Flora Report June 2018

We have worked very hard planting out about 6000 new plants on the island in the last month, mostly at The View, Corner and The Track.

In this report, I went to see how The Wedge is looking as we have not had a working bee there for a long time. Apart from a need to spot spray the very small amount of bracken now coming through, there is no work needed as the Wedge is fully revegetated and doing very well. The plants are a combination of our planting and self sown or regenerated understorey. There is a huge proportion of burgan and aotus pea filling up the area. Also a lot of platysace, broom spurge, dampiera, heath and trigger plants. Many of the self seeded mannas are reaching good heights as well as the wattle trees, and a lot of those we planted are quite healthy. I noticed that there is a lot of moss covering the ground especially at the wider tip site end where the ground is fairly damp although there is moss at the narrower end but the ground there is drier. Probably a problem that should be addressed at some stage is that the grass from the tip site continues to encroach on the top end of The Wedge and we don’t want it to spread through the site.   

Claire

GREAT DAY AT ROBS RUN

a busy day planting out the last of our seedlings for this year.  Eleven islanders,and five Guunaikurnai Rangers worked togeher to ensure a great future for the Islands wild life and, human residents.
It was very exciting to see the patch of Beauty Bush Rob has protected.  This notoriously difficult to propogate plant has come up spontaniousely from seed dormant in the the soil waiting for the braken to be removed.

Fauna:

Four Rakali (native water rat) have been seen along the boardwalk.  There have been big pods of dolphin around in both the lakes and the straits, the seal hasn’t been spotted for a few weeks, though the occasional Rakali carcase indicates it is still around. Rabbit numbers are reduced but there are still plenty around.

Birds: a flock of 30 Brown Headed Honeyeater have been seen, also a Royal Spoonbill on the boardwalk.  Also seen was the Australasian Darter (snake bird).  At the corner of ninth two Pacific Herons (White Necked Heron) flew over, but I was unable to photograph them. On this morning’s walk I saw a swamp Harrier try and fail to take a Coot.

Rob Wright

 

                   

WORKING BEE 14th June at The Corner
a near perfect sunny winter morning for twelve Landcarers to get out there and get dirty. Holes were dug, guards laid out , plants distributed then planted and guarded and , finally, watered in.  Now pray for gently rain to give them a good start.