Manly Dam Biodiversity Project's Journal

August 26, 2022

iNaturalist bush walk on tomorrow at Manly Dam

Hello iNatters,

The local Northern Beaches branch ACF (Australian Conservation Foundation) have organised an introduction to iNaturalist morning at the dam. I’ll be there to tell people about iNat and also about our Manly Dam Biodiversity Project. It would be great if some of our existing members could join us, whether you’re new to INat or a pro (to help me out with IDs and getting people started would be most welcome).
We’re meeting at 9.30 and it will go til around 1pm with lunch included (all free), here are the sign-up details: https://www.acf.org.au/inaturalist_introduction_at_manly_dam
It’s the perfect time of year as so much is in bloom - have a look at the latest observations in the project @mdplantlady has added some bumper pics.
Hoping for some sunshine and to meet some of you in person,
Vicky

Posted on August 26, 2022 09:39 PM by vicky_viking vicky_viking | 0 comments | Leave a comment

July 27, 2022

When Will It End!!

Hi All,
Well at least it will be interesting to see how this continued wet weather impacts the flowering season of the many species at Manly Dam. I was looking back to a year ago to see what was flowering as we’re planning a joint walk with the local branch of the Australian Conservation Foundation as part of the National ACF campaign “Save Our Big Backyard”. I’ll share the details on the journal once they’re finalised the date as it will focused around iNaturalist as well as introducing people to citizen science and it would be great to have some seasoned professionals there!

Well looking back at the data from a year ago we have nearly 1000 more observations and an extra 200 odd species. Thank you to all as always for contributing. It’s great to see we’ve got some more twitchers in the project, insect and aquatic life enthusiasts (is there a twitcher equivalent for them?) as well and we have great activity and input from identifiers across the country.

I joined a webinar tonight by @thebeachcomber - I encourage you to have a look at his profile and observations. He is truly an iNat expert. He’s involved in a series of presentations preparing for the Great Southern Bioblitz on 29th-31st October. If you’re wanting to learn more about the desk top features in iNat then have a look at the recorded webinars on the YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UCnw54DLUo4evRBOCg9vXG7Q

Happy snapping, enjoy the mud and hope to see some of you out there.

Posted on July 27, 2022 12:08 PM by vicky_viking vicky_viking | 0 comments | Leave a comment

February 1, 2022

Mozzie Month and Urban Feathered Friends

It’s February already and I love reporting every few months on the huge success and growth of the Manly Dam Biodiversity Project.
@billbutler is leading the pack with 193 observations added to the project whereas @gillbsydney has observed a whopping 159 species! A thanks to @saratoga for your night time aquatic observations, you’ve added some extra diversity into the project. We just need the observations to be verified to make them Research Grade so any other members who are aquatically minded please jump on and have a look.

February 14th may be the day of love for many but for the Mozzie Monitors iNaturalist Project it’s the start of Mozzie Month! Mozzie Monitors is an initiative to increase public awareness and mosquito surveillance in urban landscapes, as well increase knowledge of mosquitoes within Australia. So if you’re game join the Mozzie Monitors Project and upload any critters you come across. Remember any observations that fall within the Manly Dam Project boundaries will automatically be uploaded into our project too - double win!

I’ve just enjoyed watching the latest Catalyst episode on ABC. Ann Jones (I love Ann Jones!) spent 24 hours on an urban bird safari in Melbourne. Many of the species she sees are the same as we have here on the Northern Beaches; including Powerful Owls, WIlly Wag tails and the menacing Noisy Minor birds. She highlights the importance of conserving exisiting habitat and providing better protection for our smaller feathered friends.

