Sunshine CoastBush hands

Winter 2014 Edition 75

Three Sunshine Coast Land for Wildlife landowners opened their properties to fellow LFW members across SE Queensland in May as part of the Land for Wildlife Open Property Scheme. All three open properties were well attended with over 120 participants coming from far and wide to see how other landowners were improving wildlife habitats on their properties.First up was the Clarke’s 2.4ha property at Diamond Valley. Discussions focused on rainforest revegetation and provision of habitat for Richmond Birdwing Butterfl ies.

Bob and Sylvia Whiting’s 20ha property at Cooloolabin provided an insight into the provision of habitat for wildlife in conjunction with Wilvos (Wildlife Volunteers Inc).

The third open property was the Woolbank’s “Balgowlah” property at Conondale showcasing creek restoration on 127ha of grazing and conservation land next to the Bellthorpe National Park.

Sunshine Coast Council Mayor Cr Mark Jamieson and Environment Portfolio Councillor Cr Jenny McKay were present at the Whiting’s open property and acknowledged the important work private landowners contribute to the region’s biodiversity.

Feedback on the day has been very positive with many comments on how motivating it was to be around like-minded people. Thanks to the landowners who hosted the events andthe participants who came from across Southeast Queensland.

Sunshine Coast CouncilMayor Cr Mark Jamiesonwith Land for Wildlifelandowners and wildlifecarers Bob and SylviaWhiting at the Cooloolabinopen property.

Land for Wildlife Open Property Scheme

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Focus on FloraNative Hibiscus

with Spencer Shawof Brush Turkey Enterprises

Hibiscus heterophyllus bud

When we think of Hibiscus, we think ofthe classic exotic Queensland tropical garden fl ower, with a huge range ofcultivars and spectacular colours. However, along with these showy varieties, we have fi ve Hibiscuses that are native to the Sunshine Coast.First up is the Cotton Tree Hibiscus tiliaceus.This is a beautiful hardy coastal tree that some people love and unfortunately some people love to hate. They are robust and can produce prolifi c suckering and dense thickets that are great for stabilising estuarine riverbanks or coastal foreshores. Mature trees produce thick horizontal branches that are great to run around in and if your kids haven’t had the opportunity to climb in a Cotton Tree they are missing out!

Next up is the Swamp Hibiscus Hibiscus diversifolius. Despite its name these are a great, colourful fast growing plant for the garden. Relatively short lived at only a year or two, they grow quickly to between 1-2 metres in coastal wetlands that are subject to disturbance. They produce masses of yellow fl owers nearly 10cm across.

For speed of growth and colour you can’t go past the Native Rosella Hibiscus heterophyllus, the Pink Hibiscus Hibiscus splendens and Hibiscus divaricatus. All three of these shrubs of the open woodlands grow to between 2-6 metres depending on conditions. The most widespread throughout the Sunshine Coast is the Native Rosella Hibiscus heterophyllus which has white to pink 8cm fl owers. The Pink Hibiscus, Hibiscus splendens is less common in our area and it has a tendency to develop a rather bushy habit with huge 15cm pale pink fl owers. The Hibiscus divaricatus is the least common throughout the region but is found in a few patches of open woodland and has yellow 12cm fl owers.

Honeyeaters take advantage of the large nectar-rich fl owers of species such as Hibiscus diversifolius, Hibiscus heterophyllus and Hibiscus splendens. While seed eaters like the lorikeet feast upon the seed capsules of Hibiscus heterophyllus, insects seek out all fi ve of the native hibiscuses.

Hibiscus heterophyllus fl ower

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Imagine being an environmentalist but living in a culture where you didn’t have to worry to any great degree about the loss of local biodiversity and rapid environmental decline. Across Australia this is how hundreds of millions people lived over the past 60,000 years. While Landcare had its beginnings 25 years ago (followed by Bush Care, Coast Care and Caring for Our Country and the like), it is often overlooked that Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people had specifi c and sustainable management practices for land and water. These practices helped them retain the legacy and heritage of one of the world’s longest living cultures here in Australia.Bill Gammage in his award winning book, The Biggest Estate on Earth, describes the idea of Caring for Country. ‘The (Aboriginal) Dreaming taught why the world must be maintained, the land revealed how. One made land care compulsory, the other made it rewarding’. One was spiritual and universal, the other practical and local. Songlines distributed land spiritually; ‘country’ distributed it geographically. Gammage also states, ‘I venture that for Aboriginal people no land is natural; all is cultural’ and that ‘every place is fi lled with presences, rights and duties, making people life curators in two senses: bound for life to keep country alive. Some places may not be touched for years but not for a moment did carers forget them. Sooner or later they patrolled every corner, burning, balancing, refreshing. Land care was the main purpose of life’ (Gammage 2011).

