Members Updates

One of the magpies checking out Leila, and seeing if she has any food of interest – photo by Mary Clarkson

What an absolutely fantastic turn up for Reefcare with such inclement weather – there was a 5% chance of rain at 9:00 (and it rained on time) and then cloudy, but how wrong was the BOM (as usual) – the whole group worked through light showers for over 3 hours without flinching. What a fabulous, dedicated team; but boy, did they all have a wonderful, deserved, great sense of accomplishment at the end! The Reefcare team were the winning warriors and they should all be so pleased and chuffed with themselves.

As we walked up to the top of the headland, we checked the hang glider site, which has remedial works done on it after last winter’s rain. There are now Bitou Bush clumps growing in the hessian matting. The plants are showing Bitou tip moth which eats out the shoots and stunts growth for a while.

Bitou with tip month

Julie spent her time in her usual area just west of The Gully, concentrating on the removal of asparagus fern. The photos below really show the difficulty she is facing with so many of the asparagus ferns well intrenched within a good growing native.

Julie checked the Asparagus clump which was treated a month ago. Most of the crown is dead but a section has regrown slightly stunted leaves.

Des spent his time scouring the site for bitou, asparagus fern, burr medic and other weeds to try and keep our better areas as best we can.

Des works on the high slopes, clearing asparagus fern and bitou seedlings

Brad and Merrilyn attacked the Bitou on the northern dune area. We had left one previously as it had the tip moth, but it is growing too much, so had to go. They worked on the next bush, but did not have time to head further west. We cannot do much there anyway, as the Bitou is protecting the sea-facing dune. So it is a matter of cutting back on the land side to protect our beautiful Themeda grass.

Merrilyn cutting Bitou

Alex and Leila dealt with a Turkey outbreak which Lisa found a couple of weeks ago on the flat in some dying Westringa, which apparently was easily dealt with before they checked the nest area and found 2 pretty big bulbs – well over fist size. After morning tea, Alex and Leila went in for some asparagus fern removal up near the fence line along the top paddock.

Leila and Alex work in “The Nest”

Kristie spent her morning literally under cover – under an Acacia Longifolia sp sporae, painstakingly tracing Turkey Rhubarb (Acetosa sagittate) roots and bulbs – in an area which has already had 4 months solid attention – and it still needs follow up! As Lisa said to Kristie, it took 3 to 4 years of pretty solid work to finally rid the flat of the Turkey Rhubarb (Acetosa sagittate) infestation there.

Lisa and Mary firstly worked on the oat grass on the high western slope, with Lisa pulling the grass up and Mary cutting the seed heads into the weed bag – it was certainly twice as fast working together like this. After doing the Oat Grass Lisa helped Arthur with removal of the non-native pigs face on the western slope, which was interrupted with numerous small asparagus plants and a little infestation of Turkey Rhubarb – tracing the roots and bulb in that little lot certainly took some time. Mary then cut some Commelina to put in an area which was a little bare from pigs face removal from last month with exposed soil amongst the new plantings, hoping this creeper will take off. Mary then went to remove what I thought was Rabbit tail, someone else told me Bunny Bum and Kathy said Rabbits foot. It has been on the path above our site for many years, but this is the first time, we have had this weed it on site.

Lisa, weeding oat grass

Arthur was new to the group and spent the whole time removing the non-native pigs face, but in doing this task after Lisa has finished with the oat grass and was working with him, was able to show him how to identify and remove Asparagus fern and Turkey Rhubarb (Acetosa sagittate).

Arthur on a pile of non native pigs face which he has cleared

Wonderful Kathy our supervisor worked on every weed and circulated, before morning tea concentrating on the removed of the non-native pigs face just above where Lisa and Arthur were working, she gave water to our plantings from last month (we brought 3lt on site).

Morning tea was later than the usual 10:30, but we had the whole time without rain and our wonderful resident magpies serenading us. We worked out that they do not like apple or sultanas. Merrilyn had brought along some beautiful home made pineapple cake and pumpkin cake made by a lady who runs a coffee shop in Cromer, whilst Alex add to our carbs with a an apple pull-a-apart scroll – but also some lovely juicy mandarins!

Morning tea on the western slope

As per usual the magpies came to visit and check to see if we had any snacks for them.

Inquisitive magpie

It was a nice morning overall and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. We had a good turn up, and everyone stayed despite the on and off drizzle all morning.

Text by Julie and Lisa.

Des admiring the first flower on one of the Melaleuca armillaris seedlings, planted in the last couple of years ~ the Bracelet Honey Myrtle.

This weekend was a long weekend in Sydney with Labour Day on Monday 7 October, so most of our crew took the advantage of the extra day to go away – that left our Supervisor Kathy with the retirees who would never think to venture out of Sydney on a long weekend!

Julie spent her time in her usual area just west of the gully concentrating on the removal of asparagus fern.

Some of Julie’s work included cutting back asparagus stems to 20cm and then painting with glyphosate. The photo on the left is just after painting. The photo on the right shows the effect, one month later.

