Disappearing birds

good story, just 2 issues

I don't mind being called compulsive but object to 'a little strange'

why just Noisy Miner and not Common Mynah?

Sadly, subdivision and increased housing equals more rates, and that is all some councils seem to care about.

Until the federal government imposes upon the states and local councils a defined percentage of land that must be kept as bushland with no exceptions, rather than a 'green space' percentage afterall the local football field can be counted as green space but it is not exactly habitat rich.

And when councils stop handing out permits to cut down trees on the basis that a branch might fall and hurt someone things will start getting better. Afterall during a strong wind a tile might come adrift from a roof and hit someone and kill them but they dont get rid of all tiled roofs.

I guess what we can do is to keep on planting what we can when we can and hope for the best. It is afterall at least something, which is always better than nothing.

Agreed Woko!

I have responsibilities at home at the moment that prevent me from doing regen work, but have when I can been involved at the council's provenance nursery. Hoping to that more regularly in the new year.

that is good

Those two grasses are real pests because they grow from stolons. They both have their growth spurts in late spring to early summer so that's a good time to spray. Before spraying it's a good idea to water the grasses so that there's plenty of juice to transport the herbicide. I use Roundup. There are others. Because of the persistence of these grasses it's important to do follow up spraying. This might need to be done a number of times. 

Before spraying it's important to check for any native plants that might be growing among the weeds. Any native plants can be protected using a piece of board. 

Where first to spray is also important. Start near good quality bush or native vegetation so that any seeds from the native vegetation will fall close by into soil where Kikuyu & Couch have died. So gradually spray out from the good quality bush. It might take a number of years for the bush to extend into the sprayed areas.

The optimum time to mow introduced grasses is before seed matures in spring so that you minimise the amount of feral seed which is in the ground ready to germinate next year. You may well be doing this already. Using this strategy I now have considerable areas of native grasses, mosses &, I think, lichens. Not only does this benefit native critters such as some butterflies & birds which depend on native grasses it also benefits Ms Woko & me as the fire hazard is reduced. Also, I don't have to do as much mowing these days. And when I do mow I collect the native grass seeds so that I can broadcast them into areas where I've sprayed weeds. I've even begun broadcasting seeds onto the road verge so that, in the long term, the risk of fire from cigarette butt-flicking drivers will be reduced. 

That's a good idea, Night Parrot. Most native shrubs seem to enjoy a prune so it's a win-win as they say in corporatese. 

I use a product called "Ripper" it is also Glyphosate, comes in  stronger concentrate, and locally is cheaper than Roundup (last purchase was @ $140 for 20 litres, 480grams/litre at a rural supply store, not the local hardware or nursery, which usually only sell roundup in 1 or 2 litre concentrate at @ $60/litre). I usually divide product and therefore cost with other people, decant into 5 litre bottles, which lasts me about 3 years.  

Also mix it with a white oil which assists the spray in clinging to the leaf of the pest species. A friend uses a few drops of dishwashing detergent for the same purpose. You can also mix in some food dye so it is obvious where you have already sprayed. A bit of practice to work the right amount of dye out though, not enough and you will have wasted your effort.