Contributed by Ken Dorey, Big Scrub Landcare Butterflies do their best to get our attention but they seem doomed to be overshadowed by birds. Birds are bigger and louder but butterflies do have some advantages when it comes to identification. For a start, there are only 400 species of butterflies compared to over 800 birds...
Contributed by Darren Bailey, Big Scrub Landcare This report provides a summary of the bush regeneration work undertaken in Isoglossa eranthemoides habitat areas at Booyong Reserve during 2017-2018. The project was funded by the Office of Environment and Heritage Saving Our Species program. The report includes a description of the site, a summary of the...
Local independent brewery, Stone & Wood held their annual Festival of the Stone at their Byron Bay brewery in June to celebrate the release of their 2018 Stone Beer and raised $17,000 for Big Scrub Landcare. Stone & Wood donated all proceeds from beer and merchandise sales to national not-for-profit Ingrained Foundation, a separate entity...
Big Scrub Landcare have successfully completed an extremely valuable project restoring critically endangered lowland subtropical rainforest at Rocky Creek Dam and Nightcap National Park. The six-year project was made possible by a $249,000 grant from NSW Environmental Trust and other sources of funding from Big Scrub Landcare and project partners Rous County Council and NSW...
Contributed by Joy Window, Member, Big Scrub Landcare What has large, hairy feet and lurks in the rainforest? No, not a yowie, but the southern myotis (Myotis macropus, aka the large-footed myotis or fishing bat). This bat has big feet for its size – while its wingspan may be 28 cm, its feet may be...
Contributed by Ken Dorey, Member Big Scrub Landcare. Birds may have evolved from dinosaurs but they’ve definitely upped their game in the PR department. They’re proactive in getting your attention, only too happy to flash colour and sing perfect notes – and all for free for those who stop to watch and listen. Ken Dorey...
Contributed by Georgina Jones, Member Big Scrub Landcare. Enhancing remnants, linkages and corridors across the Big Scrub is the focus of a $100,000 Big Scrub Landcare project funded by the NSW Environmental Trust. The project is enhancing and expanding critically endangered lowland subtropical rainforest across the Byron, Ballina and Lismore areas. This is the second...
Contributed by Joy Window, Member, Big Scrub Landcare. In the rainforest, the calls of unseen birds echo eerily through the treetops. Closer to the ground, you might hear the odd chortles and whirrs of the Alberts lyrebird (Menura alberti), found only in south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales – for instance, in the former...
Contributed by Stephanie Lymburner, Committee Member, Big Scrub Landcare. The Richmond River Birdwing Butterfly was a reasonably common species when the Big Scrub rainforest once covered this region; its range extended from Grafton to the subtropical rainforest around Noosa in Queensland. This range has been severely modified due to extensive habitat destruction for timber, dairy...
Contributed by Ken Dorey, Committee Member, Big Scrub Landcare. In a previous edition of this newsletter, entitled Don’t Panic, I urged readers not to become frustrated at not instantly recognising the name of every species of flora or fauna in your forest – give it time. But we do wish to learn. In this edition,...