Today many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island People are working to care for their traditional estates and continue cultural practices to maintain local biodiversity. Here on the Sunshine Coast members of Bunya Bunya Country Aboriginal Corporation are making their contribution by undertaking a range of projects through community partnerships. These include revegetation, wildlife monitoring, and extending awareness about the Aboriginal Cultural Landscape upon which we all live and work.Some of these projects include the Marooochy Mangrove Nursery Project, the vulnerable Water Mouse (Xeromys myoides) mapping project, the FarmFlow Riverbank Revegetation Project, water quality testing along the Maroochy Estuary and workshops in Aboriginal Cultural Heritage.

Members of Bunya Bunya Country Aboriginal Corporation include Kabi Kabi Traditional Owners and historically connected Aboriginal People from the Sunshine Coast. They are recognised for their work in maintaining their people’s cultural heritage and extending cultural awareness in collaboration with elders and the wider community.

Cultural Connections inCaring for Country

Article by Kerry Jones, Helen Jones, Anne Miller, Sean Fleischfresser, Loretta Algar and Genevieve Jones

Bunya Bunya CountryAboriginal Corporation

Mangrove seed collecting – Sean Fleischfresser and Zhane Currie on the Maroochy River Mangrove Propagation Maroochy River II

Kerry Jones monitoringWater Mouse nests onthe Maroochy River

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Eastern Yellow Robin (E. chrysorrhoa) with the diagnostic yellow rump of this form found in our region, and also shows the yellow soles to the feet

The Eastern Yellow RobinEopsaltria australis

Article by Janet Whish-WilsonPhotos courtesy of Rob Kernot

Forty years ago the name Eastern Yellow Robin didn’t exist! There were two species, the Southern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis) and the Northern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria chrysorrhoa) which were regarded as separate species. Their size(15-16cm), habits and colouring with their grey heads and back and bright yellow breast were alike but their rumps differed. The Northern species had a bright yellow rump while the Southern species wasolive-coloured.

In late 1970 it was decided that the two species were conspecifi c and were to be regarded as one species known as the Eastern Yellow Robin consisting of two races or two forms. The Northern race (E. chrysorrhoa) is present from Cooktown south to northern NSW where there exists a certain amount of integration between the northern and southern forms. Further south the nominate race (E. australis) extends south into Victoria reaching SE South Australia (Tassie misses out). In WA the Western Yellow

Robin and the White-breasted Robin are closely related, belonging to the same genus, Eopsaltria.

The Eastern Yellow Robin inhabits a variety of environments such as rainforests, wet eucalypt, scrubby and wet gullies, ranges, paperbark and coastal woodlands and parks. Crucial to their survival in all these environments is the presence of a substantial middle to lower understory. If either of these vegetation layers are overly cleared or destroyed there can be a serious decline in the presence of Eastern Yellow Robins.

Like most of the Robin Family they are friendly little birds and will tolerate some human presence. They have a very inquisitive nature and will arrive to investigate unusual sounds watching quietly from a nearby branch. Similarly, they seek out their prey from vantage points on branches or clinging sideways on the trunks of a tree, scanning the ground with keen eyes for any small insects or ground spiders

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Eastern Yellow Robin (E. chrysorrhoa)

among the leaf litter or grassy areas. When they spot movement they dart to the ground and snatch their prey then fl y immediately to a safe branch to devour their catch.