Des spent the first part of the morning working on an area of Burr medic he found on the western slope, as well as the oat grass which is now coming up all over our site (source was the public track) and starting to seed, as well as his nemesis – the asparagus fern. Des also did some work on the bitou working east to west throwing cuttings in any exposed areas to try and get some mulch happening on any exposed sand area, and then he went back to target more asparagus fern along the western slope; which literally has 100’s of these little ones popping up all the time, probably due to the amount of huge advanced asparagus fern plants which surround our site. It was not that long ago Des and I spent 3 hours each just on those small asparagus ferns on the western slope and barely made a dint – Merrilyn complains about how many there are every month!

Des removing burr-medic with an ocean view

Lisa and Kathy worked in the western gully with our main focus being on removing the non-native pig’s face which was starting to smother our earlier plantings which are doing so well in this area – in doing so, we also removed quite a lot of oat grass and ehrharta erecta which fortunately a lot were not yet in seed so did not need to be bagged; and of course – a few small asparagus ferns.

Kathy working on Pigs face removal in the gully. It was hot work, but there was a welcome cooling breeze further down the gully.

The photos taken in the gully in this month’s report show the progress that Kathy and Lisa made down the gully of the non-native pigs face. We were stoked with how much we got done with just the two of us.

This is the start of the clearing of the pigs face in the gully today – we started up the end; so all that bare ground was the non-native pigs face and you can see the pile up for this small area

Clearing non-native pigs face in the eastern section of the gully

Friendly magpie forages for worms where we have disturbed the ground

Julie was not able to meet up for coffee afterward, but Des, Kath and Lisa gathered at a local coffee shop to discuss todays work and then talk went into dancing venues and bands around the Northern Beaches.

The Bracelet Honey Myrtle. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melaleuca_armillaris

The magpie family forage for worms after we remove the non-native pigs face – Des Mullen

It was a very warm day with just a slight breeze – a change from the seriously windy weather we have been experiencing when we met up before 9:00am with two new volunteers; Mary and Leila, so we had a 8 volunteers plus our great supervisor Kathy from Dragonfly Environmental – a great turn out.

Julie and Merrilyn worked in two areas around the fence line of Reefcare’s area and the Council area continuing to remove Asparagus fern, just below the top paddock – which is just below the whale sculpture. Gen worked on the top southern slope which had a lot of numerous types of thistles, bromus and erharta, whilst Lisa worked just below on bromus – it was a great time to get this weed, as it is just coming up and most had not yet formed seed heads – some had a few about to come out and only one (a huge one!), had lots which were about 2/3rds the way in maturity. Des scouted the high southern slope for asparagus and bitou bush and felt overwhelmed; as if anything on this site that needs to be done, isn’t overwhelming – we need an army!

Spiders like this huntsman are commonly found in the vegetation that supports a rich variety of food items for them.

Mary worked on the Turkey Rhubarb in the Acacia bushes – a continuing effort which Alex spent on one Saturday then Brad, Gen the next month and the following month, Lisa. It is a bad infestation and will take several more months of work, such as we had to do on The Flat (which took 2 years to clear) and in what we call The Nest area. After morning tea Mary had had enough of doing the Turkey Rhubarb and then worked on removal of the pigs face as the group continue to move slowly westward with it’s removal – with Lisa joining her after finishing with the Bromus.

The two photos above are before-and-after shots of the removal of the non-native pigs-face from around native Themeda, Westringia, Correas, Acacias and beautiful Leucopogon parviflorus (or coastal bearded heath), which is in flower right now – Kathy Shields

Josh, Alex and Leila worked non-stop on the non-native pig’s face, continuing to clear westward – they rolled a big section of pigs face and then our resident magpies came in looking for worms – smart birds for sure. They hung around us for some time singing, I am sure they know our group now and feel safe – and they love Alex who finds worms for them. The birds come within a metre of you and sing – oh to learn magpie language. After afternoon tea, Josh, Alex and Leila moved to a patch of non native pigs face near the fence line and did an amazing job of clearing.

Inquisitive magpies at morning tea

It was so hot several of us stopped about 10am for a rest and water, and after this Kathy undertook the Council required introduction to our 2 new volunteers. Alex and Leila had been down to The Nest and got a few Turkey Rhubarb bulbs – which proves it will need follow up for a few months yet before we can plant out this area. The group had a later morning tea about 11 with all of us. Alex had Anzac biscuits and mandarins for the group. While we sat chatting we were watching for the whale spout near a white and red boat, which was a bit of fun. “Ohh, there it is”, a cry would call out. Always exciting to see.

Happy morning tea group – Kathy Shields

After 11am Kathy and I organised the 15 plants I had brought along as to where they were to be planted – each has a bamboo pole so we can ensure they are watered next week by Des and I, and then when Reefcare meet again next month.

Lisa and Gen replanting the ground where the non-native pigs face was removed.

Hope to see you here next time!