Spring is already arriving and many plants are in flower. Amongst the tree species - Banksia menziesii (firewood banksia); amongst the tall shrubs - Dryandra sessilis var cygnorum (parrot bush); amongst the climbers - Hardenbergia comptoniana (native wisteria); amongst the low shrubs - Hovea trisperma (herald of spring); Daviesia triflora and D. decurrens; Hibbertia hypericoides (yellow buttercups); Conostephium pendulum (pearl flower); Scaevola canescens (grey scaevola); amongst the herbs - the two orchids Pterostylis vittata var vittata (banded greenhood) and Cyanicula deformis (blue fairy); Lomandra preissii and L. nigricans; and another ten species might be flowering for the more observant to find.

Quite a few fungi can be seen from the path.

A knowledgeable bird observer would be able to tell us what birds are nesting now - other than the all-pervasive rainbow lorikeets.

Please poke a note under the shed door or lodge it into the notice board if you have any information to share. for example: what bird/s built the three, now old nests of large sticks atop tuarts on the west side of the Barrens and just south of Lemnos St notice board?

Clever frogs

Readers may be interested in the ongoing developments of the frog farm or what we now call the Frog College! This is a proposal to use a hollow adjacent to Shenton College as an artificial wetland to provide breeding habitat for frogs visiting the bushland from Perry Lakes.

We had hoped to use water from the basketball/tennis courts of Shenton College to provide water for the wetland. However we are not sure if this will provide enough water. It takes a brave soul to measure water flow in midst of a rainstorm! The other source of water is from the riffle drain currently used by Shenton College to remove iron from their irrigation water.

We are not sure if this system will operate in winter. For Frog College to function reliably, it has to mimic the edge of a lake and experience rising and falling water levels. This is to allow the Moaning Frogs to burrow in dry conditions, lay eggs and then hatch. The rising water level allows the tadpoles to mature and then assists dispersal.

This year Friends will monitor the flow from both water sources to determine how a reliable seasonal water supply could be supplied. Meanwhile a document has been prepared by John Adeney and Felicity Amazon, which contains dimensions, and sketch maps of the proposed frog farm. Copies are available from the Friends of Shenton Bushland.

Rubbish dumping

No sooner was the eastern path out to Lemnos Street completed than a load of household or industrial unwanted items was taken into the bush and dumped right on the pathside. And someone decided to dump a large trailer load of soil, weeds and rubble on the Lemnos Street verge opposite the Arthritis Foundation. What a frustrating waste of volunteer time in dealing with these matters when there are so many other pressing bush management issues to attend to.

Money matters

Donations

Two very generous donations have been received which will help us maintain our active presence in Shenton Bushland. Thank you. Very few smaller donations have been received, so does this mean you no longer wish to receive this newsletter? We value your support of course, but do not wish to waste resources - including volunteer effort - by distributing unwanted material. We are happy to provide complimentary copies to the many neighbours around the reserve, but please make a token donation if you wish to continue to be a Friend of Shenton Bushland. Our treasurer's address is 132 Rosalie Street, SHENTON PARK WA 6008.

Grants

Weed control this year is being financed from two sources. Council is providing $6,000 for veldgrass control; the herbicide is being applied now, the effort being down the western side which has never been treated. A Minister for the Environment's Community Conservation Grant 2001 has provided $2,000 for a start to be made on the control of Lachenalia reflexa (yellow soldiers) and freesias. We have applied for further funding to follow up this treatment next year. The yellow soldiers are now on a national 'weeds alert' list which is a list of weeds which have the potential to become really bad weeds but are at a stage of invasion where they can still be eliminated or at least controlled. We will also apply for the first time to the Swan Catchment Urban Landcare Programme in the hope of gaining more funding to support Council's commitment to controlling veldgrass and other weeds in Shenton Bushland

Insurance cover

We were not able to arrange insurance cover through the Council and so we have paid out the $180 required to cover The Friends of Shenton Bushland for personal accident and public liability The other Nedlands groups have done the same. The policy runs from 1 April to 1 April and one wonders who is the April Fool!

Recent activities

Planting time

June 14, 15 and 17 saw about 1500 seedlings planted along the eastern boundary over the sewer-line. The low-growing shrubs and ground covers were planted along the pathsides mostly by the Green Reserves Team (Barry, Jack and Michael), with help from Nina, Dani and also Adam, Matthew and Simon from Shenton College who gave up their lunchtime to come and participate. The taller shrubs and trees where planted by Friends Brian, Bronwen, Dani, Dorothy, John, Kim, Phil and Roger. Janice planned the planting layout and generally wielded the whip! While the sand was nicely moist, the tube-stock waiting to be planted was in danger of drying out over the four days and Steve McCabe kindly watered it. Then Dani sensed that this second half of June was going to become the longest, warmest June spell on record and so he rallied the Friends to bring along their watering cans and to water all the seedlings on Sunday 24 June.