Their monotone call of a clear piping whistle can be heard early morning and evening and occasionally on an overcast day. It is generally the fi rst call to start the dawn chorus, hence the meaning of Eopsaltria – “dawn singer”. At times they utter harsh scolding notes. Another call heard in the evening consists of two or three “tewp-tewp” fi nished by a sharp whistle with a tail fl ick and a wing drop. I love to hear this call when the robins come into my garden in the twilight when they take the opportunity to catch some tasty morsels safe from their predators who have retired to their night roost. Through the fading light I can just make them out darting down for insects in the grass – what sharp eyes they must have. They have a long day being the last to settle for the night despite being up at dawn.

There is also another call which is heard from late June until November which is a repetitive sharp two-noted call of “chop-chop” which starts up under the cover of dark and continues for 20 minutes non-stop then ceases suddenly just as the fi rst glow in the sky heralds the day. Sometimes a second caller will join in making the bush resonate with these fascinating calls which seem to be associated with the robins’ breeding season. When I fi rst came to live near my little patch of bush this call mystifi ed me. It would wake me every morning but due to the lack of light I was never able to locate the source. Then one evening I heard the call and crept towards the sound and there on a branch to my surprise was the Yellow Robin with his little body throbbing with the effort and fl icking his tail on each “chop chop”.

Both sexes are similar in plumage colour and pattern but the female is slightly smaller. Juvenile Eastern Yellow Robins are dark brown with pale streaks, while the young adultRobins are slightly duller than the parents. Their cup-shaped nest is placed in a vine or a low tree fork beautifully constructed of bark (paperbark if handy) and dry fi bre bound with spider web and lined with soft leaves with external decorations of patches of bark and

lichen. The male feeds the female while she incubates the eggs on the nest; and together they raise the nestlings – usually two or three. After each feed the parent will stop for a moment to collect the gelatinous faecal sac, excreted by the young and then dispose of it away from the nest. Nature is wonderful!

The other resident Robin in this region is the Pale-yellow Robin (Tregellasia capito) present in dense rainforests in the low to middle canopies. At 13cm it is smaller than the Eastern Yellow Robin and although not closely related they do share many characteristics such as quiet friendly natures, clinging to tree trunks while searching for insects and similar nest construction etc.

Our lovely Yellow Robins give such character to our environment. Let’s hope enough suitable habitat survives to keep them here always.

Pale-yellow Robin (Tregellasia capito) has different coloured legs and feet to that of the Eastern Yellow Robin

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Cordyline is a genus of 15 species in the family Asparagaceae native to the western Pacifi c Ocean region, from New Zealand, eastern Australia, southeastern Asia, Polynesia and Hawaii.

Eight species of Cordyline are native to Australia: • Cordyline cannifolia • Cordyline congesta • Cordyline fruticosa • Cordyline manners-suttoniae • Cordyline murchisoniae • Cordyline petiolaris • Cordyline rubra • Cordyline stricta

Of these, two naturally occur on the Sunshine Coast; Cordyline, petiolaris and Cordyline rubra. Recently I have noticed Cordyline manners-suttoniae coming up in weedy proportions within a few reserves on the Sunshine Coast. Cordyline manners-suttoniae is similar in appearance to Cordyline petiolaris and makes me wonder if it may have been planted by mistake. Cordyline manners-suttoniae naturally occurs from Cooktown to Gladstone. A few slight differences in leaf shape and petiole shape and size can help to tell the two apart. It is a concern that these two species could hybridize, making it even more diffi cult to determine which is which.

Cordyline; from Greek cordlye, a swelling, referring to the swelling on the stems of some species.

Cordyline rubra

Red Fruited Palm LilyCordyline rubra (The species name is from the Latin ruber “red”)Height – to 4m tallLeaf – straplike leaves, narrow elliptic in shape 15-50cm long by 3-4.5cm widePetiole – slightly concave petioles between 5 and 20cm longFruit – bright scarlet about 1cm in diameter Flower – purplishDistribution – It grows naturally in rainforest and wet open forest, sometimes in sandy soils, from south-eastern Queensland to north-eastern New South Wales (from Bundaberg to Lismore). It is often seen growing alongside Cordyline petiolaris, with which it sometimes hybridises.

