Australia is an unusual place in terms of its wildlife and in particular birds. The prevalence of honeyeaters is remarkable. From our urban backyards, parks and reserves to the wetlands, eucalypt and paperbark forests to our mountain and coastal rainforests you will find honeyeaters.

Australia is the land of sugar and nectar. The country’s generally poor and ancient soils lack a number of nutrients suitable for plant growth. Many of our native plants including eucalypts, melaleucas, banksias and grevilleas produce large amounts of excess sugar. These sugars are a product of photosynthesis and due to the lack of soil quality including some amino acids, many plants have diverted these excesses into the production of high amounts of nectar in order to attract and exploit animals as pollinators and seed dispersers.
  
The general absence of arboreal mammals in Australia has provided opportunities for honeyeaters to diversify and take advantage of this bounty and there are over 75 species in Australia. They range from the large and noisy friar and wattlebirds, the small and busy brown honeyeaters to the mob forming minor birds.

You can see many of these honeyeaters taking advantage of our backyards especially where people have planted “bird-attracting” gardens. If you take a look at the remaining forests of paperbark and eucalypt around Moreton Bay you will also see many different types of honeyeaters along with lorikeets feeding on the seasonal waves of flowers. They also take advantage of the insects associated with these plants and in particular psyllids which produce honeydew shelters on the underside of leaves known as lerps. Late winter and early spring provides an opportunity to see other species of honeyeater including the scarlet honeyeater.

Further reading:
Tim Low (2015) Where song began: Australia’s birds and how they changed the world. 

I live in an urbanised area and was surprised to see a small tribe of Fairy Wrens visit my backyard. I have a few banksias, bottlebrushes and grevilleas in our gardens as they are hardy and attract wildlife to the area. The wrens however were interested in the insects associated with our area. This blog is dedicated to providing information about the value of our wetlands, the wildlife and the people who work to preserve our natural heritage.

The Redcliffe peninsula is one of the most urbanised areas in Australia with very little land put aside for parks and wildlife. It’s understandable as the peninsula juts out into Moreton Bay and has some amazing beach areas so it’s a great place to live. Cool sea breezes and its close proximity to Brisbane add to the attraction. But it’s amazing what creatures can turn up in your yard if you provide some habitat for them.
  
So if you have a little space, plant some native vegetation. Consider a small frog pond, or provide safe access to water (so domestic cats can’t intervene).  Then just sit back and wait for them to come; you will be rewarded with a wide range of local wildlife interacting with your garden.

Further information and reading:

Australian Native Plants Society: http://anpsa.org.au/
Australian Outdoor Living: https://www.australianoutdoorliving.com.au/attract-wildlife-in-your-backyard/  
Native Plants Queensland: http://www.sgapqld.org.au/

Many of our projects focus on the wetlands of Hays Inlet and Moreton Bay in general. These areas of interest include the important saltmarsh and mangrove zones that underpin the health of Moreton Bay through improving water quality, stabilising the coastline and providing habitat and food for the flora and fauna of the region as well as support our fisheries. Other important areas, which deserve our attention, are the remaining fringes or buffer zones that in many cases separate our natural areas from urban and industrial development.
   
A buffer zone is a designated area of land usually associated with a reserve or national park. They are established in some cases in order to protect the reserve area from negative human disturbances such as noise, pollutants and weeds. For example, designated Ramsar (protection areas for international wading bird) sites are meant to have a 100 m buffer around them (preventing any development activities which could impact on the wildlife). Unfortunately, most of the Moreton Bay area does not have designated buffer zones underpinned by environmental design. This makes any remaining areas of land between developed sites and the wetlands extremely important.

In Hays Inlet, the landward edge of the saltmarsh areas can often be associated with a natural buffer zone. Immediately adjacent to the high tide line these zones contain a mixture of terrestrial flora adapted to the conditions including Casuarina, Melaleuca and some species of Eucalypt. These areas form valuable refuges for wildlife, including koalas, as well as acting as filters reducing industrial and urban run-off to the saltmarsh and estuary areas. In places these zones can be quiet narrow and are subject to high levels of disturbance from human activities.

