Green Space Our Place - Volunteers Voice - Issue 15 - June 2017

Green Space Our Place

Our Volunteers Voice

Issue 15 June 2017

‘Salties’ Friends create huge highlight impact native bees

Off the beaten track

Page 2

Our Volunteers Voice

Front Page: Cattana Wetlands - join the Jabiru volunteers in caring for our wetlands.

Back Page: Pitcher Plant- Nepenthes veitchii

In this issue: •

From the Editor - Page 2

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Volunteer Profile - Charles Wang - Page 3

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Saltwater Creek ‘Salties’ making a huge impact - Pages 4-5

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Saving the Hair Sedge Eleocharis retroflexa - Page 6

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Sugarworld Friends discuss new bench - Page 7

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Incredible growth at Keith Edwick Park - Page 7

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Around the Gardens - Curator David Warmington - Page 8

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Friends of Cairns Botanic Gardens news - Pages 8-9

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Volunteer photos - Pages 10-11

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Birds Beak, Part 2 - Pages 1213

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Off the beaten track at Cattana Wetlands - Pages 14-15

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Connecting with Nature series Pages 16-17

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Recyclers of nutrients - Page 18

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Critters in the Gardens - Page 19.

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What’s On - back page.

This newsletter is published quarterly, showcasing articles and photographs of the Green Space, Our Place volunteer program.

Editor - Volunteers Supervisor, Louisa Grandy Volunteer proof readers Sandy Long, Jenn Muir Contributors - Botanic Gardens Curator David Warmington Volunteers Sharren Wong, Barry Muir, Jenn Muir, Dr David Rentz AM

From the Editor Welcome Busy, busy, busy! I am referring to the entire program. There is so much going on within this program and so many volunteers wanting to support our green areas.

We are delighted with the community response.

In this issue I share with you the incredible work the Saltwater Creek ‘Salties’ have contributed at the base of Mt Whitfield, Aeroglen. Despite only three dry Fridays since this project began, the ‘Salties’ have planted over 1000 trees to enhance this area, near the proposed new Yellow Arrow trail head.

Friends of Cairns Botanic Gardens, with the support of the Garden’s staff, has been working on a new project, installing a native beehive in the Aboriginal Plant Use Garden and plans for interpretive material to indicate the exisiting hive within the Friends’ House wall.

This issue I speak with Charles Wang who has been enthuisastically volunteering in a number of the programs, beginning with the Cairns Botanic Gardens Down ‘n’ Dirties in 2014.

I have written a new feature article ‘Connecting with Nature’ to encourage everyone to look at nature with fresh eyes. This will be an ongoing series with a different way to connect with nature each time - I hope it inspires you all and prompts a little feedback on how you connect with our environment.

There is also a new section ‘Critters in the Gardens’ by Dr David Rentz MA, who will be focusing on crickets in the next couple of issues.

Overall this issue is jam packed with volunteer happenings along with some wonderful articles from our volunteers on insects, birds, fungi and a different look at Cattana Wetlands.

To conclude with some fantastic news!

The Tracks ‘n’ Trails volunteer program on Mt Whitfield Arrow Tracks will commence with a full-time staff member at the start of the new financial year. Contact us if you are interested in joining this enthusiastic volunteer group.

Louisa

Minako and Yoshimi clearing steps on Mt Whitfield

Our Volunteers Voice

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With a highly positive attitude to life, Charles Wang believes life is too short and we are never too old to learn, willing to give as much as he can while he is still able.

Most of our volunteers have worked with Charles, or Charlie as some know him, as he has been a part of each group at some time or another. He began with the Botanic Gardens Down ‘n’ Dirty group in 2014, followed by the Jabirus. Lately he has joined the Esplanade ‘Sandpipers’ and the Little Taccas children’s nature activities program.

Charles is always available to lend a hand and carts away the green waste pruned or weeded by the rest of the group. He loves to get stuck into the heavier jobs such as pruning the bamboo stand on the Esplanade and cleaning up after the Little Taccas have completed their craft activity.

“Volunteering is good for me. Life is too short to ‘retire’! I volunteer because of three things,” he said. “One - because I love to exercise especially with work I can do and am able to do; two - I enjoy learning as I believe we are never too old to learn; and three - meeting people like yourself and the volunteers. I think I know something and then I discuss with couldn’t get accommodation. This is how I came to Cairns. others and they teach me further. Volunteering also makes I came for a visit and ended up renting and then buying a home not long after.” me feel a part of the community.”

He says culturally Australia is so different and the hardest Charles came to Melbourne approximately 20 years ago. part is being understood.

His brother and parents who had settled three years earlier, encouraged him to leave Hong Kong. He was considered too “Even though I was nationalised in the year 2000 I am still old (nearing 40) and had to pay $6,000 each for himself, his considered foreign and when I return to my home town Hangzhou, China, I am considered Australian,” he shrugs wife and son and it took eight years to organise migration. with a smile.