Palm liliesArticle by Nadia Joyce

Cordyline manners-suttoniae – Endemic north from Gladstoneand a potential invasive weed in South East Queensland

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Cordyline manners-suttoniae

Cordyline petiolaris

Broad Leaved Palm LilyCordyline petiolaris (petiolarlis; from Latin petiolaris, a petiole or leaf stalk, referring to the long petioles of the species)Height – to 5m tallLeaf – deep glossy green leaves 45-85cm long and 6-15cm wide. They can be quite frayed at the tips.Petiole – distinctive in-rolled petiole between 30 and 50cm longFruit – red 0.7 to 1cm diameterFlower – clusters of white to pale lilac fl owers on upper leaf axils in winter and springDistribution – South-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales (south-west of Gladstone to about Kempsey) in wet eucalypt forest and rainforest.

Seventeen Seventy Palm LilyCordyline manners-suttoniaeHeight – to 4m tall, sometimes branchedLeaf – leaves 35-65cm long by 6-12cm wide. Veins longitudinal widely spaced. A noticeable feature is the older leaves developing yellow edges towards the top section of the leaves.Petiole – 12-30cm longFruit – red 1 to 1.5cm diameterFlower – whitish; stalks 7 to 12mm longDistribution – Grows naturally in swamp forest and rainforest from Cooktown to Gladstone.

GET OUTSIDE AND HELP OUR NATIONAL PARKS!ECOllaboration is seeking expressions of interest for volunteers with the Friends of Parks initiative. Volunteering opportunities are available throughout the Sunshine and Fraser Coasts for campground hosts, adopt a track maintenance and weed control, visitor centre management and nursery management.

This is a new program with Qld National Parks that will enable volunteers to help manage our beautiful National Parks and forests. The program provides full training and volunteering opportunities for all experience levels and ages. There are also opportunities for corporate volunteering and community group involvement. Where applicable there is free camping, barge transfers and driving permits.

To register your interest, email Jacqui Smythe at jacqui@ECOllaboration.org.au,phone 07 5313 4059 or visit http://ecollaboration.org.au/community-engagement/friends-of-parks/.

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A few times a year we are woken up at night by the deep, resonant “hooo-hooo” call of a pair of Powerful Owls. Despite searching with torches we have never managed to see them at our place.

Just recently we were down in Sydney, staying in a suburb adjacent to a very large tract of coastal forest. On one of the nights we again heard the “hooo-hooo” call of the Powerful Owl. The next day it was twilight before I had a chance to walk into the bush. Already it was too dark to see much. At one point I thought to look up into the canopy of a tall eucalypt and thought I could see a symmetrical shape up there, darker than the bunched canopy. No witness, no torch, no camera!

By the time I had walked back and collected my witness and camera (no torch available) it was very dark but we found the tree again and Maureen confi rmed the sighting and pointed out that there was a second large bird in the next tree. Through the camera view-fi nder and screen everything just looked black. But not to waste an opportunity I pointed the camera in approximately the right direction with Maureen alongside giving guidance: “more to the right – a bit more – no, a bit to the left” etc. All up out of about 30 fl ash shots taken, only one was clear enough to prove it was indeed an owl.

The next morning we went back and could just make out an owl sitting in the same position (it was still quite gloomy in there) so we took a few more shots. Again, only one image was relatively clear and showed that overnight the Ring-tail Possum population had been depleted by one.

Powerful Owls are skilful hunters

Powerful OwlsArticle by Kon Hepers

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Powerful Owls, Ninox strenua, have a body length of 600 mm or more with a formidable span of rounded wings up to 1400 mm. As such they are by far our largest owl and a top nocturnal predator. The Powerful Owl is a carnivore, eating mainly medium to large tree-dwelling mammals, particularly the Common Ringtail Possum and the Greater Glider. It is estimated that these owls will eat between 250 and 350 possums in a year.

The owls hunt via hearing and sight, gliding through the trees, snatching prey from the canopy and mid-storey. The soft edges on the fl ight feathers allow it to fl y in silence. Roosting Brush Turkeys and Flying-foxes are taken this way. Terrestrial animals like rabbits, bandicoots and rats (even cats) are also hunted. Usually the victims’ heads are bitten off and eaten fi rst. After digestion the remnants are disgorged as pellets composed of fur and feather. Small prey is swallowed whole.

