Five of us met at the carpark in very inclement weather together with our Dragonfly Supervisor for the day, Paul; plus 25 plants to get in the ground before the rain really came in – which we expected around 11:00am.
Long Reef on a rainy morning
Julie continued up the top removing more Asparagus Fern whilst Des and Brad headed to the high western slope where previous non-native pigs face has been removed to plant 18 of the plants to add to previous plantings over the last few months. They then moved to the western area of the site cutting bitou and throwing onto previous cleared ground so that it can break down and be used for future mulch on site and cover exposed sand to keep moisture in and prevent any possible erosion.
Bitou bush that was poisoned in last month’s bushcare session is dying, but the native plants (Myoporum) are thriving! Great outcome!
Alex with mattock and weed bag in hand, headed back to the nest area as unfortunately more turkey rhubarb has appeared within a number of black berry nightshade (Solanum nigrum) with green berries which have appeared on mass in this area as well as Hydrocotyl (Hydrocotyle ranunculoides) – which is also growing all around the site like it’s been fed steroids. Paul worked on the turkey rhubarb on the flat and other general site weeding, whilst Lisa headed to the eastern dunes to plant Lomandra along the tracks where the surfers are cutting through the Reefcare site of good Themeda, and general weeding – Burr Medic coming up but not yet burrs appearing – early for this weed, as it is usually around August.
Return to the nest: some minor turkey rhubarb plants were observed in the nest, some of which were seeding. These were promptly removed and bagged.
Turkey Rhubarb bagged and disposed of.
The rain started lightly sometime after 10:00am, but we put on rain jackets and kept working until 10:30 when it started to get heavier and looked like it was set in – so after meeting Maria in the carpark – great timing Maria! Des, Julie, Lisa and Maria when to a coffee shop and sat around a heater they had to dry out – whilst Paul our Dragonfly Supervisor decided to complete the Green Link walk around Long Reef, as he had not been in this area before – good on you Paul, hope you got back in time before it poured down about 11:15am!
Drowned rats Lisa & Alex working in the rain just before the session was canned.
We leave the site in peace as the rain comes in.