Rocky Waterholes Environment Group

Friday was a fabulous day for our AECOM corporate event at Wincott street. An enthusiastic team of 11 people carefully planted 170 plants including : tall gums, mid-story (eg blue tongue) and grasses (eg commelina).

The weather was perfectly mild and half-way through we all had a good soaking thanks to a sudden rainy downpour. Nevertheless everyone happily continued on.

Next came shovelling and spreading of approximately 16 cubic mtrs of mulch. This is not for the feint hearted and requires strength and agility - our volunteers used their teamwork skills to easily complete an otherwise daunting task.

The results provided a very successful habitat planting in an area that was previously smothered by w**ds.

A big round of applause and thanks to the AECOM team.

None of this would have occurred without extensive planning and prepping. We are very thankful to the Habitat Brisbane team (Michael, Geoff, and others) who spent days removing massive amounts of w**ds and removing rubbish and trip hazards - ensuring a safe site for the planting teams. The holes were then dug ready for the big planting day.

Well done everyone ! 👏

Our April Working Bee provided much needed in-fill of native grasses and blue flax lillies into vacant spaces of previous plantings. Our wonderful team of long-time core volunteers did a fabulous job of w**ding, digging, planting, plant protectors, and watering, ensuring a proven strong success rate.

Bushcare is so much more than re-wilding - the friendships developed over the years have given our small group a rewarding experience away from the difficult times the world is now facing.

Thank you for your continued efforts in helping our local bush and creek site transform into a wonderful natural site for all our community to enjoy.

Flindersia australis
(Crows Ash - native to our regional eco system)

On the banks of Rocky Waterholes Creek the Crows Ash has hundreds of seedpods. When dry they split open and the winged seeds fly away in the wind. We collected some seed pods before they burst open and put them in a box. When they opened the seeds were collected, sorted and packed for propagation.

We plan to raise some seedlings and pass the rest on to OCCA nursery.

A busy and productive few days at the creek.
Thursday - Our colleagues from Oxley Creek Catchment Association (Camilla and Lindsay) brought their pole camera and expertise to investigate the interiors of our nest boxes. To our delight we discovered the boxes showed evidence of animal curiosity (leaf debris) and habitation of one and also a pair of possums.
Sunday - our local volunteers planted 35 plants (including koala-friendly trees), in an area previously cleared of invasive w**ds.

Our creek site continues to thrive thanks to our volunteers and OCCA partners.

Seedlings prepped for tomorrow morning’s Working Bee.

Sunday 15 March 7:30 am.
Our meeting location is behind the Salisbury Senior Citizens Centre car park
at 87a Cripps St Salisbury.
Location using What3Words app is ///ideas.ready.native
If you are coming please let me know with a message to [email protected]

A great start to the New Year yesterday morning when our wonderful volunteers from Oxley Creek Catchment Association teamed up to eliminate pervasive w**ds from our beautiful creek bush site. With their usual gusto the team tackled evasive Dyschoriste depressa (an emerging environmental w**d found in parks, gardens, lawns, roadsides, footpaths, and waterways in Brisbane). Other w**d removal included Hairy Commelina (benghalensis Commelina); Asparagus Fern (asparagus Aethiopicus) and rogue purple succulents.

It’s hard work carefully removing roots without damaging native plants, but the results are rewarding when the indigenous plants are no longer choked.

Once again we are grateful for the enthusiastic help and knowledge from the OCCA team. Well done everyone ☺️

Last Sunday saw a busy morning for our working bee. We planted; watered and w**ded in the School planting zones of our creek. A rewarding and enjoyable time was had by all - the success rate of our August planting was impressive with only a small number of plants not surviving and needing new plants. We were rewarded by a visit from a family of magpies who enjoyed finding worms for their fledglings after watering.

Once again we are grateful for our wonderful volunteers who continue to enhance our natural environment.

Another productive morning yesterday with our local volunteers. We planted 95 natives along the pond edge to improve wildlife habitat and prevent erosion. Great job everyone and thanks to HB for sourcing the plants and Nadia for her lomandra propagation project.

Our wonderful volunteers from OCCA provided much needed muscle yesterday to tackle a neglected w**d infested area on our site. The team tackled the w**ds with gusto and have enabled us to find native species which were being chocked. Weeds removed included - Asparagus plumosus (Climbing asparagus); Murraya paniculata (Mock orange); Commelina henghalensis (Hairy commelina); Neonotonia wirghtii (Glycine); Celtics sinesis (Chinese elm); Callisia reopens (Creeping inch). A big thank you to the OCCA team who make a significant difference in our w**d management efforts.

We were rewarded with finding a beautiful native flower on a Solanum stelligerum (Devil’s needles).

We are also trialling a solarisation w**d destruction system with the help of Habitat Brisbane. Photos show the w**d blanket covering the pile which should eventually destroy the w**ds.

Fabulous Friday arvo brought sunshine and wonderful volunteers from AECOM where staff enjoyed getting out in nature. A total of 150 plants, including native grasses, eucalyptus, acacias, casuarinas, sandpaper fig, were planted around the pond edge to improve habitat and reduce erosion. The group enthusiastically removed w**ds, slashed overgrown guinea grass, dug holes, planted and generally improved the pond banks. A big thank you to the team for their skilful efforts. Also thanks to Michael from HB for supplying plants and to Greg for his reliability.