Although Charles had been a computer systems engineer in Charles says to understand Cairns from a local perspective China and manager at City Bearing Co. in Hong Kong, he he visits Rusty’s market regularly - “I get to see what it means found it very difficult to get the same work in Australia. to be local.

“Although I was disappointed that I couldn’t use my skills, “A funny little story. I loved mango the first time I tasted it I’m healthy and I learn quickly and was able to find work in a however I didn’t like the messiness of eating it and avoided cake factory,” he explains. it for some time. Then one day I saw how to cut and dice it Charles said it was one of the hardest jobs due to the starting while still on the skin and now enjoy it all the time,” he laughs. hour of 2am and weekend work.

Charles loves to stay active, riding his bike everywhere he “Although it may sound easy, my job of spraying the fruit goes. cake tins before the mixture was poured was very difficult as I had to be very efficient and accurate. I was told that there had “I had seen you around the Gardens and enquired who been 10 people prior to me who had only lasted a couple of was the ‘boss’ and was directed to you and here I am, now volunteering with you!” he exclaims. weeks. I lasted three years!”

“Volunteering gives me a totally different view of the Gardens “When I worked on the lamington sponge production line I than visiting it. So much more detail becomes evident. I suggested a computer program however I was told that they also feel satisfied sweating and then seeing what we create couldn’t trust the program but could trust me because I was together - I enjoy it! punctual, accurate and nothing went wrong” he smiles.

“Harmony is key for me. I believe in balance, discipline, “I travelled to Darwin in 2007 and the university welcomed limitation and what you explained about the ‘art of being’ me as a resident as there weren’t many people living there at instead of doing. I work in the Garden and then I have fun the time. However in 2012 there was a mining boom with sharing it with the kids at Little Taccas. many students requiring residency and I was asked to find my own place. The American navy was also filling the town and I “It is good for my health and my mind,” he concludes.

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’ s e i t l a S ‘ k e Saltwater Cre t c a p m i e g u making a h

S

‘Salties’ feeling proud of their morning’s achievements.

altwater Creek ‘Salties’ have planted a variety of native trees to create a buffer zone at the base of Mt Whitfield, Aeroglen, near the propsed Yellow Arrow trail head.

The ‘Salties’ meet Friday mornings and are an eager bunch of volunteers with their first day planting in heavy wet conditions - having morning tea under umbrellas (pictured right).

Support Officer Sarah Gosling said “Although it has rained most Fridays, the volunteers show such enthusiasm in all conditions from heavy rain to high humity and hot conditions. It is a joy to work with them.”

The ‘Salties’ have planted over 1000 native trees over a period of four months.

Reveg site sprayed and ready for planting at the base of Mt Whitfield, Aergoglen.

Aude Meiffredi

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Judy Chappell feeling a little soggy!

Morning tea in the Wet!

‘Salties’ persisted in rain, humidty and heat to achieve great results.

Dianne Stephens

Look at the growth!

Alan (foreground), Isak and Judy

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Our Volunteers Voice

Saving the Hair Sedge Eleocharis retroflexa As a species of conservation concern, Center for Biodiversity Management Director Dr Andrew N. Gillison has been planting the Hair Sedge, Eleocharis retroflexa, at Cattana Wetlands to ensure its survival in the tropics.

Commonly known as Spike Rush or Hair Sedge, this sedge in the Cyperaceae family, is an annual sedge growing to 10 cm tall.

Stems (culms) are 3-4-5 angled, almost submerged with leaves that are reduced to a sheath. Spikelets are 2-3.5 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, with 2-5 flowers. Flowering and fruiting occur in May. However fruiting may occur episodically throughout the year as observed in a former population on Jackson Drive at Woree, and under nursery conditions.

The species can also proliferate by vegetative means and this is frequently observed under semi-aquatic conditions, especially with episodic flooding. This confers an advantage in reestablishing this species under suitable habitats. It can adapt to both dry and semi-aquatic positions.

Certain Eleocharis species (e.g. E. parvula) are sought by aquarium Dr Andrew N. Gillison specialists as a desirable and decorative plant for freshwater planting sedges at aquaria. Some informal experiments with E. retroflexa suggest Cattana Wetlands there may be a similar commercial possibility for this species as well as serving as a means for promoting its survival as a at the Cattana Wetlands with species of conservation concern. assistance from Council One reason for its notification as a species of concern for field staff. conservation is its currrent limited distribution pattern.

As a result of some earlier A thriving population of the sedge was originally found on trials in March 2016, a a roadside drain on Jackson Drive, Woree by Robert Jago at single site on the main lake Cairns Regional Council. Next to this population, a small group opposite Cuckoo Lake was of 55 sterile (infertile) plants were also found in the interior planted with new material of a proposed industrial development site, an unusual habitat from the E. retroflexa germplasm reservoir at the CBG for this species compared to the optimal open sunlit boggy nursery. condition on the adjacent Jackson Drive. It is not known how Progress thus far these 55 individuals became established in this atypical site. Populations at the Cattana site have been closely monitored Natural vegetation succession through tree cover subsequently since March 2016. Unusually dry weather in 2016 caused a led to the disappearance of the species from this site. drop in lake water level resulting in the loss of several plant clusters. Despite this setback, sedge plants survived where the Translocation and establishment soil remained sufficiently moist.

