White-headed Pigeons witnessed at Rogers Reserve

5th May 2016

WHITE-HEADED PIGEONS AT ROGERS RESERVE

Three native White-Headed Pigeons (Columba leucomela) were witnessed at the Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve on the afternoon of Thursday 5th May 2016.  The sirens of the bush, the Noisy Miners alerted us to their location, high in the gum trees on the north eastern side of the reserve. It wasn't long before the pigeons moved onto thicker trees on the western side, albeit with the noisy miners in tow.  Unfortunately no photographs were taken due to their quick retreat and high habitat location.

This is a new bird record for the wildlife list at the reserve and has been added to Eremaea eBird data mapping.

Further information about the White-headed Pigeon can be found here.

J.G

Environmental Weed Removal by Volunteers

Over the last few years that the Friends of Rogers Reserve Group has been active, the weeds that were present at the Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve have been markedly reduced thanks to the groups efforts and that of the Green Army.

Friends of Rogers Reserve Group member, Greg Lukes has been leading the way in environmental weed eradication at the reserve and has been sharing his knowledge on the most effective ways to manage these pests.

For those interested in finding out more, or learning onsite, you can attend a Friends of Rogers Reserve Group Weeding Working Bee onsite each, 3rd Friday of the month at 9am.

Greg and the team have been working hard to target areas containing weed species that we know spread quickly if left to do their own thing.

High priority species include:

• Mossman River Grass (any spiky seeds need to be carefully removed into bin) (check clothing regularly for hitch hiker seeds)
• Cobblers pegs (especially along the main track, approach tracks and entrances to avoid the being spread by visitors) (all plant, flowers and any spiky seeds need to be removed into bin) (check clothing regularly for hitch hiker seeds)
• Paspalum grass (any seeds need to be removed into bin) (check clothing regularly for hitch hiker seeds)Tall fleabane (seed heads need to be removed into bin)
• Pavonia (any seed pods need to be removed into bin) (each seed pod contains 5 seeds that are likely to germinate if left on the ground)
• White Moth vine (any seed pods need to be removed into bin)
• Climbing asparagus (any seeds need to be removed into bin)
• Basket fern (any seeds need to be removed into bin)
• Wandering Jew (1 patch along O'Brien Road near the Clarke Road intersection) (may require raking)
• Spinyhead Sida Sida acuta (any seeds need to be removed into bin)
• African love grass (mainly along Polzin Road) (any seeds need to be removed into bin)etc.

Other slower spreading weeds include:

• Lantana (good target weed for younger more energetic volunteers) (once the roots are removed from the soil, plant material and any seeds can be left on the ground) (to germinate, the seeds would need to go through a bird gut)
• Creeping Lantana Lantana montevidensis (May need raking or spraying)
• Easter Cassia (any seed pods need to be removed into bin)
• Privet (once the roots are removed from the soil, plant material and any seeds can be left on the ground) (to germinate, the seeds would need to go through a bird gut)
• CeltisPalm trees (council to cut down) (1.5m lengths could provide good seating logs at intervals along the main track) (Seeds to be collected by volunteers if required.)
• Tree pear etc

Thanks to Greg for co-ordinating these events and for caring so much for the dry rainforest bushland in suburban Highfields.

J.G.

Clean Up Australia Day 2016

6th March 2016

CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY 2016 at CHARLES & MOTEE ROGERS BUSHLAND RESERVE, HIGHFIELDS

This Clean Up Australia Day was the third annual event to be organized by the Friends of Rogers Reserve, and proved to be another successful morning, with some lovely volunteers coming to help out.

This year (again) saw markedly less  rubbish collected, with only 1 1/2 full bags in total, which is a fantastic result.

It was disappointing for our volunteers to have to pick up numerous bags of doggy poop that have been thrown into the reserve.  It seems that walkers take the time and effort to pick up their dogs droppings on their walks, then throw the bags of poop into the reserve!

