​​Saturday, April 11th delivered one of those delightful autumn days on the Bay for Bushcare's Melaleuca Morning Walk. Ten locals and ten visitors took to the Wetlands Track for some plant gazing and bird watching - highlighted by the noisy arrival of a White-bellied sea eagle that perched above us for a few minutes.

 

Emerging from the Track we headed west along Innes Street to our work site on the buffer between the road and the northern Ramsar Wetland boundary. Our target was the infestation of Fishbone Fern which you can see on the site map below.

 

By March our weeding​ sessions had reached the edge of this infestation. It was then treated with herbicide. On April 11th, with some hearty support from our visitors, we pulled out almost half the infestation. We hope to get the rest out on our scheduled work day - April 18th. If we do, that's  20% of the length of Innes Street. ​

Planting

 

As the Fishbone Fern was weeded out the bare ground was being planted with native stock provided at no cost by Indigiscapes, and our own Native Nursery. The plants are all on the Melaleuca Wetlands 'official' list, in the Regional Ecosystem Description Database. The exception is Austromyrtus dulcis which is, however, prolific in our wetlands.

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For the record, here are the species we planted on the day:

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Acacia fimbriata  Eprapah Wattle

Allocasuarena littoralus  Black She Oak

Austromyrtus dulcis  Midgenberry

Banksia robur Swamp  Banksia

Cymbopogan refractus  Barbed Wire Grass

Eustrephus latifolius  Wombat Berry

Goodenia rotundifolia Round Leaved Goodenia

Hovia acutifolia  Purple Pea Bush

Leptospermum polygalifolium  Tea Tree

Lomandra longifolia  Spikey Mat Rush

Melaleuca  quinquenervia  Broad-leaved Paperbark

Melastoma affine  Blue Tongue

Trema tomentosa  Poison Peach

Xanthorrhoea johnsonii Australian Grass Tree 

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Special thanks are due to our visitors who rolled up their sleeves to help us get the fern out, and the good stuff in. Bree Meyer, our Bushcare officer organised the Walk and the visitors' participation. She's a constant source of enthusiasm and knowledge, and connects us to the considerable advantages we get from our association with the Redland City Council.

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Would you like to join us in this important work? Email pwear@bigpond.net.au

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