Check out the Backyard Buddies website for tips on small bird habitats: https://backyardbuddies.org.au/habitats/habitat-for-small-birds

Northern Beaches council website has lists of endemic plant species based on which area of the beaches you live: https://www.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/environment/native-plants/native-plant-species-guide
I’ve spent the last few lockdowns slowly converting some of the grassy areas in my backyard to native garden beds. I’m trying to choose local endemic species to attract birds and butterflies into the garden. Some I’ve raised from seed and others are tube stock bought from the Stony Range Nursery at Dee Why. All the plants are thriving and need little care and attention as they are growing in the place they belong. I’d encourage everyone to donate a small or large part of their garden to support our local wildlife.

I hope everyone, survives the February humidity and don’t forget Mozzie month!

Posted on February 1, 2022 10:55 AM by vicky_viking vicky_viking | 0 comments | Leave a comment

November 12, 2021

It’s Frog ID Week!

Join Australia’s biggest frog count from 12th -21st November.
Link to the website and App is here:
https://www.frogid.net.au/frog-id-week
Don’t forget you can add audio observations to iNaturalist so if you’re out frogging make sure you add to both Apps!
I’ve uploaded one “frog” call….. shortly afterwards to be informed it was actually an insect with a frog like call - I’m not a frog or insect expert 😂

We’ve blown the 2000 observations out of the water, over 2020 now. Don’t forget to go back and click agree if someone has made a suggestion to an observation that you agree with.
Watch out for leaches with all the wet weather - thank you Bill_butler for adding your sucker to the project!
Happy weekend

Posted on November 12, 2021 06:45 AM by vicky_viking vicky_viking | 0 comments | Leave a comment

November 2, 2021

Greetings iNat community

Welcome again to new members, our community project is growing and it’s great to see new faces popping up in the project. It’s not even a year since we launched but we have 87 active members and it’s getting close to 2000 observations and 629 species. Before the Biodiversity Project started we knew Manly Dam area had a lot of species, many undocumented but I’m blown away every time I jump on and look at the the stats.
I’m the first to admit I haven’t been helping with identifying the last months but I’m hoping to spend a bit of time soon having a look and helping verify species (kids are back to school hurray!).
We have quite a few insects still needing confirmation, thank you to all the insect nerds out there posting, if you have a moment to help verify others posts or even a few tips on what needs to be included in the observations - for plants a close up of the flower, leaves and the overall habit are helpful - insects I’ve no idea!
The reports of the official Biodiversity study are out and we have a web site in the making. I’ll try and post some info here in the journal over the next few weeks about the exciting things our experts have found.
Happy observing, enjoy as always and keep sharing the message so we can continue to grow this great community.

Posted on November 2, 2021 09:35 PM by vicky_viking vicky_viking | 1 comment | Leave a comment

August 17, 2021

Spring has sprung at the Dam

I hope everyone is staying safe and keeping well during this lengthy lockdown. More than ever I think we are enjoying and appreciating how lucky we are to have this area of urban bushland on our doorstep.
There are so many plants in bloom at the moment at Manly Dam, from the beautiful little Happy Wanderer (hardenbergia violacea) and Dusky Coral Pea (Kennidia rubicunda - my first time seeing this flourishing this season very exciting!) to the big and bold Grevilleas - Buxifolia, Sericea and Speciosa to name a few.

Thank you to everyone in the area who are contributing with observations and to all those helping with ID’s. We’re up to 509 species of plants and animals and a cracking 1539 observations. Wow!

Enjoy all the bush has to offer us in these trying times; stick the paths, keep pups on a leash and keep on adding observations to the project.

Posted on August 17, 2021 02:50 AM by vicky_viking vicky_viking | 3 comments | Leave a comment