The species was originally observed on a proposed development site at Jackson Drive, Woree. In order to satisfy the control With the return of the rainy season, all surviving plants became orders issued by Queensland Environment and Heritage completely submerged. Under such conditions, the sedges Protection (EHP) and the Federal SEWPac, propagative have adapted and survived under water. Recent supplementary material obtained from that site was established at the Cairns replants along a shoreline moisture gradient will assist existing Botanic Gardens (CBG) nursery through an agreement with plants to accommodate foreseeable variation in lake levels.

Cattana Wetlands Jabiru volunteer Geoff McClure has been the curator David Warmington. ensuring that competing shoreline plant species are physically The known habitat requirements indicate open sunlit conditions removed in order to promote and maintain the sedge with a perennial boggy substrate and an absence of competition establishment. from tall-growing plants such as other sedge species.

Future prospects On this basis, a site was selected on the shorelines of the CBG While optimal conditions for the sedge appear to be Centenary Lakes. Unfortunately, initial success was relatively characterised by flowing water, the lake dynamics at Cattana short-lived mainly due to increased competition from other Wetlands appear to be suited nevertheless to the survival of plant species. These management limitations subsequently this species. Such survival will owe much to the continuing led to a reconnaissance of some prospective alternative sites assistance provided by the Jabiru volunteers.

Our Volunteers Voice

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Sugarworld Friends discuss new bench During March Friends of Sugarworld Botanic Gardens Inc. met to discuss a new garden bench to be designed

by Elefantus to reect sugarcane.

Pictured: Fraser McCulloch from Elefantus (with Badilla sugarcane) with Sugarworld Friends, from left to right, John Mann, President Fran Lindsay, Myra Jensen, Wendy Bryant, Lyn Gane, and Jim Hill.

Incredible growth within a year at Keith Edwick Park June 2016

If you haven’t yet had a chance to see the Keith Edwick Park transformation, here is a June 2016 and a March 2017 photo comparison. The Machans Beach Community Association enthusiasm is spreading throughout the community - fantastic effort!

The Association met in March this year to do a little weeding (inset).

March 2017

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Around the Gardens Curator David Warmington

Friends highlight native T

o highlight the existence of native bee, the Friends are currently working on interpretive signage to educate Cairns Botanic Gardens visitors.

Genetic material for global palm project Local botanist Dr John Dowe has recently been requested to assist with a project on the evolution and systematics of palms led by Dr William Baker at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, in the UK. John was provided with an extensive list of palms from the Indo-Pacific region with the aim of obtaining leaf samples for DNA analysis. The leaf tissue samples for DNA analysis, taken from a newly emerged leaf, are only small and measure 2cm x 10cm. These are then dried in silica gel and sent by airmail to the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. To confirm the identity of the palm John was required to lodge a voucher specimen with the Australian Tropical Herbarium. The herbarium specimens included a full leaf, and flowers and fruit if available.

Fortunately the Cairns Botanic Gardens has a good collection of wild collected palms of the genus Calyptrocalyx from New Guinea and John was able to use the Gardens collections to fulfil this part of the project. Many of these palms were collected by Michael Ferrero in 1995 and 1996. It is rewarding to know that the Gardens plant collections are being used for such scientific purposes.

I first became aware of native stingless bees many years ago when I lived in a beautiful Queenslander house in Cairns Street. The house has since been relocated to make way for development.

I put a great deal of energy into destroying these ‘flies’ that were crawling all over the window sills until a horrified friend informed me that they were in fact native bees and played a vital role in pollination. Fast track 30 years and I am now very interested in native bees and my past ignorance has been the motivating factor in suggesting that a native bee hive be installed in the Botanic Gardens.

There are of course already native bees living happily in the Gardens. However many visitors are unaware of their existence and establishing a native bee hive will help to highlight their importance, provide an educational opportunity, especially for children and promote interaction with the natural environment.

There are approximately 1500 species of Australian native bees, the vast majority are solitary and 11 species are stingless social bees. They are mostly found in the hot areas of northern Australia and along the east coast.

Native stingless bees are becoming increasingly popular, and make a low maintenance ‘pet’. Hives are being installed in backyards, day care centres, kindergartens, schools, community gardens and recently in the grounds of Parliament House, Brisbane. Stingless bees are also used to pollinate crops especially mangos, macadamias and lychees and are a valuable insurance commodity should Varroa mite find its way to Australia.

Native bee honey, also called sugarbag, has a tangy, citruslike flavor and has significant anti-bacterial properties. It has long been a traditional food source for Aboriginal people.

As some of you will know, there is a bee colony located in the wall of Friends House. This colony is found in the wall adjacent to the entry door and largely goes unnoticed. It has been established for at least 30 years and has recently been formally identified as Tetragonula hockingsi.

Dr John Dowe with palm specimens in the Gardens Conservatory.