To maximise their functionality as a refuge for wildlife as well as a buffer for our wetlands it is important to manage these critical areas for weeds and minimise disturbance. This will reduce the potential damage caused by wildfires as well as filter any excess nutrients and pollutants directly entering the saltmarsh habitats of Hays Inlet and Moreton Bay.

When you think of Moreton Bay and mangroves and someone mentions crabs we often think of the Mud Crab or even the Sand Crab, which are important species for commercial and recreational fishers.
 
There are many other crabs associated with our wetlands and estuarine areas associated with Moreton Bay. They often play important ecological roles within the various habitats including many mangrove-lined creeks, saltmarsh areas, foreshore areas and even the deeper areas of Moreton Bay.

The saltmarsh areas are dominated by nocturnal crab, the Haswell’s Shore Crab. This abundant crab spends the daytime in deep borrows coming out at night to feed. They contribute to the ecology of the estuarine area by exposing the saltmarsh substrate to oxygen through their burrowing behaviour. They are also broadcast spawners, so with every spring tide they release millions of crab larvae into the water which are then fed upon by fish.

Saltmarsh and mangrove-lined creeks are inhabited by numerous species of crabs including the Fiddler Crab. They also burrow and churn over the sediment oxygenating the substrate.  Research has discovered that mangrove forests struggle without the presence of these mini-bulldozers and their continual churning of the substrate.

In the intertidal flats, especially associated with sandy undeveloped areas like the islands there are numerous “battalions” of soldier crabs. Their impact through their burrowing action and churning over of the surface sediment filtering out morels of food has a big impact on the ecology of the flats again like other small crabs by aerating the sediments.

Even on our surf beaches associated with the Moreton Bay islands we find small crabs such as Ghost Crabs who deal with this harsh environment by digging deep burrows away from the tideline where they can have an impact on the dune vegetation. Crabs can also cope with rough surf zones where they live and feed amongst the waves. They often have spines and a compact shape to deal with the turbulence and to avoid being a meal for passing fish.

A number of crabs are important drivers of sediment aeration (also known as bioturbation) and they have a big impact on many of our habitat areas. They are feed on the sediment processing organic matter from leaf litter, detritus to small invertebrates. They often end up as part of the food chain with many fish and birds specialised to catch them. Importantly they are also fascinating creatures to observe as you can see by some of the photographs of some of our local crustacean stars!    

Part of the rehabilitation work with the Clontarf eco-path site is to reinvigorate or enhance the quality of the remaining Eucalypt forest associated with the Hays Inlet wetland system. We know that mature forests support many bird species, koalas, gliders and flying foxes along with a myriad of insect species. Part of the rehabilitation work involves the planting of propagules including but not limited to Eucalypt. In particular, the site has also been monitoring the Mount Beerwah Mallee a test tree for koalas (refer to the REF blog article in September 2016).

The trees, so far are growing well and after one of our monitoring sessions we were amazed at the number of inhabitants using the small trees as either shelter or a source of food. Insect larvae including caterpillar and grubs were located on the growing tips of the trees. One tree in particular had shown heavy signs of leaf loss and an inspection revealed that a caterpillar which had recently pupated by using green silk web to pull some of the leaves together to form a cocoon.

 Apart from the presence of insect larvae and other bugs we also noticed a number of galls formed on the underside of the leaves.  Galls are quite common on Eucalypt and indeed many other trees including Acacia and Melaleuca and so it may not be a surprise to see them formed on the young plants. Galls are usually seen in the form of bumps or nodules on the underside of a leaf. They are caused by abnormal plant growth by the host plant in response to the invasion of its tissue by a number of insects including psyllids, wasps, flies, beetles, moths and aphids.

 When an egg is laid onto the leaf it triggers a chemical response which induces the host plant to form a growth around the egg. The egg hatches and the insect larvae finds itself located in a shelter with food. Some larvae, hatch first and can actually bite the leaf and cause a gall to form (a bit like scar tissue). A number of other psyllids form a covering of sugary or waxy substance on the leaf to create a shelter (lerp) so they can feed on the leaf’s sap and reduce their chance of predation. A heavy infestation can cause quite an issue for the host tree, but this condition is generally unusual. Some of the specialist birds in the area, including the honeyeaters will often work a tree over including the foliage in search for some extra protein provided by the unlucky insects.

