A collection of images

A Pied Cormorant catches a Butter Bream, east end of Deadman's Beach.


Tringa incana, Wandering Tattler. (Heyn de Kock)

Rainbow Bee Eater, above the Quarry, Timbin Road.

Heart Urchin, Echinocardium cordatum. A wind direction change in Moreton Bay results in water current direction change with subsequent erosion of Sea Grass beds harbouring Heart Urchins. These have washed up on Deadman's Beach.


Everlasting daisy, Xerochrysum bracteatum. (Bruce Martin)
 
Bush Stone Curlew, Amity Caravan Park.

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Native plants for Stradbroke Island gardens

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Stradbroke gardens
In this edition we have seen the difference 10 years of bush care can make and some weeds to watch out for.  Below is some advice as to suitable trees, ground cover and shrubs to plant in your Stradbroke garden. Suitable native trees Lophestemon confertus (box tree) - canopy tree for big gardens or pruningBanksia integrifolia – (coastal banksia) - attracts birds
Banksia aemula or serrata (wallum banksia) – attracts birdsElaeocarpus reticulatus (blue berry ash)Pandanus pedunculatus (pandanus/ screw palm)
Cupaniopsis anacardioides (tuckeroo)

Suitable ground cover Carpobrotus rossii (Pig face)Lomandra longifolia
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Suitable shrubs Banksia robur (swamp banskia)
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Dugongs in Moreton Bay

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A shy creature, distantly related to the elephant, which communicates by chirps, whistles and barks –­ the dugong may be one of Moreton Bay’s least seen and most fascinating inhabitants. Approximately 1000 dugongs live in the warm waters of the sheltered and shallow bay. Globally, however, there are serious threats to this gentle animal’s survival. The World Conservation Union lists the dugong as vulnerable to extinction.

The name dugong derives from a Malay word meaning Lady of the Sea, yet elsewhere they are less-flatteringly referred to as Sea Cows, due to their diet of seagrass.

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Solitary animals, they travel alone or in pairs for most of their 70-year lifespan, although they have been seen in herds of 10 to 300.

Their distant relationship to the elephant goes some way to explaining the dugong…
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The Eighteen Mile Swamp

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Swamps fringe the Northern, Eastern and Southern shores of North Stradbroke Island. The Eighteen Mile Swamp, a great trough in the sand lying seaward of the huge dunes of the main sand mass is kept full of fresh water by seepage from the sand mass rather than surface run off. Straddie is the southernmost high dune sand mass in Australia and the second–largest sand island in the world after the World Heritage Listed Fraser Island. This swamp teems with life and interest and is so special that it is included within the Moreton Bay RAMSAR site, recognised as one of the world’s premier wetlands. It is in fact the longest wetland of its type in the world.

It is only this year that it has finally been given the highest form of regulatory protection available in Queensland by being declared National Park. The park has been named NAREE BUDJONG DJARA  by indigenous people on the island who are engaged in its joint management with the state. This level of protection has been a long time coming…
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