To highlight their existence, Friends are currently working on interpretive signage that will indicate these bees and

Our Volunteers Voice

bees in Botanic Gardens Odette Aspinall

Odette with the new bee hive stand in the Aboriginal Plant Use Garden.

provide information and images that will show what is happening behind the wall.

A stand-alone beehive of T. hockingsi has been installed in the Aboriginal Plant Use Garden. This species of bee was chosen as it has a large internal nesting volume (up to 10 litres) compared with other species and is suitable for honey collection of up to one litre per year and splitting.

This hive will be located opposite a bench so visitors can watch the bees come and go, carrying pollen and resin in baskets on their hind legs.

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Catching up with Friends

by President Val Schier

New committee At the AGM on March 8, Val Schier was re-elected as president, Lee Ross as vice-president, Coralie Stuart as treasurer and Odette Aspinall as a general member. We welcome new general members, Sarah Warne, Lorraine Smith, Del van Mielo and Judy Chapell and were delighted when Megan Lilly put her hand up to be secretary. We say goodbye and thank you to Linda Rawson and Andrew Smart who shared the secretarial role in 2016. David Rentz will continue as our Patron.

Can you help?

We are looking for garden guides and shop volunteers.

Would you be prepared to be trained as a garden guide and be rostered on to show visitors around the gardens? Illness and departure has thinned the ranks of our volunteer guides and we need to recruit several people who are willing to be rostered on for 1-2 hours on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis to show small groups around. Detailed knowledge of horticulture is not a pre-requisite. Rather, we need people who are passionate about the gardens or particular plants, trees and owers and are prepared to share their enthusiasm with others.

Please have a think about whether you could join Colin and the other garden guides.

Also, we are still looking for someone to do the sourcing and purchasing of items for the Friends’ shop. Norma Wright is proving hard to replace!

Del Van Mierlo does a great job of rostering volunteers for morning or afternoon sessions in the shop giving advice and assistance to visitors and it would be great to have extra people for her to call on.

Projects in 2017 We are considering allocating funds towards a new arbour in the Flecker Gardens over which a jade vine will be grown; replacing the much-loved jade vine that was removed when the old toilet block was pulled down. We are hoping that Council will soon supply a detailed design for this proposal.

Any suggestions from members for Friends’funded projects/initiatives are welcome.

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What have our volunteers been up to?

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1. Down ‘n’ Dirty volunteers looking at what’s available at the Friends ‘Gardeneers’ Wednesday plant trolley sale; 2. Down ‘n’ Dirty Jeff happily towing green waste; 3. Dianne and 4. Sylvester, Stratford Nursery volunteers potting up 5.

Jeff making friends with the insect world at Cattana Wetlands; 6. Incredible growth at Cattana - note the dates; 7. Sofia on her first day with the Little Taccas; 8. Nature Play at its best the Little Taccas racing up and down a sloping patch of lawn; 9. New Little Taccas volunteers Sofia and Oliva; 10. Friends’ member Judith brought along a bunch of flowers for the Little Taccas flower arrangement activity; 11. Esplanade ‘Sandpipers’ Gill (visiting for two weeks), Carolyn and Matthew weeding in the Memorial Garden; 12. The Little Taccas love chatting with Peter; 13. A great morning’s effort - Carolyn and Aude with their weed bags at the Esplanade ‘Healing Garden’.

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Ready, Set,Go!

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Our Volunteers Voice

Birds’ beak (bill) shape - adaptations to In Part 1 of “Birds’ bill shape – adaptations to exploit food sources…” (March 2017 Green Space Our Space), I briefly discussed the first eight groups of birds in the drawings (right).

These were the: • generalists (omnivores) - general feeders on fruits, seeds, small animals, eggs, some carrion, etc; • insect-catchers - three Tropical North Queensland (TNQ) flycatchers; • surface-skimming birds - three species of skimmers; • mud ‘probing’ birds - avocets; • grain-eaters (granivores) such as finches, mannikins and sparrows; • coniferous-seed eating birds - crossbills with their crossed bill tips for prising seeds from pine cones; • probing bills - the many varied shaped and sized bills Toucans, generally vividly coloured birds, have huge laterally of waders for probing to different depths in mud or compressed bills which are surprisingly light, as they are ground of wet/dry pasture; and hollow and reinforced with thin horny lamellae. Their diet • filter-feeding flamingos. comprises large fruits, but they may also feed on animals, In this June 2017 edition of Green Space Our Space, including bird nestlings. There are no toucans in Australia, I discuss the last eight groups shown in the drawings. but our ChannelNectar feeding (nectivorous) - including hummingbirds billed Cuckoo, with and sunbirds (featured in the Feathered Friends column) a bill that appears Nectar-feeding birds tend to have long, fine, fairly down- similar to that of curved bills to enable them to reach the nectar at the base a toucan, is also a of flowers. They get much energy from the nectar, and their fruit-eater. It favours protein from insects. Hummingbirds and sunbirds tend to ripe figs, but will also take other fruits, as be brilliantly coloured and beautiful.