There are nine species of owls on mainland Australia. Powerful Owls belong to the group (four species) called Hawk-owls, genus Ninox.

(Ninox is a composite word meaning hawk-owl, strenua means vigorous). They are not related to the diurnal raptors but have similar features in strong, curved beaks and powerful talons for seizing and tearing apart their prey. They have relatively small heads especially when compared to the second group, the Masked owls (genus Tyto), which have large facial discs rimmed with short stiff feathers, like we associate with owls in general.

The double “hooo” call of the Ninox group especially that of the Powerful Owl is probably the only “traditional” owl call among Australian species. The calls of genus Tyto are shrieks, screeches and loud hisses. We think the calls we heard that led us to observe these magnifi cent birds were territorial calls in the lead-up to mating season, which is May to October. It is interesting that Neville W. Caley, the ground-breaking Australian ornithologist, in all of the many editions of his iconic book “What Bird Is That” (the fi rst fi eld-guide of Australian birds) describes the call of the Powerful Owl as a “hideous scream”. This is not correct.

Powerful Owls pair for life. They utilise a number of roosting trees, generally tall eucalypts. For nesting they require a large, deep hollow very high in an old tree, where the female lays and incubates one or two eggs. The male’s task is on-going food supply for the female and later also for the chicks which are hatched in about fi ve weeks and fl edged in another eight weeks or so. The same hollow is used every year. Such large birds also require an extensive hunting range of up to 1000 hectares per pair. Habitat is varied but favours wet and dry sclerophyll forests, also rainforests and coastal forests The Powerful Owl has a distribution range across south-eastern Australia, mainly east of the Great Dividing Range from about Mackay to the southern SA and Vic border.

Powerful Owls, Ninox strenua is dark grey to darkgrey-brown above, with white barring, and off-white below, with distinctive dark v-shaped chevrons. The eyes are yellow, set in a dark grey/brown facial mask. The legsare feathered and the yellow to orange feet are massive, with sharp talons.

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Tuans are beautiful little bushy-tailed marsupials that hang out in eucalypt forests. Their other name is Brush-tailed Phascogale, so-called because their tailhair stands on end like a bottle-bushwhen they are alert. Tuan is the indigenous name for these animals and they have a great life story. What a delight to hear that Sunshine Coast Council has named one of their recently acquired land parcels through the Environment Levy Acquisition program after this forest dweller – Tuan Environmental Reserve at Cambroon in the Upper Mary Valley.The reserve is home to the Tuan as well as the rare Rufous Bettong and the threatened Glossy Black-Cockatoo, Koala and Black-breasted Button-Quail. It also protects critically endangered Lowland Rainforest and other important habitat. The acquisition of this property under the Environment Levy program consolidates the region’s largest core habitat area which also forms part of a bioregional corridor that runs from Maleny National Park across private land to Imbil and the Walli State Forests. Hinterland Bush Links and local landholders have also been focusing on restoration of habitat in this corridor over the past three years, performing weed management and revegetation on public and private land.

Through strengthening and building greater landscape connectivity we can work to achieve

greater management outcomes for the Tuan. This little carnivore is similar to an Antechinus but about four times bigger. Depending on how much tucker is around it can range over a forest area of up to 100 ha and each individual will use many different tree hollows for shelter. So they need a lot of continuous forest with large hollow-bearing trees to support a population. Fortunately the Conondale National Park provides this habitat.

On the Blackall Range forested land is much more fragmented so the best way to ensure there is enough habitat for this species is to connect up the fragments. This is particularly important for the Tuan because every year the entire male population dies after a testosterone-fuelled mating frenzy. If breeding fails in an isolated patch of bush because of drought or fi re, the species will die out. The only way that bush can be recolonised is if there is connectivity to more extensive and resilient forest areas.

When planning restoration on your own land you might like to consider how you can connect habitat with your neighbours or an adjacent reserve to ensure a future for Tuans and all our other wonderful wildlife. Recently 18 volunteers had the opportunity to help protect theTuan Environmental Reserve through the revegetation of essential habitat.