 In the case of the recently planted koala propagules many of these insects have moved on or been predated and so the trees continue to develop at a healthy rate. No doubt other factors including hydrology and the soil may yet have an impact on them. Time will tell, but at least we know they may be small but they are growing rapidly and already support some interesting forms of life.

Over the past few years we at REF, along with our partners, have focused on rehabilitating some of the wetland areas of Hays Inlet especially saltmarsh and mangroves habitats. These wetlands play an important role in stabilising the coast, improving water quality in Hays Inlet and providing habitat for our local wildlife. Another important and productive habitat is seagrass. There is little remaining seagrass around the peninsula, although you can still see remnants of what were once extensive pastures around Scarborough, Newport and Deception Bay.
 
Moreton Bay still has extensive areas of seagrass associated with the cleaner waters of the western region of the bay where they provide food and habitat for dugongs and sea turtles as well as provide nursery areas for many species of fish and invertebrates.
 
Like mangroves, seagrasses are a group of plant species related by their function and location rather than taxonomy. Located in shallow and sheltered coastal waters they are excellent at stabilising sediments, recycling nutrients, storing carbon and providing habitats for many of our commercial fishery species. Seagrass, like saltmarsh and mangroves are very efficient at capturing carbon. In fact these wetland habitats can sequester and bury carbon up to 66 times the rate of land-based ecosystems.
 
Seagrass requires clear water in order to thrive so they are impacted by any terrestrial activities that impact on water quality. Human activities have had the greatest impact on these meadows through excessive nutrients and pollutants entering via stormwater and upstream farming practices as well as coastal development, dredging and shipping. Managing run off through the maintenance of wetland filtering systems such as our wetland areas is one key to improving water quality entering our estuaries.
 
The work being carried out by REF and other community organisations is an attempt to manage water quality through rehabilitating our remaining coastal wetland areas. Wouldn’t it be good if we could see the pastures of seagrass return to Hays Inlet and Deception Bay? It would mean that the coastal system of Melaleuca wetlands, saltmarsh, mangroves and seagrass are at their productive best, providing habitats for some of our most iconic wildlife as well as underpinning the fisheries associated with Moreton Bay.
 
Further Reading: McKenzie, L. (2014) Australian pastures of the sea. Wildlife Magazine 51 (1) 18-21    
 
Seagrass Watch is a long term monitoring program. You can learn more at http://wildlife.org.au/seagrasswatch/

The third Green Army team project is well under way with training for weeding (identification and use of chemicals) and the use of small machinery (slashers, post hole diggers) nearing completion. These skills are necessary so team members can carry out the major objective of the project, which is habitat restoration.

There are other objectives for the project as well including the provision of other learning opportunities for team members. One key area for environmental restoration revolves around monitoring local flora and fauna as well as physical parameters including water quality. Recently we conducted a training session on measuring water quality in the Clontarf Eco-Path site. This is the third team to be trained and they can now collect stats on our six water sites, which can be added to almost 18 months’ worth of data on water turbidity (clarity), temperature, salinity and level of acidity.

This information can then be used to get a greater understanding of the impact of the project work, weather and tides and any other activities around the site on the environmental conditions at the sample sites. An example is the impact of tidal flow on salinity and the riparian vegetation and any fauna (e.g. fish and crustaceans). There is a flow valve on the channel adjacent to the rugby union field designed to prevent the incursion of tidal water into the channel system. The monitoring program has revealed that during the king tides the salinity can get very high in the channel which will then impact on the distribution of any associated flora and fauna. For example, we know that the Pacific Blue-eye can tolerate higher levels of salinity than other competitive fish such as the guppy, platy and swordtail so they can still thrive in saline waters where the exotic fish can't survive.