May 27, 2021

Winter is coming

I’ve just enjoyed a beautiful morning walk through the Dam bushland. My friend Leicia and I found many of the Hakea gibbosas in flower, plants I’m not usually overly fond of but with lots of new growth and their rather charming axial flowers and hairy leaves I’ll certainly be paying more attention to them. I’ve added a few onto the project. The Banksias have had a bumper flowering season with so many Banksia ericfolia and spinulosa around. Great news for all the small mammals, particularly our Eastern Pygmy Possums, possums in general and Flying foxes.
There have been lots of new plantings at the Mermaid Pools bush regeneration site. We have planted out Croweas, Hibbertia, Lambertia formosa (Mountain Devil) and even some Flannel flowers. It’s the perfect time to plant with the cooler weather allowing the tube stock time to establish before the heat of spring and summer hit. We’re aiming to improve the biodiversity at Mermaid Pools, it has been highly disturbed over many years and an awful lot of work has been put into the area by the community to clean it up and control the weeds. It’s a beautiful spot already but according to historical botanical records it is only a fraction of what it once was. If you head down to have a look please take care where you step and stick to the paths, most have protection but not all.
Enjoy the cooler months ahead.

Posted on May 27, 2021 04:09 AM by vicky_viking vicky_viking | 1 comment | Leave a comment

May 11, 2021

Welcome new members to the Manly Dam Biodiversity Project, Project update and a new Manly Dam campaign

Hi All,

News from the project where our observers are going great! I encourage you to login on the desktop site every now and again (iNaturalist.org) to have a look at the amazing range of observations in the Manly Dam Bio Project. My current favorites are the drosera genera or sundews as they are commonly known - small carnivorous plants which lure capture and digest insects. There are 90 species worldwide with 54 found is Australia. At the Dam we have 2 species recorded; Drosera spatulata and Drosera peltata.

Some stats: the project has collected 1402 observations and 473 different species. How about that for biodiversity in this special patch of urban bushland.

Keep Manly Dam Wild Campaign: this is a new campaign run by Save Manly Dam Catchment Committee to raise awareness and put a stop to developers encroaching into the park; you’d be surprised how much they are allowed to chip away at the bushland:
Hop on to the Save Manly Dam Bushland Facebook site to join the campaign and add a cute bumper sticker - you might recognise the logo; the very same Eastern Pygmy Possum image we use for our project.

Keep on observing and enjoy this beautiful autumn sunshine!

Posted on May 11, 2021 11:05 PM by vicky_viking vicky_viking | 0 comments | Leave a comment

March 10, 2021

Night Walks and Australasian Bat Night at Manly Dam

We have an exciting evening planned at Manly Dam for Australasian Bat Night to celebrate our incredible bat diversity. Join Australia’s leading bat expert Dr Brad Law (one of our Project members) and Sonja Elwood from Northern Beaches Council for some wildlife spotting and to learn more about these often overlooked animals.
There are various night walks and Earth Hour activities planned at Manly Dam. Follow the link below for all the details and hope to meet some of you there!

Vicky

https://www.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/whats-on/australasian-bat-night

Posted on March 10, 2021 06:07 AM by vicky_viking vicky_viking | 0 comments | Leave a comment

February 15, 2021

423 Species and a new Top Observer. We get a mention in our new Local Publication Tawny Frogmouth.

@gillbsydney has just topped the leaderboard of most observations and most species observed!
We have more than 1200 observations and 423 species, amazing work!

For those who didn’t know we have a new monthly independent publication on the Northern Beaches called the Tawny Frogmouth. It’s a super read with a wide variety of articles and info on local initiatives, events, people and more. There are more than 50000 copies delivered each month but at the moment I don’t think it will reach all of you so Liam the editor has fast tracked the online content so most articles are available online now.
We all even get a mention in Issue 2 - “Embrace you inner nerd and help save Manly Dam”. Love it, have a look here:
https://www.thetawnyfrogmouth.com.au/post/embrace-your-inner-nerd-and-help-save-manly-dam

I’m also attaching a link to a fascinating article by Edwina Laginestra from Sydney Wildlife which appeared in February’s Tawny Frogmouth edition, so many great tips on helping our native friends:
https://www.thetawnyfrogmouth.com.au/post/how-to-have-a-wildlife-friendly-summer-garden

Happy Observing!
Remember logon to the desktop iNaturalist site to access links quickly and easily.

Posted on February 15, 2021 11:45 PM by vicky_viking vicky_viking | 0 comments | Leave a comment