November News & Update

Hi everyone Just thought I would keep you all abreast of the latest happenings.

1. Last week young Jan Clogan, Geoff and myself undertook a bird survey at our plantings in the wetland area of Regatta Waters Park. Every time we sample we record from 34 – 37 different species and this time the score was in the upper limit.

There were numerous birds seen (something in the order of 200), whether in trees, on the ground or simply flying over. It was a great time and I greatly enjoyed the outing. At the end of the trip we came across the concrete foot crossing and there were two eels awaiting rain in a very shallow pool. Normally eels will travel over land to a fresh pool of water however these two had obviously not read the rule book: both perished. This was a shame because eels are vital to the health of any waterway.

2. Last Saturday Kim, Helen and myself hosted the CRCA table at the Upper Coomera Community Centre at a NAMU organised Naturally GC event aimed directly at educating families with children.

As part of our display we had the WQM equipment, a display of common plants used across our plantings at Regatta Waters Park, and also a macroinvertebrate sample from Guanaba and Wongawallan Creeks.

It was a great morning with many people through and lots of meaningful exchanges with members of the public. I was fascinated by the experience of one fellow who described how a 4.5m tiger shark had taken a young dugong from between its parents in the shallows of the Broadwater (serves as a good reminder not to swim unless it is absolutely safe to do so). This was a real tragedy because there is thought to be only about 10 dugong across the Broadwater/Southern Moreton Bay waters.

Many thanks to Kim and Helen for their invaluable assistance, and for being willing to acquire new skills at short notice.

In the future there will be more such days organised by NAMU if anyone out there wishes to be involved.

Take care and tread lightly but confidently across our shared wild spaces. Kind regards Steven Gill