (Kin Kin Native Bees).

Being stingless, although they do have strong jaws as you will find if they get into your armpit, the Tetragonula sp. are great for urban backyards. Kids can stand close and watch or even let them walk over their hand without risk of stings.

Design of Stingless Native Bee hives has evolved dramatically with designs now allowing for easy harvesting of the unique honey produced by these tiny bees.

Native Bee with large ball of pollen

Native bees are very good crop pollinators because they are very good at collecting pollen.

This Stingless Native Bee already has a large ball of pollen on its legs and still collecting more. Watch the bee in the video take off with its pollen collection.

The Red-flowering Gum Corymbia ficifolia produces a spectacular display in O’Grady Street feeding ants and other insects, as well as being very popular with our Stingless Native Bees. Stop for a minute and look for the bees crawling over the flowers.

 

 

Christmas Chicks in Fox Gully

By: Michael Fox

Brush-turkey mound

A special Christmas with a Brush-turkey Alectura lathami chick hatched from mound built in the Fox Gully wildlife corridor. The male turkey has been scratching together mulch, and some plants to build a mound to impress his two girlfriends. He obviously did a good job as we now have at least one new chick in the gully.

Brush-turkeys are a challenge for gardeners however they are part of our bush habitat.

 

 

 

 

Bush monsters found on Mt Gravatt

Mount Gravatt Environment Group

Bush monsters on top of mountain

By: Michael Fox

Fearsome bush monsters joined us for bushcare on Tuesday afternoon.

Three members of the famous Geocaching Woods family joined Marshal and I at bushcare.

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Bush re-generator Eloise in action

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Bush monsters Eloise and Lincoln are very passionate about the bush and enthusiastic about bush restoration.

Investigator Lincoln hunting for bugs

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Christmas in Fox Gully

 

Fox Hunting in Fox Gully

Moultrie wildlife camera

We have moved the wildlife camera down to Jeanette’s place at the bottom of Fox Gully where it joins Klumpp Road.

Foxes, the four legged variety, have been raiding Jeanette’s chook pen on a regular basis, killing up to seven chooks in one night and stashing the bodies in the gully to eat later. The chooks are locked up every night these days so there is no immediate threat however the is evidence that they are still getting under the fence at night.

The BCC team has been working to catch foxes in Mt Gravatt Reserve. If we can get accurate information on the fox raiding parties we hope to be able to work with the BCC team to target the ones coming up the gully.

South Queensland Kauri – Agathis robusta

It was a real pleasure visiting Jeanette’s property which is an amazing flora and fauna habitat in itself.

A giant South Queensland Kauri Agathis robusta dominates the skyline.

Superb Fairy-wren Malurus cyaneus

And Fairy-wrens chipping in the bushes. Jeanette stopped to listen then pointed into the bushes where there was a male Superb Fairy-wren Malurus cyaneus.

A very special piece of bushland. I am looking forward to visiting again to recover the wildlife camera.

 

Brush-tailed Possums in Fox Gully

Using a Moultrie wildlife camera to monitor the activities in our gully we will learn more about what fauna is using the wildlife corridor.

I have been curious about what had been digging at one particular point so I set up the camera with its movement sensor and infrared flash to monitor activity around the hole.

The hole appears to be the work of Brush Turkeys Alectura lathami who visit during the day. Like this one head down in the hole at 6:56am last Wednesday. (click on photo to enlarge)

The Brush-tailed Possums Trichosurus vulpecula in the video came on two nights between 11:30pm and 1:30am.

 

Joseph’s Coat Moth Photographs

Joseph’s Coat Moth – photo Kerry Sinigaglia

Kerry Sinigaglia took these amazing photos of the aptly named Joseph’s Coat Moth Agarista agricola. 

Click on the photo to enlarge. Then note the different types of scales, broad scales on the wings and long hair like scales on the thorax.

Getting close to wildlife

The coloured wing scales give the wide range of patterns that moths use for camouflage and identification of mates. The scales also allow moths to escape spider webs by leaving scales behind allowing escape.

Joseph’s Coat Moth caterpillar on Cissus opaca
Forest Grape

The hair like thorax scales provide insulation needed to maintain high muscle temperature during flight.

The caterpillar of these beautiful moths is also spectactular.

 

Glasswing Butterfly

I photographed my first Glasswing Acraea andromacha this week.

The wings of most butterflies are covered with coloured scales. The Glasswing butterfly has no scales on its forewing giving it a translucent glassy appearance. These wings are also very trough which may help given the unusual mating behaviour. Males capture newly emerged females as soon as they fly, carry them to the ground where they mate forcibly. (The Butterflies of Australia – Orr & Kitching) Reading this forces me to look at butterflies very differently. My somewhat romantic view of butterflies as beautiful gentle creatures has come crashing to the ground as well.

The Glasswings are listed as common along the east coast, Victoria, Northern Territory and northern parts of Western Australia.

Food plants for Glasswing caterpillars on Mt Gravatt are the  native Spade Flower Hybanthus stellarioides, a delicate herb with a yellow “spade” shaped flower, and the invasive weed – Corky Passion Vine Passiflora suberosa.

Forty-five butterfly species have been identified on Mt Gravatt and with the development of Pollinator Links through the suburbs we aim to bring more of these beautiful and, it seems, agressive creatures back to backyards.

 

Katie & Nicole fight off weed invaders!

Katie & Nicole attacking Chinese Elm

Katie and Nicole, from Queensland University of Technology, returned to our Tuesday Bushcare again this week joining myself, Marshal, Michael and Edd to fight off the weed invaders in the gully.

I just had to point Katie and Nicole at the Chinese Elm Celtis sinensis and say “That weed has to go.”

These two will take on any challenge!

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Marshal removing the felled tree

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Marshal chipped in to drag the tree out and trim it so the logs can be used to stabilise the slope.

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Edd chasing Bamboo roots almost all the way to Sydney

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Edd, in the meantime, tackled the Bamboo regrowth chasing the roots right up the slope … he thought it was going to lead him all the way to Sydney.

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Thank you Katie

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Another thirteen bags of weeds removed as well as Bamboo and a medium sized Chinese Elm … outstanding!

A sad day though as Katie and Nicole leave us. Thank you Katie and Nicole you are going to be inspiring teachers for some lucky students.

 

Richmond Birdwing Butterfly Vine pollinated in Fox Gully

We have planted a number the Near Threatened* Richmond Birdwing Butterfly vines Pararistolochia praevenosa as part of our restoration work. Pararistolochia praevenosa is listed as Near Threatened under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 so it was exciting to find seed pods on one our vines this week.

The vine is quite attractive with a pretty flower that apparently depends on a very small fly for pollination. The fly has to enter a tiny hole to pollinate these small (2 cm) flowers.

We have not seen any Birdwing Butterflies yet, however now we know we have the insects that pollinate these vulnerable vines, I am looking forward to having the butterflies return. Don Sands, Richmond Birdwing Conservation Network, reports that the butterflies were common in the Brisbane area in the past.