The Great Australian Marsupial Night-stalk

It was a moonless night on 23 May when twenty-one warmly dressed, torch wielding Friends spread throughout the bushland. We were part of a national survey aiming to record all animals, native and feral, and not just marsupials. The national results can be seen at www.scienceweek.info.au. It was a lovely night, calm with a partial cloud cover and not too chilly. But all spotters were amazed at the amount of suburban light and noise that pervaded this 24 hectare bushland reserve. Nevertheless, frog calls could be heard and between 8 and 9 pm four kinds of birds were seen - tawny frogmouth, barn and boobook owls and a large flock of roosting ibis. Some bats were thought to fly overhead but no other furry animals were seen - no possums, foxes or cats.

Busy workers

The Green Reserve team of mature age people has, since mid June, been joined by the Nedlands Green Corps team of ten young people. The on-ground work achieved to date by our Bushcare Officer, Steve, and this support has been the hand removal of veldgrass and freesias from good condition bushland. At Kate Brown's training session on June 21, she discussed what has to be considered when plans are made to sow seeds into a site. The site that was sown that day was the area from which two 'small' (20 cubic metre) dumps of soil and rubble were removed. The fifteen species sown are known to grow in that part of the bushland and some of the species included are known to colonise open ground eg Austrostipa compressa (a grass), Podolepis gracilis (an 'everlasting'), Acacia pulchella (prickly moses), and ground covers including Kennedia prostrata (running postman) and Jacksonia sericea (silky jacksonia). Now the race is on between the weed and the native seeds and all at the mercy of good rains.

FungiMap

Roz Hart and Janice Marshall have returned from the inaugural national FungiMap conference held in Denmark from 22 - 26 June with their enthusiasm for fungi further enhanced. This conference was aimed at increasing knowledge of the 100 target species which are being recorded across Australia. It certainly exceeded their expectations. Not only did they see hundreds of species from the three morning excursions but they were always accompanied by knowledgeable people to explain things. The afternoon workshops gave experience in describing collections and in preparing specimens for long-term storage. Carrying out surveys was also discussed. The Friends now has a CD Rom illustrating and describing the 100 target species. Janice also won a beautifully illustrated book which explains the whole story about fungi and you can borrow it from the Friends' library.

Coming events

Fungal foray

You are invited to join Janice and Roz on a fungal foray in Shenton Bushland on Sunday 22nd July to find a range of fruiting bodies. To be a proficient fungi hunter, you need to bring a small knife or some tool to excavate the underground part; waxed/greaseproof paper to wrap up each different collection; containers with lids; pencil and paper on which brief notes can be made and put into the container with the specimen; bag or basket to hold the lot. We will set off at 9 am from the Lemnos Street entrance. As this is the last day of school holidays you may be glad of this as something to involve the younger members of your family in!

Training session on Thursday 19th July

At the July 19 training session, Kate Brown and her technical officer Kris, will be showing how to lay out a transect and place quadrats across the lachenalia and freesia populations, similar to the ones already in place in the watsonia infestation. This is to record the effectiveness of the control methods to start this year, probably in August. The data to be collected will be the number of target weed plants in the quadrat, a list of other species present and an estimate of cover of weeds versus natives.

Naughty Nedlands

It is very disappointing to find that Nedlands Council has planted several Agonis flexuosa (peppermints) along the street verges adjacent to the small remnant of bushland in Shenton College. This species is a vigorous invader of good bushland as seen in Kings Park and Hollywood Reserve. It is not locally native, being confined to along the river in the metro area. The Friends have expressed their disappointment to the Nedlands Council Parks Department and invite you to do so as well.

Underwood update

Many members responded to our call for submissions to the EPA regarding the proposal by UWA to destroy the Underwood Avenue Bushland. The University has finally released a report on those submissions, and Dani has put this report onto the Underwood Bushland group website: www.cygnus.uwa.edu.au/~bojel/underwood/ Call Dani (9381 3470) if you want a printed copy, want further information or wish to help with the Underwood campaign.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be on Thursday 19th July at 7.30 pm at 2/233 Hensman Road, Shenton Park. All welcome.

This newsletter is produced by the Friends of Shenton Bushland. Contributions by Janice Marshall, John Adeney and Daniel Boase-Jelinek.

Created by Daniel Boase-Jelinek August 2004

All photographs are copyright of Daniel Boase-Jelinek unless otherwise indicated.

The logo of the Friends of Shenton Bushland is copyright of June L. Weller

Last updated November 2006