Reefcare Update: Canavalia rosea

Beautiful pink flowers of the beach bean

Carnavalia Rosea Vine – 1st Time on Site

Lisa Calder – Reefcare Co-ordinator was wandering around the site this afternoon checking for the immediate work required for the next working bee due Saturday 6 February, 2021 – (Reefcare had not attended the site for two months, as they do not work the first Saturday of  the month in January) and found a vine with a beautiful pink pea shaped flower – it was quite a size and had a number of ‘beans’ – so hopefully this will generated into new plants of  Canavalia rosea.  Thanks to Catriona Wagg from Northern Beaches Council who was able to identify this plant from Lisa’s photo.

This is very exciting for Reefcare, as we now found another new native plant on site since the first sighting of Clematis in September, 2020 – and we are hoping maybe Catriona will be able to propagate from this plant and Reefcare will have a couple more of this native species on site.

Canavalia rosea is a species of flowering plant of the genus Canavalia in the pea family, Fabaceae, 

Common names include beach bean, bay bean, seaside jack-bean, coastal jack-bean,[1] and MacKenzie bean.[2]. Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canavalia_rosea

Scientific name: Canavalia rosea

Order : Fabales

Family: Fabaceae

Genus:  Canavalia

References

1. ^ Jump up to:a b “Canavalia rosea“. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 2010-12-04.

2. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Christman, Steve (2004-01-14). “#857 Canavalia rosea“. Floridata. Retrieved 2010-12-04

Reefcare Day Report: Blue butterflies

Common Grass-blue from the tribe Polyommatini. Photo by Claire Cashell

We were lucky that the temperatures were in the low 20’s, but there was some humidity so we were a little uncomfortable all wearing our long pants and long sleeved shirts and boots =  oh, arrh… the price we are prepared to pay to make Long Reef point beautiful.

We had 3 people working on the Bitou on the high western slope, and they weeded as they went along, few thistles still around, Ehrharta, hundreds of Bitou seedlings – and a weed Gladiolus species which had appeared on site a few years ago in the eastern sand dunes and is now being found on the high western slope, the flower is a lovely pink colour with hints of mauve, but to remove takes a lot of time (around 15mins per plant) as around the main bulb/corm are dozens of little white seeds, all of which need to be collected.  This weed originates from South Africa, is classed as a garden escape and can spread by the wind.  It can become extremely problematic like Watsonia, so it is important to remove the ones we find on site as fast as possible.

Three of the volunteers concentrated in an area alongside the eastern part of the track, targeting Bidens pilosa (also known as cobbler’s pegs and for some weird reason, Farmers Friend!) where most plants were just forming those horrible seeds, but a few plants were more advanced.   Is thought this weed originated in tropical America. 
“….It is also regarded as an environmental weed in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and the ACT. It is considered to be among the top 200 most invasive plant species. This species is readily dispersed by man’s activities and dense populations can out-compete native species on the exposed margins of bushland and in revegetation sites.” [1] There was also some flea bane, bitou seedings and that horrible asthma weed Parietaria Judaica – The leaves and stems are covered in curled hairs that feel sticky and as it’s life cycle can be 2 – 3 weeks and we come monthly, it will take some time get rid of this weed.  The Turkey rhubarb keeps appearing where we initially cleared it a few months ago, but it is slowly getting less in that area – we just have to keep at it each month.  One volunteer scouted the eastern part of the site for flea bane, and another worked on bitou removal on the north eastern sand dune.

Des scoured the site for Asparagus fern which he also did last month and had a bag full by morning tea.  And talking about morning tea – we were like excited children in a school yard – there were so many of the small blue butterflies all over the site, it was very beautiful to see and rather exciting.  Everyone was talking of them during morning tea.  We are lucky as one of our members is studying entomology at University, and Genevieve Law was able to identify these as the Common Grass-blue from the tribe Polyommatini.   Gen Law wrote ….These butterflies look like Lycaenidae (‘blues’) – they are generally quite small, somewhat furry and grey/blue in colour. They are often cryptic at rest, and you often can only see the blue colour when they open their wing.”   

The butterflies have an interesting white spot on the club of the antenna

The butterflies have an interesting white spot on the club of the antenna – which can be seen in the great photos taken by Claire Cashell our site supervisor from Dragonfly Environmental. 

We spent some time at morning tea also discussing our plans for the work on the site for 2021 –Claire Cashell will report our plans to Northern Beaches Council as required.

