Photo of Flowers taken in July 28, 2023

 

Bee on Grevillea

Acacia

Correa

Clematis and Senna

 

Clematis

Senna

Pelargonium

Eucalyptus

Paper Daisy

 We hold regular working bees once a fortnight on Friday mornings. This autumn we have been mulching the site section by section. John, one of our members has been collecting mulch from the Council depot in his ute. We have been barrowing and bucketing it on one small area at a time starting at the station end. It takes only 20- 30 minutes for the group to off-load and distribute each load of mulch but John says loading it onto the ute at the depot is a much slower process. 

The main reason for mulching is to suppress annual weeds like stinging nettles and cleavers. Mulch also conserves moisture in the soil and looks good, too. To suppress weeds completely, mulch needs to be 7.5 to10 cm. deep but we spread it thinner to allow water penetration when it rains and spread the mulch further.

 This poor little ringtail possum was encountered during our working bee. it is unusual to find a possum out in the open during daylight. It may have been displaced and taking shelter in our island of native vegetation. The next day a dead ringtail was seen in the middle of busy Racecourse Road near Woolworths. We think it was the same possum. 

Blue Flower Wasps

At our working bee in January a large number of Blue Flower wasps were buzzing around close to the ground near the wooden seating area. With their metalic blue wings, they are quite beautiful. The adults feed on nectar from native plants and their larvae parasitize Christmas Beetle larvae. They are not aggressive like European wasps, but individuals can sting if provoked.