NGT out and about — Photos from the field in December & January

Jess has been out and about with the community in Beachport and Southend, in SA’s Southeast, hosting some of her popular Rockpool Rambles. The events were free of charge, as part of Wattle Range Council’s ‘Full Throttle in Wattle’ program. Participants explored the rockpools and learned about their inhabitants, including the beautiful (but deadly) Blue-ringed Octopus, and also found some other interesting critters, including this mystery ‘pink thing’ that Jess is hoping to ID soon – if you’ve got any ideas – please let us know! Email Jess:

Bryan and the crew finished planting along the edge of Mt Burr Swamp just before Christmas. Can you see the tiny Tea trees circled in blue?

Bryan also happened upon our NGT emblem, the Ancient Greenling, which he managed to get some footage of up close – a rare find! This “living fossil” is a sensitive biological indicator that is fond of wetlands, but only occurs at a limited number of sites in south-eastern Australia. This rare species is the only living representative of a family of insects (Hemiphlebiidae) that can be traced back 250 million years to fossil records from Brazil to Russia.

Bec and Justine have started monitoring a couple of marshes at Silver Plains, TLC’S Interlaken property in the Tassie central highlands. Most of their efforts were concentrated at Plough’s Marsh, where historic draining for agriculture has affected water movement and vegetation. Bec and Justine were joined by Aimee, TLC’S flora specialist, who they borrowed for a day to assist with plant identification and augering duty – we had 3 stilling wells to set up as water level data loggers (Piezometers). It was a hot day on the marsh!