After morning tea most went back to their favourite spot, but three moved to the eastern dunes, targeting kikuyu, seasonal weeds and on the far eastern side removing pigs face off Themeda and Ehrharta.

https://keyserver.lucidcentral.org/weeds/data/media/Html/bidens_pilosa.htm

Reefcare Day Report: Weeding in the sun

It was a beautiful warm sunny day at Long Reef, around 23 degrees, with just a slight light breeze, being slightly more on the western slope for which the Bitou clearer s were very grateful.  How lucky are we working in this area of beautiful scenery.  There were quite a few planes today and lots of para gliders were out.  We saw Osprey and the local Nankeen Kestrel spent the whole time around us – at morning tea it caught a feed about the size of a mouse on the lower western slope near the track, and later in the afternoon the Kestrel flew over two groups of us, not more than a metre – amazing!  thought I could put my hand up and touch this magnificent bird with these really beautiful colours.

The four Bitou workers on the far western slope – Julie cut and poisoned some Bitou on the top area of the western part of our site. Brad, Gen & Merrilyn worked below Julie continuing to move west and eliminating two big clumps of Bitou.  They also removed quite a lot of Burr Medic. The big success of the day was Brad finding Des’ previously lost knife!

Claire C. and Jayke worked on Burr Medic, Bromus and oat grass at the bottom, along the path – whilst Elaine was targeting the same weeds in the eastern flat area.

Ivana, Des and Lisa all tackled the Burr Medic on the western flat – where there were also quite a lot of thistles, which we managed to eliminate in this area.  There is so much of this, that even in this one area we only removed about 50%.  It is on the turn from green to brown burrs.  In some places we could have done with a dustpan and brush for all the burr seeds that have fallen.  The lot near the track have all seeded, we were too late for that.  We really could have done with 3 times the number this month, but due to COVID, NBC are still restricting us to 10 volunteers.  I am seriously worried about next year with this weed if NBC are unable to poison again.

Image 1: Group photo at morning tea

Image 2: Bitou clearers on the far western side of the side

Image 3: Clearing the burr medic- some of them are huge

Image 4: Our Weed bags at the end of the day

Reefcare Update: Clematis on site

I was wandering around our site this morning just checking out the work done by the contractors on the Burr Medic – and low and behold on the eastern side at the bottom of the track, we have our local native clematis – this is the first time in 25 years I’ve seen this actually on our site!

Think this is very exciting, a new plant on site and it’s not a weed!

Clematis aristata, known as Australian clematis, wild clematis, goat’s beard or old man’s beard, is a climbing shrub of the family Ranunculaceae, found in eastern Australia in dry and wet forests of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Wikipedia

Scientific name: Clematis aristata

Rank: Species

Higher classification: Clematis virginiana

Family: Ranunculaceae

Reefcare Day Report: A perfect day for bush regeneration

It was a beautiful warm sunny day at Long Reef, around 21+ degrees – with just a slight light breeze – a PERFECT day for bush regeneration at Long Reef.  What a wonderful place to work and all were in a light hearted happy mood.  The morning was made very exciting with 3 Osprey flying around near us.

The four Bitou workers – Julie, Brad, Gen & Merrilyn, continued to slowly move west, high up on the hill, but also as they moved along, they removed as much of the thistles which are flowering and some ehrharta as possible, (we need an army battalion to get anywhere to eliminate the ehrharta on site!) Filling 1.1/2 bags of weeds by the end of the day.

Judith worked on removing Bitou seedlings in the eastern side toward the primary dune; whilst Claire C. worked on thistles along the path.  Lisa, Claire F. & Ivana did a follow-up in the area last month where we found Turkey Rhubarb endeavouring to clear the area of tubers and bulbs.  We are pretty sure we will need a follow up in the area again next month.  This took much longer than we thought and worked there until morning tea.

About 10:30 Council’s appointed photographer on a special assignment to obtain some action shots of volunteers and some shots of some of the bush regeneration beautiful sites on the Northern Beaches, which they can use for promotion material arrived – so Andrew got a few photos in before we stopped for morning tea.  He then did a few group photos with the sea in the background for some and the grasslands slope in the others.   After morning Andrew, moved around the site from the Bitou workers high up on the western slope and then those of us weeding on the flatter areas – and was with us until we finished at 12:00.  Other sites he visited on Saturday were North Harbour and Mona Vale Basin.

After morning tea, the Bitou people took the dozen or so plants up to their area to plant (there was Westringia – coastal rosemary and Correa Alba), as the initial planting site where the Turkey Rhubarb was, will need another follow up, and we would be best with Themeda for the area anyway.

The weeders were going to clear the Kikuyu on the eastern side of our site – but once again, we had a higher priority – the thistles which are in the process of flowering.  We no way got this finished, so didn’t even get to attack the asthma weed which we worked on last month.

