Freya's Gum Nuts

First some for Jessica

Then some for Joan

Sometimes, while doing bushcare work in Inala a story unfolds.  On this day the Inala Kev Hooper Park bushcare group had already completed much of the days work and were having a well earned break.  Young Freya Schmidt had found some gumnuts on the ground from the adult trees nearby.  She was determined to make a gift of a quantity of these to everyone.  The story starts with a gift for Jessica and then one for Joan. It may seem that the females were singled out but this is not the case, the boys all got their gift as well.  Finally there was only Helene and she was missing, not to worry, found her way down the other end. "I'll just pop down there and give her these gumnuts".  So here she comes and afterwards there she goes, task completed. 

Here she comes to me, a long way away.

Job well done, back to the group

These photo's were a over a year since the group started work at Kev Hooper Park and a huge amount of clearing, planting and mulching had already taken place.  Today the same place looks very different thanks to the work of group members and even more work done every day by the natural environment.

Our Brushtail Possum

Our Possum

In addition to our bushcare work in the Inala area we also encourage native wildlife in our own garden.  We installed a nest box in our backyard tree many years ago and have had a resident Brushtail Possum for around 15 years now.  Many young have been raised over the years.  We do provide food sometimes as there is limited habitat within safe distance (roads) but our garden also provides many suitable native food plants.  We don't see the possum very often, especially when it is light enough to take photo's and we have no idea if it is the original possum or if one of her many children are in residence.  There are other possums in the area that visit from time to time, notably I suppose a male must be around somewhere.  We are currently looking for a replacement box as the original is falling apart now.  It is our plan to put up more than one this time and see what happens.

Rare Native Plant found in our local parks!

Australian Bindweed

Convolvulus Erubescens

The current profile picture is an exciting find in our local park.  It is an Australian native plant that is endemic to our area and yet not often seen.  It's common name is Australian Bindweed and it's scientific name is Convolvulus Erubescens.  There is a good sized patch in Kev Hooper Park which is an Inala Bushcare site and also some smaller patches in CJ Greenfield Park which is another local park, so far without an Inala Bushcare group looking after it. This plant is described in Mangroves to Mountains Volume 2 as "Prostrate, trailing plant, sometimes climbing, widespread in western areas.  Leaves alternate, variable, to 6 cm.  20 mm pink or white axillary flowers most of the year".  Our first impression was amazement at the different shapes of the leaves.  The juvenile leaves are almost straight with just a small division on the end.  Yet as the leaf grows its shape changes totally to the adult form of a heart shaped leaf.  We have been interested in native plants for many years and have observed native plants in many environments, but we hadn't seen this one until the local find, so it was an exceptional discovery. Later we found another few patches in CJ Greenfield Park as well, so it seems apparent that it is endemic to our area which is an incredibly exciting find.