Tuans need connectionsArticle by Susie Duncan Coordinator, Hinterland Bush Links

Brush-tailed Phascogale in a nest box.Photo courtesy of Eileen Collins

Big Day Out at Tuan Environmental Reserve – volunteers help to buffer one of the main watering holes

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The Sleeping Giant

As part of Noosa Parks Association’s caretaker commitment to Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services (QPWS), three ‘weeders’ from Coolum District Coast Care recently enjoyed a weeklong working ‘holiday’ at the light house keepers cottages at Double Island Point, in the Cooloola section of the Great Sandy National Park.In addition to undertaking weed eradication in the assigned areas, the ever vigilant weeders noticed a fl ourishing growth of Gloriosa Lily (Gloriosa superba) amongst trees quite near the cottages. A rather curious characteristic that we noted was that whilst these plants had substantial upper growth, no seeds or spent seed capsules were found. This may have been as a consequence of the lack of summer rain this year. Could it be that the plant was preserving itself for another day? Unusual to say the least as drier times usually trigger a survival response from plants which brings forth a proliferation of seed.

The showery weather ruled out the use of chemical control on any of the weeding areas. So not being deterred by the onset of intermittent showers, we decided to attack the Gloriosa, as we could beat a hasty retreat to the cottage should the rain intensify. So with great determination, we set about to hand dig the tubers in an attempt to TOTALLY remove the patch of Gloriosa. Protective gloves were a must during this exercise as the sap from the vines and tubers has been reported to be a skin irritant and quite toxic.

Hand digging required that every stem was ‘tracked’ back to a tuber. It was a painstaking but worthwhile process because it provided certainty that ALL offending tubers were removed and safely bagged. This required great care, as anyone who has tackled Gloriosa

knows, the stem and tubers are quite fragile and break off easily.

This process was not without a surprise or two. Not only was the length and thickness of some tubers rather substantial but they were also multi-layered, at about 5cm and then deeper up to 15-20cms below the surface. This suggests that the infestation of Gloriosa had existed for several years. One of the most disturbing aspects was the extent of the network of conjoined tubers that had spread underground.

‘Weeders’ in action

Article by The SEE sub-group (Silva, Estelle, Edwin) of CDCC

Reassembled Gloriosa plant, note the scale, provided by match sticks. This photograph represents some 2-3 hours of careful removal.

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www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.auComConservPartnerships@sunshinecoast.qld.gov.auT 07 5475 7272 F 07 5475 7277Locked Bag 72 Sunshine Coast Mail Centre Qld 4560

www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.auCommunityNature@sunshinecoast.qld.gov.auT 07 5475 7272 F 07 5475 7277Locked Bag 72 Sunshine Coast Mail Centre Qld 4560

Events calendarEvent Details ContactJulySunday 6 July10.00am – 11.30amPoint Arkwright

Discovering Beach & Ocean Life – Understand our turtles, sharks and whales. Learn how sea urchins, starfi sh and sea cucumbers move, eat and survive. Look closer in rock pools with experts to spot shells, plants and animals.Children must be accompanied by adults.

Register at www.coolumcoastcare.org.auFor more information phone 0406 605 700 or email eco@coolumcoastcare.org.auLimited spaces. Gold Coin Donation.

Friday 11 July9.00amAll day event

Riparian Roving – A bus tour of Upper Mary Riparian Revegetation Sites. Join the bus at Gympie 7am or Eumundi 8am to meet at Maleny at 9am, rolling on down to Conondale and on to Belli Park. Return to Maleny and Gympie. Learn about riparian revegetation, considerations & techniques.

RSVP by Friday 27 June to MRCCC at admin@mrccc.org.au or 5482 4766 or to Brush Turkey Enterprises at education@brushturkey.com.au or 5494 3642Morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea provided.

11 – 13 July Queensland Garden Expo www.qldgardenexpo.com.auFriday 25 July Schools National Tree Day http://treeday.planetark.org/aboutFriday 25 July10.00am – 3.00pmReesville

Birds and their Calls presented by Gail Hill.$66pp – private landholder & community$88pp – government & business

For info and bookings contact Karen ateducation@brushturkey.com.auMorning tea and lunch provided.