Hummingbirds are only found in the Americas and sunbirds well as large insects, throughout the tropics. The only Australian sunbird, the and eggs and young Olive-backed (Yellow-bellied), is found in TNQ, often in of other birds.

Although having household gardens.

Many of Australia’s honeyeaters also feed on nectar (thus smaller bills, our the name ‘honeyeater’), but their bills tend to be heavier and fruit-doves, such as shorter than those of hummingbirds and sunbirds, enabling Wompoo, Superb, and Rose-crowned most of them to enjoy fruits as well.

Channel-billed Cuckoo Fruit eating (frugivorous) – toucans, mainly of tropical are fruit-eaters too, as are the Emerald South America Dove, Topknot Pigeon, and Pied (Torres Strait) ImperialPigeon.

Aerial fishing – kingfishers Aerial fishers have long powerful bills that enable safe, fast entry into water. They perch above streams watching for suitable fish, crustaceans or water insects. When suitable prey appears, the kingfisher dives down in a flash of blue, seizes the fish, carries it back to the perch, and swallows it head first. Can you figure out why? Fish slide down easier and more safely head-first – the scales and fin spines point backwards. The bird then returns to its waiting position to watch for more food.

Pied Imperial-Pigeon In TNQ, our Azure and Little Kingfishers are aerial fishers.

Our Volunteers Voice

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exploit food sources - an introduction - Part 2 by Jennifer Muir

Pursuit fishing – cormorants A cormorant’s upper mandible is hooked which helps the bird to hold the prey in its bill until it has reached the surface. Cormorants leap-dive head-first from the water surface and pursue their prey, usually fish. However, they also take crustaceans and molluscs. The prey is swallowed on the surface, then if desired, the bird continues fishing.

In TNQ, our cormorants include the Little Pied and the Little Black, both of which frequent Cairns Centenary Lakes.

Chiseling – woodpeckers Well-known for their drumming on tree trunks and stumps, true woodpeckers use their hard, typically chisel-shaped bills to probe under bark, or drill into wood, to find hidden insects. They also use their bill to excavate large nesting holes. Their work requires fairly large swings of the head as the birds perch vertically on the trunk, so they have strong, wedgeshaped tails that serve as a prop, and their strong, thick-walled skulls are adapted to cope with the impact of pounding the hard Forest Kingfisher surfaces.

Woodpeckers are found in the Americas and Eurasia.

Although there are none in Australia, some of our birds do use similar methods to create their nest. In TNQ, the Forest Kingfisher flies head-on at a termite nest to open up a hole.

The force required is so great that occasionally the impact kills the bird. If it survives this onslaught, it then uses its bill as a pick to dig out the burrow.

Dip netting – pelicans Bills adapted for ‘dip netting’ have a long, straight upper mandible, often with a small hooked end, and a lower mandible adapted to hold a large fold of skin that can be used, like a net, to trap fish or crustaceans in a large gulp of water. The bird drains the water out through the corner of its mouth by pressing bill pouch to breast, and the catch is swallowed.

By working in groups, Australian Pelicans often swim in formation to drive fish into the shallows, dipping their bills simultaneously to trap them. This can sometimes be seen at Cairns Esplanade.

Scavenging – vultures Scavenging birds, such as vultures, are mother nature’s

Wedge-Tailed Eagle

‘volunteer cleaners’. They eat carrion - that is, flesh from dead carcasses of other animals including birds. Their bills are quite large with a pronounced hooked end to assist in pulling flesh off the body. Some vultures have no head feathers at all, or none at the base of the bill. Guess why.

Feathers can become rather gory and difficult to clean because of their feeding methods.

The condors of the Americas are newer members of the vulture family, and older vultures range through Africa, Arabia, Asia, and southern Europe. Vultures never reached Australia, but some of our birds such as Black and Whistling Kites, do scavenge. The Wedge-tailed Eagle often scavenges on road-kills, and White-bellied Sea-Eagle also occasionally eats carrion.

Raptorial – raptors (also known as birds of prey) Birds of prey generally feed on small mammals, other birds, and reptiles. Their powerful, sharply hooked bills pierce prey and hold it, then tear off pieces for swallowing.

Australia has several raptors of varying sizes that take varying-sized prey. The Wedge-tailed Eagle (Australia’s largest bird of prey) is a raptor, as are all the eagles, falcons, kites, goshawks, Pacific Baza, harriers, Osprey, and the White-bellied Sea-Eagle. Some, such as Osprey and the White-bellied Sea-Eagle also take fish.

Owls are also considered to be raptors - the nocturnal equivalent of the usually diurnal (day-active) birds of prey.

Australian Pelican

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Off the beaten track at Cattana Wetlands

By Sharren Wong

When you mention Cattana Wetlands, it conjures up many different pictures in the minds of people, depending on their experience, time in Cairns and interest in this evolving site.

To those who frequent Cattana Wetlands, the main lakes of Jabiru, Cuckoo and KingďŹ sher are usually as far as most people venture.

