Meet the land mullet (Bellatorias major), the largest skink in Australia, and among the largest skinks in the world. Photo: Peter Vaughan, 27 November, 2023
Conservation area is a safety zone
“The latest from my bush regeneration block,” writes Peter Vaughan, on the Lake Mac Backyards for Wildlife Facebook page. “A land mullet.”
“He has dug himself a burrow. I didn’t know they dug burrows but I can see soil at the entrance – between the tree roots – so he has dug it.”
This conservation area to the north east, is effectively a part of Munibung Hill. If it wasn’t separated from the north eastern slopes by Macquarie Road, it would provide more connectivity across a greater range for native species.
Could it be that there are land mullet at other localities on Munibung Hill? Keep an eye peeled out for them and let us know if you spot one.
Check for more Peter Vaughan posts on the Backyards for Wildlife site, including the Brown Gerygone nest (below left) and a Phasmid (below right) – similar to this one posted by Lachlan Harbury. The Gerygone mouki was previously known as the Brown warbler.
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Leave logs for frogs and …
The logs at Munibung Hill are vital parts of the diversity that, added together, makes up the total ecological matrix.
FROGS NEED WATER. Healthy dams, waterways, wetlands and ponds are important breeding sites for some frogs. However, a characteristic of most Australian frogs is their tendency to lay their eggs in ephemeral pools, but they don’t live in water.
After tadpoles turn into fogs, most leave the water and live almost everywhere, provided there’s suitable habitat. Frogs are extremely sensitive to drying out. To prevent this, several species bury themselves in the ground, others hide in rock piles, under bark or at the base of rushes or sedges. The high moisture content of some logs makes them especially good as habitat and as vital refuges during and after hot spells.
Not only frogs need logs. They can provide microhabitats for fungi, mosses, lichens, shelter for insects and hiding places for skinks. Crevices and hollows make safe homes for all manner of animals. Logs, fallen branches, leaf litter and other ground cover are vital components of a healthy ecosystem.
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, applies to Munibung Hill, just as it does in every other landscape, including our backyards.
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The obligation to protect hollows should be mandatory everywhere
UNDER THE Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (CIFOA), the state-owned timber corporation responsible for managing more than 2 million hectares of public land is required to retain any hollow-bearing trees during harvesting operations.
James Tugwell in: Forestry Corporation NSW sentenced for felling hollow-bearing trees in Mogo State Forest (ABC South East NSW, 22 December 2023) reports that:
A hollow-bearing tree is any tree with a small cavity on the trunk or branches. They form naturally through cracks caused by weather events such as wind or lightning or through internal decay. Such hollows typically form in trees more than 150 years old.
Hollow bearing trees are protected in NSW legislation because they take so long to form, and more than 300 Australian native species rely on them for shelter.
In his judgement, Magistrate Dick said FCNSW had an obligation to ensure any tree that appeared to possibly contain a hollow was further scrutinised for confirmation. With so many trees being cleared or removed from urban locations, the ruling that has applied in this instance needs to be mandatory everywhere.
The regeneration of trees at Munibung Hill will need to continue for many years into the future and these trees will need to be allowed to age and mature sufficiently for hollows to form.
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Here for feeding and the summer break
The White-throated Needletail is the fastest-flying bird in flapping flight.
Not here for breeding, they are here for feeding. These migrants to Australia have flown in from their breeding grounds in the northern hemisphere. To be more specific, central Asia and southern Siberia, arriving in October each year and leaving between May and August. They are on the threatened species list for Munibung Hill.
Capable of speeds up to 170 km/h (105mph), the long curved wings and short square tail, shows just how well they are built for long distance travel. This large swift is white underneath and grey brown above, glossed with green. The wings are long and pointed.
An aerial bird. For a time it was commonly believed that they did not land while in Australia. It has now been observed that birds will roost in trees, and radio-tracking has since confirmed that this is a regular activity. Keep an eye peeled, you might be lucky.
The White-throated Needletail feeds on flying insects, such as termites, ants, beetles and flies. It catches the insects in flight in their wide beaks. Birds usually feed in rising thermal currents and they are commonly seen moving with wind fronts. While feeding, it protects its eyes with a special membrane and a small ridge of feathers.
Source: Australian Museum
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World’s fastest parrot visits Munibung Hill
The critically endangered Swift Parrot has been voted bird of the year.
Lisa Cox in: Swift parrot named 2023 Australian bird of the year winner (The Guardian, 6 October 2023) reports that, the endangered parrot narrowly pipped the tawny frogmouth, runner-up for the third time in the biennial Guardian/BirdLife Australia poll.
“Of all the threats that individual species face, the common denominator comes down to habitat destruction and degradation,” says BirdLife Australia’s Sean Dooley.
The swift parrot is a migratory species with its breeding habitat in Tasmania being logged and its feeding habitat on the mainland being destroyed by clearing. It makes areas like Munibung Hill important as part of the Swift Parrot’s complex habitat mix.
There is the potential to strengthen connectivity values,
enhance habitat values and protect threatened species known from Munibung Hill including the critically endangered Swift Parrot.
(Extract from page 24 the Management Plan for Munibung Hill)
Australia has a biodiversity crisis and Sean Dooley says the swift parrot’s story was one of the worst examples of it.
“In a field of abject despair, it’s the most distressing case of all because it’s within our powers to fix it and we refuse to,” he said. “I hope the government hears this message. People really care about these beautiful birds. They care about what happens to them.”
“If we had nature laws that address that one issue – habitat destruction and degradation – our birds would have a much brighter future than they’re currently facing.”
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It all starts with vision, seed and some TLC
WHEN YOU ARE IN the bush regeneration* business, it is important to propagate from locally sourced seed to maintain the natural integrity of an area and to maximise the chance of seedling survival once in the ground.
Craig and Wendy Patrick have been working on degraded areas at the southern end of Munibung Hill for over 20 years. Weed removal often results in bare areas which will be slow to regenerate naturally. Planting of appropriate species can accelerate the recovery process and create a more diverse habitat for other wildlife.
With over 8000 native species already planted over the years, mainly sourced from Landcare but some which Craig has raised himself, these new seedlings will increase diversity over a larger area.
*bush regeneration: ’The practice of restoring bushland by focusing on reinstating and reinforcing the system’s ongoing natural regeneration processes’.
MMM Issue 42, February-March 2024