McDonalds cups, plastic straws and aluminium cans again made up the majority of the rubbish. In particular a lot of rubbish is washed down into the reserve on the Rogers Drive side, from a street drain. All aluminium cans were sorted for recycling.

Thank you to everyone who came and supported this important community event and took some time out of their busy lives to care for our inner bushland reserve.

Judi Gray

Some of the hard working volunteers at Clean Up Australia Day 2016 - Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, Highfields

Large amounts of rubbish wash into the reserve from this street drain that comes from road gutters near the shopping centre.

McDonalds packaging was again one of the most commonly found rubbish items in the clean up.

The top of an air-horn was this year's unusual find at clean-up Australia Day.

The finished result of the 2016 Clean Up Australia Day volunteer working bee at Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, Highfields - only 1 1/2 bags!!  Fantastic result.

The Chronicle features Rogers Reserve's Clean Up

9th February 2016

The Toowoomba Chronicle featured the Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve's planned third annual Clean Up Australia Day Event in an effort to promote the community clean up day.

At the time that I was contacted, the Highfields Clean-up site of Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, was the only registered event in the Toowoomba Region, and so the paper wanted to do a story about it.  It was great that they took interested in this important event and promoted it to gain further volunteers and encourage other sites to register.

Thank you also to Toowoomba Life Newspaper for picking up the article and also running a small story about it.

J.G.

The Chronicle Clean Up Australia Day 2016 Article  featuring Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve and organizer Judi Gray

Wildlife of Rogers Reserve at Night

30th January 2016

WILDILE OF CHARLES & MOTEE ROGERS BUSHLAND RESERVE AT NIGHT

A night time walk at Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, Highfields, during light rain showers proved very exciting, with plenty of wildlife around to see.  We only walked through one section of the reserve and were thrilled with the number of native animals we saw, and the lack of feral species. There were many highlights including two Sugar Gliders coming out of a tree hollow and racing around the tree trunk and one other perched in a wattle tree (see photo below).  A stunning Southern Boobook Owl perched in a low branch of a Wattle tree posed for us so we could take a few photos - it is not common to get such a good look at these secretive birds.  We also saw the largest Scarlet-sided Pobblebonk frog that we have ever seen!  We took photos of it and then took some of my hand near it to show the sheer bulk of this gorgeous old frog.  We saw two other of the same species but they weren't anywhere near as large as this fellow.

 List is as follows:

• Scarlet-sided Pobblebonk Frogs (Limnodynastes terraereginae) x 3
• Sugar Gliders (Petaurus breviceps) x 3
• Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecular) x 2
• Tawny Frogmouth ((Podargus strigoides) x 1
• Southern Boobook Owl (Ninox boobook) x 1
• Sulphur-crested Cockotoo x 1
• Plenty of Orb-weaving Spiders

B & J Gray.

Scarlet-sided Pobblebonk Frog (Limnodynastes terraereginae) at Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, Highfields 30th January 2016

 

Scarlet-sided Pobblebonk Frog (Limnodynastes terraereginae) at Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, Highfields 30th January 2016

 

Scarlet-sided Pobblebonk Frog (Limnodynastes terraereginae) size next to my hand, iphone photo taken at Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, Highfields 30th January 2016

 

Scarlet-sided Pobblebonk Frog (Limnodynastes terraereginae) at Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, Highfields 30th January 2016

 

Southern Boobook Owl (Ninox boobook) at Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve,
Highfields 30th January 2016

 

Sugar Glider (Petaurus breviceps) (one of three seen) at Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, Highfields, 30th January 2016

 

Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecular) at Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, Highfields 30th January 2016

 

This iphone photo has captured some of the rain drops during our walk - they look pretty cool plus the Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecular) in the background at Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, Highfields 30th January 2016

 

 

Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) at Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, 30th January 2016

Orb Weaver Spider at Charles & Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, Highfields 30th January 2016