Early March, Louisa and I walked off the beaten track and found some hidden delights. Where did we go?

Down past Jacana Lake and followed the water/creek/ drainage area, across the old sand dune, through the swamp and back onto the boardwalk. Although we were swamped ourselves with mosquitos, who seem to think Louisa was fantastic food, we managed to prevail.

Jacana Lake

It was wonderful to see how Jacana Lake has evolved and is now looking like a real wetlands with lots of native water plants, reeds and sedges, replacing the invasive Para grass that chokes the open spaces and lakeside at every opportunity. There is still Parra Grass and lots of Singapore Daisy going wild in the drier creek bed but the natural environment is emerging beautifully. We also saw and heard many different types of birds in the majestic mature trees and groves of Melaleucas, on the edges of the waterways and western boundary of the Wetlands.

After the track petered out we decided to head back through the original old forest, a walk that took us through the edge of the most bio-dynamically rich area at Cattana Wetlands, through giant trees and palms, small understory plants, and herbs of the swamp.

Well-prepared with our heavy boots and protective clothing, we managed to cross through the thick growth without being too entangled in the Wait-a-While and sharp leaved Pandanus that protects this area.

Sharren (left) and Louisa (right) exploring the swamp at Cattana Wetlands

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Top: looking through the Melaleucas at the creek leading to Jacana Lake; above: giant Melaleucas in the swamp; top right: pink fungi, Russula sp.; right: enjoying a well-earned rest and refreshments after the ‘trek’!

Once in the swamp a bit of balancing was required and a few well placed jumps, from patches of higher ground across the water, finally led us back on to the boardwalk and out on to the edge of Jabiru Lake.

Next time you are at Cattana Wetlands, walk in another direction and see what you can discover. Remember to take plenty of water, insect repellent and sunscreen. You never know when the conditions can change and being prepared will stand you in good sted to enjoy a walk “off the beaten track”.

Have fun!

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Connecting with Nature Part 1 - Using our Senses

Our Volunteers Voice

Using our senses to connect Due to the feedback and enthusiasm from our volunteers with regarding the Volunteers’ Information Session ‘Connecting with Nature’, presented in March, I will include a regular article in Green Space Our Place newsletter

featuring the many and varied ways to connect and enjoy the environment.

I continue to be inspired by what the tropics provide especially during the lush Wet Season when nature bursts forth with new vitality and growth. After spending even a short time within natural surrounds I once again feel centred and a sense of connection with all that is, as do many of our volunteers.

There are various ways to connect with plants and nature.

It is one of the ways I find joy in life and peace in every day. Sharing this with others I hope to inspire a deeper understanding and connection with the environment.

Not only is nature and its plants essential in sustaining life on earth, I believe they are fundamental in ensuring a healthy natural environment and a healthy mind set for us all, where quality of life can be maintained and improved.

We are interacting with plants on a daily basis; in the bed we sleep, the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the air we breathe - those who suffer from hay fever are all too aware of the affects of plants! See the pollen grains captured under a microscope lens below (compilation from internet source).

We can connect in such simple ways and this is what I will be sharing with you in this feature.

Learning to stop and be still is the first step in achieving connection. Being present and gaining awareness can easily be achieved through the use of our senses; the five well-known senses like vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch and of course our higher senses, such as our intuition which becomes heightened once we connect.

Our senses are an exceptional human element that we can take for granted. Memories are often triggered by a particular scent or sound. Childhood memories of summer often return to my mind when I smell a freshly cut lawn in the first few weeks of summer or the scent of Eucalyptus oil from wet leaves after it has rained, or, here in the tropics the Amorphophallus flower stench like rotten egg gas where in the very early hours of the morning it wafts through my bedroom window because I was silly enough to plant one in my garden! I also love the rich earthy decaying leaves in the wet season. And my favourite: hearing the first cicada hum or the bell call of the Oriole calling in the start of spring.

Using our senses we can begin to feel, see and observe the environment in a different way. How about trying the following: Looking deeply into flowers to see all their intricate parts, such as heliconias with their tiny flowers, see the Heliconia collinsiana’s yellow flowers (pictured right) poking out of the Heliconia collinsiana large brightly coloured red bracts or look closely at the small intricate flowers of bromeliads.

Looking closely at the interaction of insects and birds within the environment and especially with plants. The symbiotic relationship is such an amazing world in which to immerse yourself;

Our Volunteers Voice

with the environment

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Feathered Friends

Olive-backed Sunbird

Feel the warm of the sand between your toes

Looking at the ground to see what you can see. There may be scurring insects, or look for the many colours and shapes of unusual fungi, colours in the leaf litter and fruits of the forest.

Observing what you hear; insects buzzing about the plants, the many, varied bird calls of the tropics (so different to other parts of the world); the squeal of delight from a child discovering nature at first hand.

Taking off your shoes and walking barefoot: on the lawn feel the cool lush grass on the soles of your feet, or stroll along the beach stretching your toes in the warm sand.