Sunday 27 July9.00am – 11.00am

National Tree DayParklands and Marcoola

Visit the website for more informationhttp://treeday.planetark.org/about

Sunday 27 July10.00am – 11.30am

Living with Wildlife – Experience native animals (including snakes) up close and personal then join Coast Carers planting trees on National Tree Day.Children must be accompanied by adults.

Register at www.coolumcoastcare.org.auFor more information phone 0406 605 700 or email eco@coolumcoastcare.org.auLimited spaces. Gold Coin Donation.

Thursday 31 July5.00pm – 7.00pm

Geology and Rocks of the Sunshine Coastpresented by Warwick Wilmott and Phil Moran.Held at the Rural Futures Centre, Pomona.

http://www.noosalandcare.org/landcare-news.php RSVP to 5485 2468 or info@noosalandcare.org

AugustSunday 10 AugustLions Park, David Low Way at Margaret Street, Coolum

Bugs, Bees and Butterfl ies – See native bees, learn about butterfl y corridor and touch some amazing creatures.Presented by Michelle Gleeson and Native Bee Rescuers.Children must be accompanied by adults.

Register at www.coolumcoastcare.org.auFor more information phone 0406 605 700 or email eco@coolumcoastcare.org.auLimited spaces. Gold Coin Donation.

Saturday 16 August8.00am – 3.30pmLondon CreekEnvironmental Reserve

Sunshine Coast Conservation Field Day – A myriad of environmental hands-on technical sessions including fauna monitoring & assessments, cultural heritage, plant identifi cation walks, weed management techniques, herbicide use and numerous restoration approaches.

Register at www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/cfregistration or alternatively you can email CommunityNature@sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au or phone (07) 5475 7272

17 – 31 August Sunshine Coast Wildfl ower FestivalVarious locations as per program

For more information or for bookingshttp://events.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/

Thursday 28 August5.00pm – 7.00pm

Forestry – Carbon and Biodiversity presented by Michelle Haase (BMRG) and John Meadows (Forestry Researcher USC) at the Rural Futures Centre, Pomona

http://www.noosalandcare.org/landcare-news.php RSVP to 5485 2468 or info@noosalandcare.org

Saturday 30 August10.00am – 12.00pm

Basket Weaving with Cats Claw CreeperLocal artist Kris Martin will show us how to weave baskets from environmental weed vines. All materials supplied.$40 Members, $50 Non-members.

For info or bookings contact Maroochy Waterwatch on 5476 4777 or email info@maroochycatchmentcentre.org.auRSVP by 22 August. Numbers are limited.

Sunday 31 August9.30am – 1.30pmMaroochy RegionalBotanic Garden

Native Bees – Join Rob Raabe and members of the Native Bee Rescue Group in this practical session exploring the world of native stingless bees. Help save our native bees and understand the integral role they play in maintaining our natural environment. Maximum 50.

For info and bookings www.community.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/events – for further information email CommunityNature@sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au or phone (07) 5499 5178. Morning tea and lunch provided. Gold coin donation.

Sunday 31 August10.00am – 11.30amApex Camp, 171 Nojoor Rd, Mudjimba

Shorebirds and Backyard Birds – Learn about bird journeys and how birds live and behave. Then become bird detectives spotting birds, nests and feathers.Children must be accompanied by adults.

Register at www.coolumcoastcare.org.auFor more information phone 0406 605 700 or email eco@coolumcoastcare.org.auLimited spaces. Gold Coin Donation.

September4 – 5 September Sunshine Coast Kids in Action 2014 Conference www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/kidsinactionWednesday 24 Sept10.30am – 12.30pm

Butterfl ies of the Sunshine Coast and their vegetation Associations – Maroochy Regional Botanic Gardens

For info and bookings www.community.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/events

Thursday 25 Sept5.00pm – 7.00pm

Koala Conservation & Habitat for threatened speciesPresented by Phil Moran & Paul Sprecher (NDLG) and Tanzi Smith (MRCCC) in honour of Save the Koala Month.Rural Futures Centre, Pomona

http://www.noosalandcare.org/landcare-news.php RSVP to 5485 2468 or info@noosalandcare.org