The Burr Medic is out of control on our site, and Reefcare volunteers do not have the numbers or time to tackle this horrible annual weed.  NBC were going to poison, but as soon as the signs went up about using poison, the Council were inundated with complaints from the public about using poison – I have requested Council organise a day with ACV (Australian Conservation Volunteers) to target this weed as soon as possible, as it already has green burrs, and it won’t be long until they turn brown and set a million seeds for next year.

There is also gazinea heading down the slope, so this will also need to be tackled sooner rather than later, so that it’s not a future problem on our site.

Reefcare Day Report: Bushcare during covid

Due to COVID-19 Reefcare was still only permitted to have 10 volunteers on site.

As last month all required procedures were undertaken which included sanitising bush tools before and after work, working at least 1.5m apart and bringing of our own morning tea, due to no sharing of food or drink.

It was a beautiful sunny day, just perfect for working and we constantly had the Nankeen Kestrel hovering in and around us over the grassland, busy looking for food.  Once again we also had our mother and baby magpie circling us at morning tea looking to tip bits.  They often where we are working and when leaving a spot, they dive in to the fresh soil for an easy meal.

We had three of the group working on the top north west slope removing a lot of Bitou seedlings, and bagging any other seasonal weeds, such as thistles which have been prolific this year, as well as some Bitou removal as we slowly move westward.   Further up the rise another volunteer was working in a previously worked area where Bitou had been cut back, but had not been previously poisoned.

Two volunteers were on the southern east slope of the site, once again, targetting Bitou seedlings and bagging any seasonal weeds in this area, such a Ehrharta erecta

One volunteer was on the south western part of the slope weeding and 3 of us were at the bottom of the slope along side the track, targeting asthma weed – Parietaria judaica before it started to produce pollen.  Also in this area we targeted Brome grass from the Bromus family.   We were going to keep going in this area after morning tea, but we found a large area of Turkey Rhubarb –  Rheum palmatum which looked like it was going to seed shortly. The plant produces chains of underground tubers which can be a little tedious to track all of them down – we will need to undertake a follow up next month.

The Burr Medic is in plague proportions and we are hopeful that Northern Beaches Council will be able to have this sprayed before the burrs turn brown and thus produce a mountain for more seeds on our site.

Reefcare Day Report: Back after covid

Back after 3 months due to COVID-19, there were 7 people arrived after a rainy early morning to have the dissipate whilst getting ready.

All the tools were sprayed with Mentholated spirits, and each used hand sanitizer before using the pen to sign on. Lisa read through the rules of the day as issued by Council, which included, no sharing of tools and to work 1.5m apart. Our Council appointed supervisor ensured we had all completed the COVID-19 form confirming that we did not have any symptoms.

We started on the top slope on the NW side of the site targeting bitou seedlings and thistle, where we removed the flower heads and bagged them and then the plant removed from ground and left as future mulch – we headed west along the cleared line and then north down the slope; working this area until Morning tea time at 10:30 when we had a pair of sea eagles circle around us for awhile and a magpie singing for food.

After morning tea we worked on the flat eastern area, but still targeting the same weeds, mainly Bitou seedings, thistles and then to a lesser extent Burr Medic and some ehrharta. There was so much work on the site we could have done with an army, but we covered some ground and we were all happy with the amount that was accomplished. At the top we were lucky enough to site the spray from a couple of whales that were a far way out to sea, so not able to see them breach.

Reefcare Update: What is happening on our site?

Someone has removed the native rosemary (which is OK as when it gets old, it’s sticky branches are not good for penguins), which has been moved as a sort of fence barrier down the path; but what on earth has happened to the Lomandra – the perfect plant for penguins?

Reefcare Day Report: Rain stops work …

For the October working bee, we were hopeful to have some Dianella and Isolepis nodosa for planting and we were going to focus on mulching and branch covering of all plantings on the site to help them through the upcoming summer.

However unfortunately, heavy rain put a stop to our working bee for this month.

Reefcare Day Report: Clearing Bitou

We had a small group of six people this month and given we had about 3 dozen plants there was no clearing of Bitou.

We decided initially on two areas for planting the 8 different species we had; one had to be cleared of  Ehrharta erecta which took some time (this weed is native to Southern Africa and Yemen) where we planted 3 of the 8 banksia which were well mulched and guards put in (made in NZ from recycled material!) – we had the cardboard guards for each of the 8 Banksia.

The other was a bare area east of a gully on the western slope, so we got pigs face cuttings from other areas of our site, and used a number of other species of plants we had to plant this area out.  It was a dry exposed area so we made deep wells and ensured lots of mulch and covered with old branches – as we find new plantings do much better when covered for some months with these old branches due to the expose site.

