Great Barred Frog at Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve

Recently some local wildlife experts did a night-time spotlight at the Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve. Among the animals they saw, they spotted this Great Barred Frog (Mixophyes fasciolatus) on the nature trail.  This very large, long-legged frog is usually found in upland or lowland rainforest's near running streams, so it was a surprise to see it at the Rogers Reserve as there isn't a water source within the reserve. During the day it digs down into the leaf litter and soil to conceal itself.  At night it emerges to hunt for invertebrates amongst leaf littler or stream edges.

Great Barred Frog (Mixophyes fasciolatus)at Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, Highfields.

Females lick their large fertilised eggs into the leaf littler.  This species cannot tolerate forest clearing and is often found in protected habitats like national parks.  It is wonderful to see that is living successfully in the Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve at Highfields.

Similar looking species to the Great Barred Frog, are the Giant Barred Frog (Mixophyes iteratus) which is classed as Endangered in QLD and NSW and the Fleay's Barred Frog (Mixophyes fleayi) Endangered Species in NSW and Qld also.

J.G.

(Information Source: Australian Frogs by Lynne Adcock & Ian Morris) and the Australian Government Biodiversity Species Profile & Threats Database 2014)

Saltbush at Rogers Bushland Reserve Highfields

This beautiful tiny plant (Einadia hastata)  has a variety of common names including Saloop, Saltbush and Berry Saltbush.  Thankfully we have a positive identification of it's scientific name thanks to Trish Gardner.  This beautiful plant is a small native herb that is an important butterfly host plant for caterpillars of the Saltbush Blue Butterfly. The Saltbush has tiny green flowers during December to February and small bright red fruits throughout the year.  This plant which is found in a variety of areas throughout the Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland reserve, could easily be missed or stood on due to it's small size, however glimpses of red from the fruits and the leaves do catch your eye if you are on the look-out for it.  There a number of these Saltbush Plants growing at the front entrance of the bushland reserve on Community Court. 

J.G. 

(Information Source: Trish Gardner; Wild Plants of Greater Brisbane & Mangroves to Mountains Field Guide to Native Plants of South-East Queensland)

Saloop Saltbush (Einadia hastata) at Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, Highfields.

The dark green leaves of the Saltbush  (Einadia hastata) turn red before falling.

Showcasing how small the fruits of the Saloop Saltbush are at the Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve 16/05/14.

Magnificent Red Olive Plum at Highfields 16/05/14

The Red Olive Plum (australe var.australe) is a small tree which grows to 8 m high.  Its small pale green flowers can be seen from August - November.  The Fruit which is orange/red in colour is ripe from March to July.  The Red Olive Plum is a native Australian tree which is found in Qld and NSW often in drier rainforest areas such as the Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve at Highfields. 

This same tree was photographed at the Rogers Reserve earlier in the year in March and still has just as much fruit on it now in May as it did then. (see previous post here).

J.G.

(Information Source:  Mangroves to Mountains Field Guide to Native Plants of South-East Queensland and Wild Plants of Greater Brisbane)

Red Olive Plum (australe var.australe) 16th May 2014 at Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, Highfields.

The nature trail and forest floor around the vicinity of the Red Olive Plum is covered in its bright orange fruit.

Red Olive Plum Fruit at Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve Highfields 16/05/2014.

Small-flowered Raspberry in Flower at Rogers Reserve 16/05/15

While removing weeds at the Friends of Rogers Reserve working bee today, we saw this beautiful little plant in flower.  On calling Trish Gardner over to identify it, she informed us that it was a Small-flowered Raspberry (Rubus parvifolius).  Also known as "Native Raspberry", this little fruiting plant is a Native Australian species.   We were lucky to see this plant in flower at this time of year and will keep an eye out for the raspberry fruits.
Trish has written a great article previously on this lovely plant which you can read here:  Small-flowered Raspberry Toowoomba Plants

J.G.

Small-flowered Raspberry (Rubus parvifolius) at the Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve 16/05/15

Small-flowered Raspberry Plant (Rubus parvifolius)

Weeding Working Bee at Rogers Reserve 16/05/14

An environmental weed working bee was performed today at the Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve at Highfields by 10 members of the Friends of Rogers Reserve group.

Weed identification training and the correct removal processes were taught by Greg Lukes from Friends of the Escarpment Parks Toowoomba and Trish Gardner from Friends of Franke Scrub.

While the Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve has a relatively low weed content, some common environmental weeds were identified and removed from the front perimeter and walking track edges of the bushland reserve.  Greg recommended using a plastic bin or a large bucket to collect weeds and seeds for disposal instead of bags, which tend to disturb and possibly spread seeds in the bush.

While identifying and removing some weeds in the reserve today, many small native plant species were also identified emerging from the forest floor.  Discussion was made about the purchase of tree bags and stakes to protect some of these small native species which are growing close to the footpath areas.

Some of the weeds removed today included Pavonia, Moth Vine, Ground Asparagus, Cobblers Pegs and Paspalum grass.

The Friends of Rogers Reserve Group will meet again at the Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve entrance on Community court at 9.00am, on Friday the 20th June.  To have your name added to an email send-out please send us an email at rogersreserve {at} yahoo {dot} com {dot} au  (remove spaces and change bracketed words to punctuation symbols).

Thank you to everyone who attended today and to Greg and Trish for sharing their wealth of experience and knowledge with the group.

Environmental Weed ~ Pavonia (Pavonia hastata) is a woody herb that grows to 1.5m tall.  The Pavonia flowers in Summer and is a pink hibiscus like flower 2.4cm across.  Ongoing management and correct removal is vital as seeds have long viability n the soil.

Pavonia (Pavonia hastata) leaves are distinctively arrow to oval shape.

  

Large Pavonia Weed before it was removed

Greg removing the large Pavonia with his well designed weed removal shovel.

Kathleen digging out a large Pavonia

Trish explaining the need of wearing gloves to protect one's skin, when removing the Environmental Weed ~White Moth Vine (Araujia sericifera) due to the white sap that emerges from the weed when it is damaged.  Moth Fine is also known as "False Choko", it flowers in summer with the distinctively choko shaped fruit in Autumn.  The white moth vine smothers native plants.

Trish explains the importance of removing the crown from below the ground of the Environmental Weed ~ Ground Asparagus (Asparagus aethiopicus cv. Sprengeri).  Interestingly the watery tubers of the asparagus do not regrow.  Ground Asparagus aka Basket Asparagus is an invasive weed in woodland and rainforest areas. It should be discouraged as an ornamental garden plant as birds spread its seeds into bushland.

ENVIRONMENTAL WEED IDENTIFICATION RESOURCES:

Environmental Weeds of the Toowoomba Region is a fantastic resource produced by the Friends of the Escarpment Parks Toowomba and Toowoomba Regional Council.  The photos in this publication are clear and show the weed close up as well as the full plant, with  full descriptions and ongoing management options.  You an access the book online on the FEP website here:  http://www.fep.org.au/fep-weedbook.php

Weeds of Southern Queensland is published by The Weed Society of Queensland inc.  There is now an app for phones and tablets available based on this book. The app is called WSQ Weeds of SQ and can be purchased for $1.99.  View more information about it here: http://www.wsq.org.au/WSQ%20app.htm 

The Weed Book by Mark A. Wolff  has easy identification of common garden weeds.  The book  includes an identification guide with colour photographs (which are somewhat poor quality) but with detailed descriptions.  More information about purchasing this book an be found here: http://www.booktopia.com.au/the-weed-book-mark-a-wolff/prod9781877069932.html