FEBRUARY UPDATE 2025 

It has been an unseasonably hot and dry year throughout the State, and we have felt this in the  Murraylands. Exacerbating the heat and lack of rain has been wind that dries everything out. Whilst this has frustrated our human efforts to re-establish vegetation, regenerate and monitor some species, it is more concerning that it is only February and yet some of the locals 'wombats on Sec 13' are showing some real signs of hunger. They hammer the ground hard, and camera images show some animals in average to poor condition. 

 

Two images of Wombat and Kangaroo damage. -  It is a very dry season.  Locally, the plants and animals appear stressed, and the wombats have been excavating the land by foraging and digging for thread iris bulbs ( weed species). They are turning the landscape into a moonscape

For more information on our wombats, see this link - wombats 

There are some limitations and some frustrations in this climate; however, we have been progressing to meet the deliverables of the Native Vegetation Grant funding and to continue with our aims and objectives.

So, what have we been doing and what is next?

In November, we started to put the hat and coat on the first state of the 2023-2025 Native Vegetation Heritage Grants  ( attached a draft Word document with the updates (No images)

This progress report only captures the Grant funding and in-kind work related to the Grant funding (Fencing and Weeding).

 

1—This focussed on weed control and the engagement of Ecological Restoration Specialists “Irongrass Environmental Rehabilitation Services.” The primary focus for this Native Vegetation Grant funding is managing weed species across the 16:6 Heritage Agreement, especially Weeds of National Significance (WoNS) and Declared state weeds.

Irongrass Environmental Rehabilitation Services. “We were engaged in delivering this, and with Andrew Allanson and Janet Key’s excellent knowledge of ecological restoration, environmental management, and vegetation identification, balanced with their understanding of habitat protection, we are on target to deliver against the grant.

Thus far, they have:  

·         Identified and mapped weeds incursions. (Two primary WoNS)

·         Manage targeted weeds in a way that minimises harm to off-target species.

·         Plan follow-up controls (ongoing monitoring and continuing the grant)

Along with the Contractors' work undertaking weed control, Grant and I have added over 112 hours of in-kind weed control: hand pulling, spraying and digging weeds.

 

 

Two images: 1- Preparing for an attack of Horehound and 2 - Spraying emerging weeds in a rehabilitation area

 

2 - The development of four exclusion areas purpose-built to prevent browsing and grazing by all species.

 

Develop three x 1.4-metre tall 20 x 20 enclosures and one 25 x 50 enclosure, strainer 200 x 2.4 CCA, with reverse rapid stays, fast-lock mesh, and plain wire above. The aim of the areas excluding wildlife browsing is longer-term and will enable us to monitor plant species regeneration, recruitment, and regrowth when not under pressure.   

 

Grant and I are about 50% through rabbit/hare proofing these enclosures now, and there are already some amazing results, with grasses thriving in the areas where larger herbivores have excluded browsing.

Many other tasks have been undertaken over this time. With the final acquittal and closure report, we shall capture these details and costs associated with

1.    Completion of the exclusion Zones to make hare/rabbit proof (fine mesh) 16:6

2.    Costs of web development and associated details

3.    Biological survey work David Armstrong and all details of BSDBSA

4.    Photopoint on 16:6 (which we have started to establish)

5.    Updates on the technological solutions and costs

6.    Training and skill development - networking

7.    Other projects and delivery such as reduction to human impacts and incursions, i.e. closing roads, signage, etc

The report required by the Department for Environment and Heritage was submitted by the due date of the 5^th of January 2025. This week, I have been informed that we met all required reporting outcomes and budgetary obligations, so I have created a new invoice and am awaiting the next stage of grant funding.

On a more personal note, Grant and I have continued working on the shed house, our base of operations, and the bathroom ( last stage), which is nearly complete. Whilst we don’t mind showering under a hose in the open, it will be nice to have a real show indoors, with all water being recycled on site.

Everything created in the house is reused: grey water, food scraps, and the composting toilet. All power and water are collected or generated on-site, and we are happy with that. Besides the shed skin (shell) and a few inside components, we can say that the development inside and out is recycled, hard rubbish, and reused items.

Feral Animal Control

Other activities related to our in-kind include purchasing and laying over 60 Fox Baits over the period, as well as CPE, a type of spring-loaded device purposely designed to bait foxes (a quicker, more lethal death). We loaded a Blog on the Fox Program last year.

1. Grant establishing a CPE site.
2. Ant sand around a CPE to deter the bait from being stolen (by ants)
3. Foxy on a wildlife camera ( multiple cameras have all recorded Foxes this and last year)

Making liver treat bait heads for the Fox control

 

Photopoint and establish additional sites to use digital imagery to note the health of the Environment as it changes depending on seasons and weather conditions.    Use of cameras and remohttps://16-6.org/blog/d2t7yq56yx1p2lgte tools

 

We have established a photo point and an Excel spreadsheet of photo points; we have plans for over 20 per section. To date, we have put in about 45 and have over 400 GPS points of interest.

Tree planting and protection

Tree Planting, protection, and watering have taken up more time. In such a dry year, the planting and making of tree guards may take an hour or so. However, the follow-up watering has been ongoing, with us carting water on weeks when we are in the area. The water can be accessed and collected in an IBC  1000 Litres for $5.00 from Sedan, only a 25-minute drive away.

 

We have planted over 50 natives; however, this year, their survival has been less than desired, even though we have been watering them every 3-4 weeks.