Touching plant foliage (ones you know that are safe to do so) and feel the various textures - you may be surprised when a leaf feels like velvet underneath.

Tasting fruits you haven’t tried before – the market is a great place to do this or visit the Sugarworld Botanic Gardens fruit tree orchard which always has something unusual fruiting.

With the art of sitting still and observing with all my senses, I have had some great experiences first hand with nature. May this inspire you to see nature with fresh eyes.

Look closely at the ground to discover a wide range of colours and shapes

One of the Female delights of sitting in the shade of a lush garden in tropical Queensland, apart from the colourful butterflies, is the sight of delicate, bright-yellow Neville Bartlett Olive-backed Sunbirds flitting about among the foliage and flowers.

This small honeyeater-like bird has a distinctive down-curved bill, which it uses to gently pluck invertebrates from the leaves and flowers, and sometimes they even snatch insects caught in spider webs. They also probe deep into flowers to take the sweet nectar, often hovering, hummingbird-style, to do it.

Equally enchanting as seeing the bird is stumbling across its strange, suspended nest, which dangles at the end of a long, thin cord made of grass and fibres. They hang down from a twig in the canopy or from part of a building, such as the eaves, a verandah or clothesline. Sunbirds are often rather confiding while they’re nesting in people’s gardens, allowing quite a close approach if you’re quiet.

Inside the nest, two pale-grey eggs are laid, which the female sunbird incubates. She does most of the work to look after the chicks as well.

The song of the sunbird is a pretty warble, and has been compared to that of a fairy-wren or a canary.

Widespread in the Male woodlands and gardens across much of coastal Queensland, as well as the margins of rainforests and mangroves, sunbirds usually occur within about 25 kilometres of the coast.

They also occur outside (C)Trevor Wood 2011 Australia, in coastal New Guinea and parts of South East Asia.If you have a sunbird in your garden — enjoy!

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Plant Information: Saprophytic Fungi

Our Volunteers Voice

forests would first become impenetrably clogged with Barry Muir fallen timber In the December issue I briefly discussed mycorrhizal fungi – fungi on which our economy depends because all and then the trees would our food crops and timber production require them. die because Another very important group of fungi are the they would saprophytes. run out of soil Saprophytes are major recyclers of nutrients. Fungi nutrients. It has which cause rot and decay are essential for the been estimated maintenance of the balance of nature. that 90% of They convert wood, leaf litter, dead animals, garden the energy in a mulch and other carbon-based materials into food for mature forest A delicate saprophytic fungus, other organisms. They do this by excreting enzymes flows along the Leucocoprinus fragillisimus, and other chemicals which break down the complex decomposition growing on leaf litter molecules of the wood and mulch and convert them pathway and into simpler molecules that can then be absorbed by that only about plants and animals.

10% is directly grazed by animals as living material.

The sheer size and mass of fungal hyphae help decrease There are several groups of fungi which rot or decay plant susceptibility to pests, diseases and drought, woody material. They often have common names based improving soil structure by binding the soil particles on the result on the wood rather than the structure of together. This, in turn, creates the pore spaces in the the actual fungus. Examples are white rot and brown rot. soil that enhance water retention and drainage. Thus, White rots typically digest the hard, dark lignin of the indirectly, saprophytic fungi improve soils and plant wood, leaving the soft, pale-white cellulose behind. health and, in turn, help with disease suppression and Brown cubical rots (and dry rots) digest the cellulose, drought resistance creating healthier and more vigorous leaving behind the brown lignin which eventually dries plants. and cracks in a brick or cubical fashion.

Examples of saprophytes are most of the mushrooms While all of these rots affect dead woody material in the and toadstools, cup fungi, phallic fungi and coral fungi. forest they can also affect posts and wood structures like One of the most important things saprophytes decay steps and floor joists. is wood. Wood When one fungus gets a solid foothold, a different is estimated to fungus may be unable to colonise the wood. In these be about 40cases the wood may not be colonised by other fungi 60 percentage until the pioneer rot has finished utilising those nutrients cellulose and necessary for its growth. Exactly the same processes between 20 and apply to decomposing leaves and garden mulch and also 30 percentage to decaying animal carcases. lignin. Cellulose There are several things you can do to encourage and lignin are saprophytic fungi in your soil. There must be enough carbon-rich food (organic matter) in the soil for the fungi, adequate compounds water and minimal disturbance (tillage) of the soil. that are vital to Tillage has a disastrous effect on fungi as it physically ecological cycles severs the hyphae and breaks up the mycelium. so that this Broad-spectrum fungicides are toxic to a range of fungi carbon be made and their use will result in a decline in the numbers of available to other beneficial types. Herbicides are not generally thought to organisms.

Brown cubical rot in a affect fungi directly, although the removal of some plant veranda post If this decay types (including weeds) may affect the distribution of did not occur, different beneficial fungi.

Recyclers of nutrients

Our Volunteers Voice

Critters in the Gardens - Crickets I’m in the middle of writing a guidebook of the Australian crickets and thought it might be of interest to present a few short articles on crickets that live in the Cairns Botanic Gardens.