The rest of our plants were planted into 3 near-by areas adjacent to existing varietal vegetation to increase existing good vegetation areas and move into previously cleared bitou areas with new plants.  Once again we were extremely diligent with water wells for the small tube plants, generous mulch and branches covering of the new planting.

Members had brought water and so they were also well watered into their new place in the world – let’s hope that they survive and thrive on beautiful Long Reef and add to increasing a more natural environment to the area.

Reefcare Day Report: Weeding with whales offshore

It was a lovely sunny day today and perfect temperature for working. Everyone enjoyed our morning tea sitting in the sun and chatting. We had 14 at our Reefcare day, another great turn up.

Morning tea in the sun on the grass

The highlight of the day was seeing a huge whale, not far off shore. There were a lot of swallows, a willy wagtail and a white faced Heron.

The Bitou clearers group continued to move west and work the area that was sprayed via drone 2 months ago. The below photos show the group working on Bitou removal. The dieback (below left) is where the drone sprayed the Bitou.

This photo shows work happening west of the valley where the much of the crew worked last month.

In previous cleared areas, we have a seriously good cover of pigs face which has prevented erosion.

Next month we plan to start removing some of the pigs face if plants are available. We intend to start replicating the Banksia bush further west along this cliff line.

Reefcare Day Report: New volunteers on a sunny day

We had a great turn up today working in the most beautiful conditions with mainly sunny periods, a little cloud and a perfect temperature. It was so nice we all took a longer morning tea to enjoy beautiful Long Reef and basking in the superb sunshine.

Bitou removal

There was a large turn out including 3 new volunteers – one with a lot of bush regenerating experience. Seven of the people worked up on the northern western and western hill side removing bitou. Each month with this great crew, we are able to move further and further west.  It was tough work today as they were in a steep gully and the bitou was dense.

Three of us worked on removing the few patches of Asthma weed just off the western side of the track. This area has been superficially tackled a number of times this year, but today was a concerted effort and we probably got about 90% of this horrible weed.  Much of it was very difficult to get as it was under shrubs and in woody area.

Acacia myrtifolia, known colloquially as myrtle wattle, is a species of Acacia native to coastal areas of southern and eastern Australia. We planted 7 down the eastern side of the fence line and  another 7 further up the slope where there are a number of other well established shrubs. 

Tackling the Burr medic

After morning tea a couple of people targeted the Burr Medic. Being winter, it has only just started to germinate from last year’s seeds. They also cleared an area with a number of clumps of Parramatta grass.  

Spinifex

 This image shows some of the spinafex on the far eastern side where years ago the bitou was burnt. The spinafex is taking off in a number of places and the area is starting to look really good with very little sand exposed to erosion.

Reefcare Day Report: Working on the old burnt-out areas

Yesterday some of  the Reefcare volunteers worked on the south eastern side of the site of the track down to the headland. It is particularly steep and to do any more work in this area would require someone with ropes to secure them should they fall. 

We have cleared to the north of this site and are now moving south. Where the Bitou remains the Themeda is an absolutely amazingly perfectly condition, it just beautiful. This soil is quite rich and has some volcanic soil which can be found in areas around Long Reef.  In May as we hope to plant about a dozen more Themeda in this cleared area in the good volcanic soil.

Update – N.E. part of Reefcare site update (the burnt area)

In 2016 this area was burnt by deliberate fire, destroying a reasonable area of Bitou (less work for us). After the fire happened, we planted some Pigs Face to stabilise the exposed sand dunes. Here are a few photos showing this area as it looks today. The Pig Face is doing really well along with Spinifex grass. We monitor this site each month and when ever Bitou tries to regrow we remove out the seedlings. 

Reefcare Day Report: Another big turnout

Reefcare Day Report: Our Star Bush Regeneration Group

Although we only worked to 10:30 due to the heat, there was still a lot of great work done on the site. More Bitou has been cut back on two fronts one on the western slope and then on the flat to the east of the track. The weeders concentrated on the Oat Grass which is seriously much worse than it was last year – by attacking it from the top along the track down, we aim to stop more of the seeds heading downhill to our site.

Left and Middle: Images from our October Working Bee. These magpies were unusually friendly, approaching the volunteers singing, looking for food. 

Right: A photo of bitou removal on the top southern western slope.

Left: Northern eastern slope a year apart

Right: A Before and After – this is on the most eastern point of our work area at Long Reef. This image shows the difference over a year, the work our volunteers have done to prevent erosion on site.