Wildlife Queensland Bayside Branch

Next Meeting. Friday 30th August 2019 at 7:00 PM Sue Morris – Flying Foxes Sue Morris from Bat Conservation & Rescue Queensland will be giving a presentation on flying foxes and the essential role they play every night as nature's gardeners. Over millions of years Australia's native trees and megabats have co-evolved to the point that many of our forest, coastal and riparian ecosystems have come to rely on the nightly services of flying foxes for pollination, seed dispersal and (yes) fertilisation! In this edition 2 From the executive Sue has a background in healthcare and education and now channels much of President’s Report her past experience into working with these misunderstood environmental STEVE superstars. She will also discuss the challenges faced by Australia's megabats and microbats in an increasingly urban existence and the work of Bat 3 Grass of the Conservation & Rescue in orphan raising, rehabilitation and release, and Grey Range environmental protection. Recycling A special appearance will also be made by licensed education flying foxes 4 Wetland Wonders Bonnie and Phoebe, who will happily demonstrate their fruit- and nectar- eating abilities! 5 Fires & beetles Where: Redlands Multi Sports Club Cnr. Bailey & Randall Rd, Birkdale 4159 GIS tools Gold coin donation. Enjoy the club facilities beforehand. For more information phone Steve 0423036676 6 Celebrate Science 7 Save our Flora 8 Re-usables 10 Backyard Wildlife Resources 11 Committee and Contacts Volunteering Opportunity! Membership Form

This years Witta Nature Refuge Working Bee's are coming up! We hope to see you on both days or at least one! Contact [email protected] From the Executive Team... Presidents Report

In July 2016 the State government announced with the usual fanfare that they would be setting up a Koala expert panel as there was “a need for an urgent policy change if these catastrophic declines are to be reversed and the long-term persistence of the Koala is to be secured”. The panel passed its recommendations on to the Koala Advisory Council made up of leading experts, in November 2018. Reporting date due April now postponed to later this year, meanwhile threats to Koalas continue unabated, we will be lobbying our elected representatives to expedite the commitment that was made. In the Redlands this week we have heard of Koala deaths on the railway and council voting to downgrade Koala bushland at Ormiston, so that it can be fully developed, this in a pilot “Koala Safe Yard visitor Thornlands this week Neighbourhood” area– go figure. The state of fencing Photo Narelle Watson along the railway line is of concern despite that we are being told it is regularly inspected.

Our speaker last month John Moss took us to the fascinating world and colours of Butterflies and Moths, Yard visitor Thornlands this week it is worth taking a closer look at the insects in your Photo Narelle Watson own backyard. As with most our wildlife they are vulnerable to land clearing, chemicals and particularly wildfires that can wipe out their specific feeding plants.

Parts of Brisbane and surrounds have just experienced their hottest July on record since last year, this must be critically affecting our wildlife and its water sources. I have filled up an old fish pond with water only and it is attracting plenty of happy for a dip and a drink.

A reminder that this year WPSQ is holding their AGM in the Redlands Saturday 7th September at the Redland City Lions Club, phone the office 3844 0129 to book or just check the website for details. As part of a full programme Debbie Pointing will be talking on Koala tracking and we will be walking to G.J Walter Park, to view the threatened Koala and marine habitat.

Nature doesn't need people - people need nature; nature would survive the extinction of the human being and go on just fine, but human culture, human beings, cannot survive without nature. Day visitor this week Hilliard State School Harrison Ford Photo Chelsea Homewood Grey Range Thick-billed . Report Littering BirdLife Australia has teamed up with Western Local Land Services to conduct surveys in the White Cliffs region to confirm the presence of Grey Range Thick- billed Grasswrens. On your mobile or on the web The Grey Range Thick-billed has been https://report-littering- dumping.ehp.qld.gov.au/ identified as one of the 20 Australian birds most likely to go extinct in the next 20 years.

Thick-billed Grasswrens are reputedly the least vocal of all the grasswrens, and this, combined with their often furtive nature, makes them rather difficult to find across the arid shrublands they inhabit.

When this is added to their rarity, it makes conducting surveys for them difficult in the extreme. Nevertheless, despite these hurdles, a small team of scientists, guided by the landholder’s observations, were successful in finding some grasswrens.

In early April over a five day period, the scientists detected grasswrens in six of the seven sites where the landholders had reported seeing the birds, as well as an additional site that the scientists thought looked ‘promising’.

While it is too soon to estimate the size of the population of Grey Range Thick-billed Grasswrens.

Western Local Land Services Senior Land Services Officer, Brian Dohnt was pleased with the outcome from the surveys.

