News
Land for Wildlife Members Devise Ingenious Use for Buffel Grass
Land for Wildlife members on the far side of Roe Creek have devised a brilliant way of putting removed Buffel Grass to good use – build a bridge! As Roe Creek has been flowing quite well in recent months, the sand has softened and is proving to be something of a barrier to 2WD visits to their
Fire Season Approaches with the Cooler Weather
By now we are all fully aware of the extraordinary rainfall that The Centre has experienced this year. Along with this, the undergrowth has thickened up and is now beginning to dry out. All of this has firefighters up and down the territory bracing for a record year of fires, particularly here in The Centre.
Mexican Poppy Update
After our posting on this subject in February, Mexican Poppy’s have again reared their ugly heads in Alice Springs, this time in Laura Creek, south of Pine Gap. After rain at the beginning of April, germinating poppies were located by Land for Wildlife member Rod Cramer. The Mexican Poppy (Argemone ochroleuca) is a native of
Dog Trapping to Start Soon…
Land for Wildlife’s threat mitigation project for the Black-footed Rock Wallaby is set to start on four properties over the next few weeks. Funded by a Territory NRM Local Action Grant, the project is primarily aimed at removing feral dogs from potential wallaby habitat in the hope that the little wallabies can spread out and have
Ooldea Dunnart found on Land for Wildlife Property in Alice Springs
The large population of house mice currently in Alice Springs has been well documented of late, with supermarkets and hardware stores doing a roaring trade in mouse traps. I’ve seen several different models for sale lately, as well as hearing stories of home made devices that work just as well. All these different inventions have one thing
Fear Not! It’s a Plague Rat, not a rat plague.
Media coverage has been all over the supposed rat plague besieging Alice Springs this week. This is all very exciting but has twisted the story a bit and missed the most interesting parts. Firstly, these are not feral rats, but native rats. Feral rats are very rarely recorded in Alice Springs and are usually the
Ironwood Germination – A Once in a Lifetime Event
Ironwood (Acacia estrophiolata) is a common tree of rural blocks in Alice Springs, and many large, remnant trees also exist in urban parks and even backyards in the town. These trees are very slow growing, with large individuals perhaps reaching an age of several hundred years. They also require very specific climatic conditions for the
Tangentyerre Nursery Open Day serves up a wealth of opportunities
Tangentyerre Nursery held their open day on Saturday and Alice Springs turned on a beautiful March morning for the event. Jesse and I were there early to set up the Land for Wildlife/Garden for Wildlife stall and to be honest, there is nowhere else I would have rather been. A big family of Variegated Fairy-wrens
Wildcare Alice Springs plans to reduce the impact of discarded aluminium cans as a long-term killer of wildlife
This is a sad, but all too common story. Aluminium cans seem to have a unique ability to become death-traps for curious wildlife. The aluminium can featured in this picture is so old and faded that the branding is barely visible. A discarded aluminium can may sit in the landscape for decades before claiming a victim
Congratulations LfW members – we’re all part of the solution
This fantastic short film has appeared on Youtube.com with Professor Harry Recher discussing his fears for the future of Australia’s small bird populations. The good news is that all of the positive steps mentioned are encapsulated in the values and actions exhibited by Land for Wildlife members in their conservation efforts on their properties. Watch this
Extraordinary wet continues…
So we didn’t quite cap the record rainfall of 1974 last year but we came very close. Back in ’74 we had 782.5mm recorded for the calendar year. In 2010 we came in at 769.6mm – so close. However, it is instructive to look at the bigger picture. With rainfall stats just out for February
Peach-faced Lovebirds – the next bird pest for Alice?
Could this be the next avian invader for Alice Springs? The Peach-faced Lovebird, a popular and very attractive pet bird, is native to arid parts of the south-west of Africa around Namibia. It is a hollow nesting species and we are right in the middle of their breeding season now. There is a small flock
Succinea Snails at Ilparpa Swamp
Thanks to Red Centre malacologist Mark Carter who was happy to identify this as Succinea for us – no snails needed to be harmed. Commonly known as Amber Snails, the entire genus are air-breathing land snails.This little beauty was found down at Ilparpa Swamp during some routine water sampling. There are many species withing the Succinea
Rabbit Scan Website
G’day folks, here is a great way that you can contribute to citizen science and help with the eradication of one of the worst feral threats in the country. Feralscan.org.au have just got the rabbit scan part of their project up and running. This is a website where you can register and start recording your
Bananas From a Horse Paddock!
Last week, Land for Wildlife coordinators went to assess a new property for membership. The property, in the racecourse/winery rural area, had some nice specimens of remnant Ironwood and Fork-leaved Corkwood trees. A portion of the property, however, had been used for horse grazing in the past and showed signs of its grazing history, with
Feral Dove Trapping Workshop
The Feral Spotted Turtle-dove trapping workshop today has been a great success with lots of new traps out there ready to catch some ferals. We had a big turnout with around 20 people showing up to learn about the program and find out about trapping feral doves on their property. We had lots of kids
Noogoora Burr in The Red Centre.
Noogoora Burra has been discovered in Trephina Gorge to the east of Alice Springs. Just another reason to be vigilant that no river sand is brought onto your property and if you have riverine habitat on your property this is another one to be on the lookout for.This is an invasive weed from the Americas
Mexican Poppy – be on the alert!
We have had word from some property owners that these invasive weeds are turning up unexpectedly. Often the culprit is river sand. You’ll need to be careful if you’re doing construction work around your home, or if you employ someone else to do it, that river sand is not used as a convenient building product
Mexican Poppy – BEWARE OF RIVER SAND!!!
G’day folks, This is a note to remind you that you need to be extra vigilant that you don’t bring river sand onto Land for Wildlife properties. Often river sand seems like a convenient option for construction projects – mainly for concreting – but it is a common way to inadvertently transport invasive weeds onto
A Central Australian Christmas story from Dave and Bess Nungarrayi Price
All text & images are by Dave and Bess Nungarrayi Price and are reproduced here by kind permission.