Flora

Not a lot to report, the season continues very dry.  The correa have just started to flower but that is all. There have been quite a few losses due to the lack of rain.

Fauna:

Shorter days mean that the evening walk is in the dark. There are plenty of Kangaroos and rabbits still about.  A large Seal was seen among the moored boats, plenty of Nankeen Night Heron to be seen fishing.  The Wright garden has been visited by two Painted Button Quail.  King Parrots, Gang Gangs, and Currawongs have arrived early this year.  Keep an eye open for Robins arriving soon.  A Yellow Rump Thornbill was reported by Graham Bailey.  From January1 to the end of March 101 bird species had been seen on the Island (earlier than usual). Pelicans are still absent.

 

EASTER WEEKEND

 

Did you enjoy the long weekend?  Although not a Landcare "doo" I would like to mention: 

The combined Garage Sale and Koala Fundraiser was a great success. Thanks to all who participated, Helen and Jenifer who organised, and the folk who cooked sausages and the Garden Club who put on morning tea. Great to see the bike carts back in business too.  Lovely.

                                        

 





From the EGLN newsletter:
Rabbits! Next K5 Virus Release
While things are pretty quiet at the moment, waiting for the rabbit kittens to grow, we can prepare for the next RHDV K5 release. By early April things should be good. Low feed availability is in our favour but some flies and mosquitoes would be good to carry the virus. The Lake King release site from late last year seems to have worked well. The involved farmer has said that despite the lack of dead rabbits being found after release of the virus, he has not had to use Pindone as a follow up due to lack of rabbits (and lots of flies and smells from the warrens). As hoped, it would appear the virus travelled with the wind along the lakeside population and reached Tambo Bluff where some deaths due to K5 have been reported (but no samples obtained to confirm).
For the next release, Rob Irvine has enough FREE vials of the virus on hand to conduct a release program over several large sites. If any Landcare group or land-holder is interested Rob can help. Criteria: medium to high concentration of rabbits with likelihood of virus being able to spread to neighbouring areas, land-holder prepared to do spotlight counts over 1 week to gauge numbers, run free feed bait stations over at least a week to gauge uptake/amounts, collect any dead rabbits and take liver sample (or freeze animal for Rob to take sample), and then monitor numbers over the next few weeks. Rob is happy to visit Groups to discuss rabbit control in their patch. Contact Rob if interested by email lower-tambo-landcare@bigpond.com . There is hope.

WORKING AT THE PLOT
Five Landcares turned out to tidy up plantings at the Plot.  It started out cold but soon turned into a lovely morning. 

We had a new member join us, and he worked with the "Warrior". He is Martin Smith, son of Pat and Rowan. We worked on removing cages from those trees doing well but desperatly cramped.  We released them and tied them to supporting stakes to take them to the next stage.  In spite of damage from 'roos etc. they seemed to be doing well. 

The cages were then used to cover those plant formerly in little carbord sheilds.  There were some losses as expected after such a dry summer,but plenty are ready to grow on.

Tuesdays Working Bee at the Corner was attended by a small group  who removed paper guards from failed plantings , put wire guards around those which were growing well, and generally tidied up.

 

Morning tea was provided by Peter, who also snapped this picture of a Tawny Frogmouth nearby.

CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY

 

 

 

Once again Raymond Island Landcare Group turned out to host the Clean Up Day on the Island.  The weather was perfect as Nineteen Members walked the various areas to pick up carelessly discarded bits and pieces.

 The view was superb this year as it coincided with the Heritage Boat Festival and the Sail past of wonderful sailing vessels of every size.

 

Happily, this year, the pickings were lean, and the trailer was NOT full to overflowing. The hard work was rewarded with coffee and a sausage sizzle to finish. Well done everyone.

Triumphant

Trivia Night at the Hall, what a great evening we had.  The Hall was packed to capacity, the noise level was riotous, and that was at the start of the evening!  The tables were loaded with tasty snack food for the brain, and wine was poured.  The tables looked wonderful, decorated in an amazing display of human ingenuity. The noise level never dropped below deafening, giving the MC ( Victor) a challenge to make himself heard above the revelry all around. The evening was a fund raiser held by the Islands Community Garden Group and the costumes reflected that theme. Two tables down was a fantastic, terrifyingly huge, mozzie.  There were tables of vegetables, a table of “endangered species”; the hall was a sea of decorated hats of every sort imaginable. 

 

Andrew Bold raised a smile dressed as a white

rabbit complete with giant carrot 

The actual quiz was won by Team “Manna Gums” (Landcare).  The Landcare team bought home the bacon, or more accurately the hanging baskets.  It was a tough assignment but the team employed every little grey cell they had and took home the prize by one and a half points!

But that wasn’t all, in “Best Table Decoration”; in the face of some very stiff competition; the fantastic table display constructed by our very creative Cath, with help from Max, also took the first prize for table decoration.  

runners up.