Friends of Fotheringham

Great example of the benefits of adding your observations to the iNaturalist app. This is for Sydney, but there are many projects in Victoria you can join too. Scientists use observation data from iNaturalist to determine distribution.

The invasive pest being mistaken for beloved Christmas beetles The famous Christmas beetle usually comes out in force at this time of year, but one scientist is noticing a surge in sightings of another not-so-welcome bug.

You would have seen the large Blackwoods (the large wattle trees with creamy white puffs of flowers and broad phyllodes (leaves) that look like normal leaves). But did you know that when they are young, they have the 'frilly' little bipinnate leaves as well, both on the same plant?! The Black Wattles and Silver Wattles have these bipinnate leaves as adults, but Blackwoods only have them when they are young, and then grow out of them.

Here is an example of a young Blackwood with both types of leaf on the same plant, taken last week along the bike path north of the reserve. And to refresh your memory, I've also included some pics of adult Blackwoods (with broad phyllodes) and adult Black Wattles (with frilly bipinnate leaves) so you can tell the difference.

And if you want even more reasons to get outside in Spring, check out the cool events happening around the Dandenong area. First one is this Sunday 3 Sept at Alex Wilkie.

Environmental Events Find out about environmental and sustainability themed events happening in Greater Dandenong.

Another tip for the Biodiversity Blitz, or for identifying plants or animals in general, is to take good close-up photos.

For plants, you might need to take a photo of both sides of the leaf, or of how the leaf is arranged on the stem (such as spiral or opposite or alternate leaves, or buds or thorns present).

Try to make sure you have the photo in focus, but if you don't get it right, upload it anyway. There are some amazing experts out there who can figure things out even from bad photos.

Two of the most common wattles we have in our area are Black Wattle (Acacia mearnsii) and Silver Wattle (Acacia dealbata), which look very similar, and are generally only distinguished by the arrangement of the pores down the midrib of the leaf.

Check out these photos on iNat, showing the even spacing of the pores on the Silver Wattle (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/39691473), and the
uneven spacing of the pores on the Black Wattle (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/62990132).

Excited for the first official day of Spring! Time to get out and enjoy some sunshine, exercise, and nature!

If you need an extra incentive to get outside, why not join the Biodiversity Blitz? It's pretty easy to take pics of plants and animals in your local area and upload them to the iNaturalist app.

- The app will use the date and location information in your phone to record the sighting, and experts can help you identify it if you're not sure what you took a photo of.
- If you take a photo at your home, it's best to mark your location as Obscured so people can't figure out where you live.
- And if the plant or animal is not wild, you should mark it as Captive/Cultivated.

If you want your photos to be counted towards your local council's competition, you will also need to register as part of their group project in the app. Check out the instructions on this page:

Biodiversity Blitz 2023 Help build a resilient future for our City by getting outdoors and documenting biodiversity within Greater Dandenong during Biodiversity Month.

Great turnout for the planting day! About 20 people turned up to help plant grasses along the revegetation area.

Native grasses are an important part of the undergrowth in this ecosystem, to stabilise the soil and provide food for insects and birds, among other things. We planted mostly Microlaena (Weeping Grass) and Themeda triandra (Kangaroo Grass).

Some of the cool things you can find In Fotheringham at the moment - Kangaroo Apple is fruiting, Blackwoods (the wattles with wide leaves) have lots of curly seed pods, there are beautiful lace-veined leaves along the paths (decomposed eucalyptus leaves), and we saw a huge bracket fungi halfway up a tree. What have you seen lately?

Council workers marked out which areas needed weeding before the planting day so that the weeds don’t encroach too much on the new plants, and which saplings to remove to give the other trees room to grow properly.

These trees would usually grow much further apart, and when they grow close together, they become weaker and susceptible to falling over on the path. It’s good to thin them out to wider spacings while they’re still young, and allow undergrowth and bushes to grow as well, not just trees.

Had a great time at the working bee today. We did some hand-weeding and clearing some saplings in preparation for a planting day in a couple of weeks.

Blackwoods can survive a landslide?! There is a lot more to learn about this magnificent wattle.

Get to know blackwood better: a magnificent timber and a tough, towering wattle that can survive landslides