This project was coordinated by Western Local Land Services in conjunction with BirdLife Australia, through Catchment Action NSW funding, and worked closely with local landholders in the region. Surveys will continue, and workshops for various stakeholders will be conducted in the near future.

http://birdlife.org.au/media/grasswrens-found/ Wetland Wander - FREE EVENT

​Immerse yourself into the beauty and wonder of our wetlands

Wetlands are one of the most valuable ecosystems on Earth. They store three times more carbon than terrestrial forests, improve water quality, and are home to a diversity of . Wetland Wander is an art- science collaboration that aims to inspire engagement and conservation of these critical ecosystems.

Led by wetland ecologist Fernanda Adame, sound artist Leah Barclay, walking/media artist James Cunningham, and multimedia artist Suzon Fuks, Wetland Wander incorporates knowledge from current and traditional landowners within Quandamooka(Moreton Bay), and Nywaigi, Gulgnay and Girramay countries (Queensland, Australia).

Explore these valuable ecosystems in this immersive 360-degree duel channel video projection that features 3D soundscapes, as you are taken on a walk through these wetland habitats and flown into species’ niches. As you get up close and personal with the swamp, you can sense the beauty and complexity of this wondrous place, and admire the intrinsic, environmental and timeless values of wetlands.

You can also enjoy more of Wetland Wander at Redland Art Gallery, Cleveland from Sunday 8 September until Sunday 27 October. Performance Times: Exhibition Open: Mon 16 - Sat 28 September, Mon to Fri 10am–4pm & Sat 10am–1pm

Floor Talk: Fri 20 September, 6.30pm Workshops: Mon 23 September, 10am & 1pm Venue: RPAC Gallery Foyer

Booking Information: No bookings required unless attending the Floor Talk or Workshops. RSVP for these events via the RPAC Box Office on 3829 8131.

RSVP for the Floor Talk or Workshops via the RPAC Box Office on 3829 8131. The response of cerambycid beetles Some, but not all, cerambycid beetles were more (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) to long‐term common in areas with a more open understorey (i.e. resulting from frequent burning), and lower tree basal fire frequency regimes in subtropical area, as this likely influences their ability to fly easily eucalypt forest between food sources. Cerambycid abundance was positively related to the volume of coarse woody Fire has a varied influence on plant and species debris and healthy tree crowns. through direct (e.g. fire‐induced mortality) and indirect (e.g. modification of habitat) effects. Cerambycid beetles were clearly influenced by historic fire regime, suggesting that changes in fire regime can Our understanding of the influence of fire regime on potentially have a profound influence on arthropod invertebrates and their response to fire‐induced assemblages, and subsequent influences on ecosystem modifications to habitat is poor. processes, which are currently poorly understood.”

Research aimed to determine the response of a beetle family (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) to varying fire Read more: treatments and hypothesised that the abundance of https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aec.12702 cerambycid beetles is influenced by fire frequency due to modifications in habitat associated with the fire treatments.

Over the sampling period the long unburnt treatment had significantly lower species richness than the Source: Austral Ecology, June 2019 triennial and wildfire treatments. Cerambycid Author/s: Martyn Eliott, Simon Lawson, Andrew Hayes, abundance was significantly higher in the triennially Valerie Debuse, Alan York ,Tom Lewis burnt treatment than in all other fire treatments. Ipomoria tillides was more abundant in both frequently burnt treatments, Adrium sp. was more common in triennially burnt areas, whereas B. signiferum, was more common in the wildfire affected treatment.

QGIS – free GIS tool

QGIS is a user friendly Open Source Geographic Information System (GIS) licensed under the GNU General Public License. QGIS is an official project of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). It runs on Linux, Unix, Mac OSX, Windows and Android and supports numerous vector, raster, and database formats and functionalities. https://qgis.org/en/site/about/index.html

European Space Agency – free software tools ESA undertakes a wide range of activities in the field of Earth Observation education, training and capacity building. The scope of these activities ranges from high level training in state-of-the-art processing for the next generation of Principal Investigators to more general outreach activities and Earth Observation education for schools.

The aim of this website is to provide a single portal that supplies information about these activities, and enables access to resources produced in their framework.