 

Science

 

iNaturalist is an online site for sharing biodiversity information to help each other learn about nature. It's also a crowdsourced species identification system and an organism occurrence recording tool that reports to the Atlas of Living Australia.     INaturalist ( see Blog Feb 2025) species

 

I am currently learning how to use this system and have some ideas about using the maps and reporting tools to create projects, etc. However, I can share more later. 

To date, we have mapped about 300 different species across the HA. The advantage of using this system is that...

 

• Open access: Anyone can access the information on the ALA platform. 
•  Collaborative effort: Data is aggregated from various sources, including academic institutions, scientific communities, environmental organizations, and the general public. 
• Biodiversity focus: The ALA gathers information on all aspects of Australian biodiversity, including species distribution, occurrence records, and taxonomic details. 
•  Research support: Researchers can utilize the ALA data for studies on species distribution, climate change impacts, and conservation priorities. 
•   Managed by CSIRO: The CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) is the lead agency in managing the ALA. It uses and shares biodiversity data to support its business needs.

 

 

 

BDBSA We continue to provide Excel updates and reports to the South Australian Biological database. This is a more formalised process as it becomes the dataset used by the EPA, Landscapes, DEW, PIRSA, and LGAs to refer to before any change of land use or development applications are endorsed. Also, I learned about the format of many grants and environmental impact statements. I present two submissions a year (February and September). Our friend David Armstrong assists us with ID verification as an experienced field Naturalist and BDBSA user. 

 

 

Surveys

 The Peacock Spider -

We have been in contact with a young man named Malcolm Worthing, who has proposed a survey and report to provide base knowledge for landholders and citizen science. He states the species richness, population sizes, and habitat composition (in the report & only available for landholders) of Peacock Spiders inhabiting the 16:6 Heritage Trust site.

This will likely be the first survey contracted by local landholders and conducted within the Murraylands region (and possibly South Australia).

Malcolm is attending 16:6 in March to evaluate and become familiar with the land and proposes to survey in September 2025.

 

 

These stunning coloured spiders are an example of a peacock spider collected from the web. We hope to have our own images and species later this year.

Fun-Guy

We have also been approached by an expert in lichens and Fungi who is keen to attend and walk 16:6 and see what species can be identified (in mid-July). This will be under the guidance of our neighbours Brett and Marie from Ellura Sanctuary. Ellura Sanctuary

 

 

 

Unknown small fungi and the resurrection lichen

 

Bat monitoring      

We like bats. Bats can tell us a lot about the state of the environment, as they are top predators of common nocturnal invertebrates. They are sensitive to changes in land use practices, clearance, chemical sprays, and so on.... So, the presence or lack of some species can inform us of the condition of our lands.

 

An earlier 'MEGA Murray-Darling Microbat Project’ was an initiative of the South Australian Museum in partnership with the former South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board, the University of South Australia and local Landcare Associations through funding from the Australian Government’s Inspiring Australia – Science Engagement Programme.

It was a successful program, and springboarding from that, the Mid-Murray Landscape Board has rolled out another community-based bat monitoring program.

 

We were involved from November to December and established three Bat monitoring sites using equipment provided by Landscapes.

We borrowed acoustic recorders late last year to record bat calls at a few suitable locations. We are awaiting a skilled landscapes project person to analyse bat call sonograms to identify the species calling in the recording and enter the data on the website. We also hope that we can assist the program further by learning how to do the call analysis.

 

A bat detector was established at one of four sites 1cross 16;6 in December 2024 ...and the second image is a Goulds Chocolate Wattle Bat July 2024 

 

Another note is that Grant and I have undertaken a walking transect of about 20 acres of the 180 acres of HA Section 13 Currawong ( the base site), and we have GPS 423 Maireana Rohrlachii plants. A rare plant of which there were no records on our land before purchase. This alone is quite a feat, as when we sought approval to build the shed, we had a $2,000 environmental fee to pay due to the presence of one of these rare plants. Now we are familiar with them and have gained skills to spot one at a gallop; we will be uploading this information and sharing it more widely.

 

One of the rare Maireana plants in a tree guard to protect from browsers.

 

Best news

 Let's sign off with some fab news – we have a Baby Mallee Fowl...

 

A hatchling, Mallee Fowl—Note that this image is for an image. We have footage of the hatchling on a camera; however, we do not own the footage and cannot show it.

 

Last year, we caught a younger subadult, mallee Fowl, on a remote camera..... so we know from that and the presence of shell pieces at the mounds that we are having some successful hatchings. However, the mortality rate amongst the young is high. Even with our constant Fox baiting program, we have never seen a young hatchling or caught one emerging from the nest on camera..

SO... Imagine our cheers as one of our wee tackers hatched from the big mound on 226 was caught on camera last week. We don’t have footage ( although we have now set up a solar-powered ongoing video camera on site), but our neighbour, who baits foxes for us and walks all over our place, has captured a video of the little one with an adult. He has asked that we don’t share the video, but we can verify that even though at a distance and Grainy  - it is indeed a baby Mallee Fowl. Interestingly, he has been watching it, and it is with an adult bird, following it and eating with it, which flies in the face of scientific literature, which states that the birds are superprecocial - meaning that they hatch and are independent of them - no contact, protection or teaching by the parent birds.

Our observations, cameras, and his ongoing monitoring of them have thrown us a few morsels of information inconsistent with the scientific records. Scientists often record from one point of proof, a camera or a tracking device, whereas living on-site and watching can tell a different story.

From Us now to you all. Cheers