All that rain has meant lots of growth and plenty of wildlife activity in the Dawn Road Reserve and, as Easter rolled around again, the Reserve has come alive with blooms ... sadly the most prominent ones were the bright yellow escapees from local gardens, the Easter Cassia, which are becoming a real invasive nuisance in the Reserve. If you happen to have one in your yard, it would be great if you could remove it as the birds love its seeds and broadcast them far and wide.
All the rain has certainly got the ants on the move and a few other creatures, too, including this Eastern Long-Necked Turtle (sometimes known as the snake-necked turtle for obvious reasons) which appeared in our yard on Monday at lunchtime, just before the latest downpour!We wondered whether nature was telling us it was time to acquire an ark because it's the first time in the 10 years since we moved here that we've seen a turtle at all, let alone in our yard.
This fellow's carapace (it's hard shell) was about the size of a small dinner plate and his neck was almost as long as his shell was wide. We're only assuming it's a he, because we're not experts at determining the gender of such shy creatures.
Over the recent past we've also been visited by a juvenile Eastern Water Dragon (who took a little treat from my fingers, so we're assuming he's not too wild). We've also continued to see fresh Lace Monitor markings on their favourite tree, just adjacent to our block, and the Black-Striped Wallabies are still around at night, their calling cards in evidence on our open front lawn and nearby grassy verges of the Reserve the next morning.
Have you had any special wildlife sightings at your place in the past few months? If so, share them. If not, why not enjoy a stroll through the Reserve ... there are plenty of walking trails (about 6km in total) and lots of interesting flora and fauna to see if you look around carefully.
In places, you can still see the aftermath of that destructive storm that hit Brisbane's northern suburbs back in November, but in addition to clean up work done by the council, already the Reserve has reclaimed much of the downed branches and foliage, with many damaged trees already sprouting healthy new growth.
A quick reminder - if you live in the Albany Parkside, Woodlands or Country Club estates - that our local Bushcare group that has been working on rejuvenating two key areas of the Reserve is always looking for volunteers, once a month, for two hours.
The next two Bushcare days will be Sunday, May 17 (8-10am) at the southern end of Hengis Court and then on Sunday, June 14, (8-10am) at the south-eastern end of Fred Campbell Drive. See below for what to wear/bring. In the meantime, you can checkout the latest Moreton Bay Regional Council's Bushcare newsletter, Understory, online.
Happy wanderings.
TrinaMcL