The levels of salinity, water temperature, salinity and turbidity effects the wildlife and vegetation along these channels. At the completion of this project we will have enough data to draw some conclusions on differences between the sites and which factors vary the most. A general perusal of the data tells us that the main variations between the 6 sites are based on salinity and turbidity (water clarity) which impacts on the types of vegetation and fauna we find living in the channels.
 
So it’s a win-win for the project as we learn about the physical conditions impacting on the aquatic fauna and flora and members of our Green Army team get an appreciation and gain experience in the value of monitoring water quality.

The first weekend in October brought footy finals, weeding and some entertainment by the local birdlife for members of the Hays Inlet Bush Care group. Led by Alix Volling, the team tackled some of the weeds which are again taking over the banks of the channel at the opening of the site. Phragmites reed is proving difficult to control, especially since the warmer weather has seen increased plant growth.
 
      The work and planting around the area has also been affected by a number of weed species which take advantage of the open and disturbed soil. However, there is also good news in areas where the planted trees have developed some height they have effectively shaded out the majority of noxious weeds. Members of the group were also pleased to see the health of the large replanting area, with a significant number of plants thriving in the area. This is why the work of both the bushcare group and the Green Army team is so important for the long term health of the area. Controlling weeds is a tough assignment, but given enough time and help, endemic plants can stabilise and provide habitat for local wildlife.

     The morning also provided some entertainment for the team with first a pair of Dollarbirds putting on a flying display in one of the tall eucalypts. Once the weeding got started a pair of Pheasant Coucals put on a vocal show from the Melaleuca close to the entrance to the site. These large birds stay mainly hidden in the thick foliage, flapping and gliding from tree to tree and calling out to each other in a loud and unmistakable “ooping” song. With over a 100 species of birds identified the work of the green army team and the bushcare group is really important for maintaining the biodiversity within the Hays Inlet surrounds.

     The Hays Inlet Bush Care sessions run for two hours but as we have seen, each session can make a big difference to the area. If you want to take part just go the REF website and find out when the next session is due. You will enjoy making a difference to our environment and if you look around you will be entertained by some of the outstanding wildlife.

For more information on the Hays Inlet Bush Care group go to:

http://www.redenviroforum.org/bushcare.html

The Redcliffe Environmental Forum along with is any community partners and government programs such as the Green Army Program and the Hays Inlet Bush Care group have now planted over 7,000 endemic plants at the Silcock Street project site. With over 8 hectares of bushland and wetlands rehabilitated the site is starting to take shape as a valuable nature reserve.

During this time our organisation has enjoyed working with our partners such as the Birders of the South Pine River and the Pine Rivers Koala Care Association. One collaboration project has been associated around enhancing the habitat for koalas by planting and monitoring the Mount Beerwah Mallee (scientific name: Eucalyptus kabiana).

This tree will provide food for koalas, counter lost habitat, and help provide corridors between existing koala habitats to steer koalas away from roads. It grows to 6m in seven years, and is a sister species to the koala’s favourite food tree, the blue gum, which reaches 20m. The smaller size makes the tree a candidate for planting across the region including urban and industrial areas where they will present less of a problem in turns of falling limbs and interference with power and phone lines.

The project headed up by Associate Professor, Stephen Trueman from the University of the Sunshine Coast who investigated over 20 species of trees and spent nine years in research before selecting the Mallee as a suitable candidate for distribution throughout the region and assisting with the conservation of our local koala population. The project has also been supported by the Moreton Bay Regional Council.

The final stage of this project is to test the growth and resilience of the Mallee in a number of different conditions across the region. As part of this testing process, REF Inc have planted three trees and have commenced a monitoring program to see how they handle the soli acidity and hydrology associated with the Silcock Street Reserve. The data, including rate of growth will be provided to the research team in future years. Let’s hope this tree can help us to enhance the quality of habitat between our remaining natural reserves and the urban and industrial landscape in the Moreton Bay Region.

Further reading http://mysunshinecoast.com.au/news/news-display/dwarf-gum-tree-project-to-help-preserve-urban-koalas,44936

Also see the Pine Rivers Koala Care Association website for more information on this project and other koala initiatives http://www.prkoalacare.com.au/