Everyone knows what a cricket is but here are a few brief notes in case you were in some doubt on how to separate them from their relatives the grasshoppers and katydids.

Crickets are members of the insect order Orthoptera which also includes grasshoppers and katydids. A few years ago, the Orthoptera was a large order that included cockroaches, mantids, stick insects and a few others. But the present classification accords separate order to these insects.

Crickets can easily be distinguished from grasshoppers and katydids. Crickets have long, filamentous antennae with many more than 10 segments; grasshoppers have very short, rather thickened antennae with about 10 segments.

Separating from katydids is a bit more technical since both of these groups have long antennae. In general, crickets are dorso-ventrally flattened insects; katydids are more cylindrical in their body shape. And with males of the two groups, the left

Page 19

Dr David Rentz AM

A young nymph of the New Guinea Rainforest cricket. It has several more moults to go before becoming an adult. The absence of wing buds indicates this.

The nymphs are more often seen than the adults. They have a distinctive appearance. Male crickets begin their distinctive calling song at sunset. The crickets are easily approached for a photograph. They don’t panic like many other insects. These crickets often show up in kitchens in homes with an ‘open plan’. They have no hesitation in visiting the fruit bowl! But they probably won’t last long in a house without water and relatively high humidity.

Like almost all other crickets, in nature the New Guinea Rainforest cricket feeds on a variety of decaying plant material. I hesitate to call them scavengers, rather they are “opportunists”. They eat pollen, flower petals and other organic material that lands on leaf surfaces they visit. They even consume undigested food in bird and lizard droppings.

Female New Guinea Rainforest cricket abroad a palm But I would not trust them around prized flowering orchids, frond shortly before sunset. Note the needle-like for example! They might just be tempted to have a bite. ovipositor. The female uses this to deposit eggs—just where we do not know.

In general, I would think it would not be necessary to control crickets with pesticides unless they show up in an enclosure forewing of katydids overlaps the right. With crickets the male where their natural predators would be excluded. right wing overlaps the left. But then you may not wish to get Male New Guinea Rainforest cricket. The hind leg that close to a cricket to check! is missing but this affords the opportunity to see the The subject of this article is to highlight a cricket often seen in top pair of wings. Look carefully and you may be the Gardens. The New Guinea Rainforest cricket, Cardiodactylus able to see that the right wing overlaps the left. novaeguineae (Haan), has a rather imposing name, but it is a cricket worth knowing about. As the name suggests this cricket can be found in New Guinea. It occurs along the coast of tropical Queensland in patchy populations to just south of Cairns. It is quite common on some islands such as Green Island and Fitzroy Island.

The New Guinea Rainforest cricket is larger than many crickets, males measure about 20 mm, females larger at 27 mm. They live in coastal thickets margining rainforest. They are somewhat active during the daytime and can be seen on broad-leaf vegetation along the creeks in the Gardens.

What’s On • Bird Walks: John Seale’s free tours are held every Tuesday, leaving the Friends House at 8.30am.

• Friends’ ‘Gardeneers’ Trolley Plant Sales: Wednesday mornings from 9.30am-11.30am outside the Friends House.

• Garden Guided Tours: Monday to Friday leaving from the Friends House at 10am. Contact the Friends House 4032 3900 for further details.

• Friends’ Wednesday Night Gardens Talks: the 2nd Wednesday of the month from 6pm.

• See latest workshops and events on Cairns Botanic Gardens’ and Friends’ websites and Facebook pages.

Friends of the Botanic Gardens, Cairns Membership details email fobg@bigpond.com or telephone 4032 3900.

Newsletter Contributions: Please submit articles (must be volunteer or nature based) by August for the next quarterly publication in September.

Email: l.grandy@cairns.qld.gov.au. Please note articles are subject to editing.

Like us on Facebook to keep up to date with all events: - Green Space Our Place - Cairns Botanic Gardens - Friends of the Botanic Gardens

Interested in Volunteering?

There is something to suit everyone.

• Friends Visitor Guides.

• Public Relations & Shop assistance in the Friends House.

• Tuesdays - Cattana Wetlands Jabirus 9am-noon.

• Wednesdays - Botanic Gardens Down ’n’ Dirty Volunteers 9am-noon.

• Thursdays - Esplanade ‘Sandpipers’ 9am-noon.

• Thursdays - Stratford Nursery 9am-noon.

• Fridays - Saltwater Creek ‘Salties’ 9am-noon.

• Weekends - Botanic Gardens Visitor Enhancement volunteers • Children’s Nature Activities Program - Little Taccas Interested in becoming involved with your local park, reserve or trail in your community? Contact us to register as a Council volunteer and be involved in beautifying your park (enhance planting, weed management, litter clean-up), reporting on issues (graffiti and vandalism, anti-social behaviour, maintenance issues) and building community participation (networking activities) with Council support.

If you are interested in supporting any of our weekly groups or volunteering in your local area contact Volunteers Supervisor Louisa Grandy 4032 6648 or 0429 983 252.