If you are interested in using satellite imagery to learn about or explore landscape scale environmental issues they provide a range of free tools and software to help you. https://earth.esa.int/web/guest/eo-education-and- training https://earth.esa.int/web/guest/software-tools The festival will run for 3 days, from 16-18 August, Celebrate Science! with the first day being a high school careers day, followed by community days on the Saturday and National Science Week is held from 10-18 August and Sunday. will feature events, both large and small, across the country to celebrate science and technology. RCA will be there along with other amazing scientists for all the action, including science shows, reptile This month's action is to get involved and learn more encounters, robotics, drones and science challenges. about some of the amazing science changing and RCA ambassadors will have the ever popular green shaping our world around us! The goals of National screen available for photos with your favourite marine Science week include "to encourage an interest in buddies, as well as other interactive activities. The science pursuits among the general public, and to festival will also offer the opportunity to win a chance encourage younger people to become fascinated by the to be part of Australia's first science themed escape world we live in". That's a goal we can really get behind - room experience! and we hope you will too! Come along and chat with the RCA team and enjoy an Reef Check incredible program of events and activities. For more information and to book your ticket, head Following on from the massive success of their last over to the Brisbane Science Festival website now. event, Reef Check Australia is excited to be part of the next, bigger and better, Brisbane Science Festival! http://www.brisbanesciencefestival.com.au/

National environmental indicators

The combined pressures from habitat destruction, climate change, and invasive pests and diseases are taking their toll on our unique plants and . Another 54 species were added to the official list of threatened species, which now stands at 1,775. That is 47% more than 18 years ago and puts Australia among the world’s worst performers in biodiversity protection. http://wald.anu.edu.au/australias-environment/ https://saveourflora.weebly.com/

Backyard natives Across the bayside there a many species who live in and around our backyards and local parks, here are some.

Ninox novaeseelandiae – Southern Boobook

The Southern Boobook is the smallest and most common owl in Australia. It is identified by its plumage, which is dark chocolate-brown above and rufous-brown below, heavily streaked and spotted with white. The bill is grey with a darker tip, and the feet are grey or yellow. The facial disc is chocolate brown and the eyes are large and yellowish. Tasmanian birds are smaller and more heavily spotted with white, while birds of the Cape York rainforests are slightly larger and darker. Young Southern Boobooks are almost entirely buff-white below, with conspicuous dark brown facial discs. Like other owl species, the Southern Boobook is nocturnal. Birds are often observed perched on an open branch or tree-top. It is also known as the 'Mopoke’.

Southern Boobooks are seen in a variety of habitats from dense forest to open desert.

The Southern Boobook feeds on insects, small mammals (such as the House Mouse, Mus musculus) and other small animal species. Feeding takes place mostly at night but some afternoon and morning activity may occur, especially on dull days. Most prey is detected by listening and watching from a suitable tall perch. Once detected, flying prey, such as moths and small bats, are seized in mid-air, while ground-dwelling prey animals are pounced upon.

Source: http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Ninox-novaeseelandiae

Tachyglossus aculeatus – Echidna

Body length to 450 mm; weight to 7 kg. Fur dark brown; quills yellow with black points. Young females and males have a small non-functional spur on inside of each ankle.

Habitat and Range, anywhere with ground cover and ants. Usually absent from inner city suburbs, however, one recently recorded from Highgate Hill; reasonably common in surrounding shires. Australia-wide. Can be seen around the bushland areas of the Redlands.

Australia has no porcupines, hedgehogs or tenrecs to confuse with the Echidna. Active day or night. Eats only ants and termites (but incidentally ingests a lot of dirt).

Threats include cars and dogs.

Traces:

Shed quills; long droppings are cigar-shaped, smelly, clay-like and filled with shiny ant remains (up to 130 mm by 18 mm wide). https://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Animals+of+Queensland/Mammals/Common+mammals+of+south- east+Queensland/Monotremes/Echidna#.XUqn0HtS-Uk Resources

Page 3: http://birdlife.org.au/media/grasswrens-found/ Page 5: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aec.12702 Page 6: http://www.brisbanesciencefestival.com.au/ Page 10: http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Ninox-novaeseelandiae https://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Animals+of+Queensland/Mammals/Common+mammals+of+south- east+Queensland/Monotremes/Echidna#.XUqn0HtS-Uk

Committee & Contacts Keep Up to Date Online!

President Steve Homewood 0423036676 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WPSQBB/ V President Vacant Blogs: Wildlife Queensland Coastal Citizen Science Secretary Simon Baltais [email protected] https://wpsqccs.wordpress.com/ Maureen Wildlife Bayside Treasurer 0418 197 160 Tottenham https://wildlifebayside.wordpress.com/

Executive Don Baxter Curlew Watch Janelle Devery https://curlewwatch.wordpress.com/ Bayside Newsletter Editor Alix Baltais/Simon Baltais Websites: Wildlife Bayside Wildlife Diary Editor Simon Baltais http://branches.wildlife.org.au/bayside/ Email: [email protected] Cicada Film Festival Web: http://www.branches.wildlife.org.au/bayside https://cicadafilmfestival.com.au/

Membership Application Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland