The topic for the September meeting was Waterbird Conservation and the presenter was Ruth Clark of the Waterbird Conservation Group. Ruth commenced her talk by outlining the history of the Group, its formation coming about after an outbreak of botulism affected large numbers of water birds at Thomsons Lake during a hot, dry spell in February 1984. Hundreds of birds died and hundreds more were rescued by volunteers who cared for sick birds in their homes and rehabilitated them back to health for release into healthier wetlands. The botulism outbreak that year affected around 30 wetlands stretched across the metropolitan area. The Group achieved a fantastic survival rate of 90%.

The presentation included many photographs and newspaper articles concerning the outbreak and rescue activities. The Group was also an active member of the Coalition Against Duck Shooting, formed in 1989 in response to State Government plans to allow a duck shooting season to be held in 1990. This campaign was successful in having the enabling legislation repealed. In 1993 a Wetland Trust Fund was established to protect wetlands. This resulted in the vesting of Folly Pool and Maramanup Pool wetlands to the Group, which then commenced the rehabilitation and active management of these wetlands. These remain a sanctuary for birds and other animals with no public access. The wetlands are situated to the south of the Alcoa Wellard Wetlands just east of the Kwinana Freeway.

Ruth’s presentation showed photographs of the significant planting of shrubs and trees, especially in an area where farming had encroached due to an incorrectly located boundary fence. Photographs of the now mature vegetation showed how successful the rehabilitation efforts have been. In 2011 the Group was awarded the Len Howard Community Group Conservation Award in recognition of their efforts. Ruth listed the challenges faced by the Group as kangaroos, sheep, rabbits, motorbikes, cars, shooters, neighbours, boats, horses, theft, vandalism, rubbish dumping, security, access and watering.

Good working relationships have been developed with the City of Rockingham, WA Planning Commission, Water Corporation, Department of Water, WA Police, DPaW and WWF. Funding has been provided by: Lotteries West, DPaW (Healthy Wetland Habitats and other grants), NRM, the Commonwealth Department of Environment and the City of Rockingham. The successes achieved have included: Realigned fencing of the boundary, major revegetation, an upgraded management category for the wetland (from resource enhancement to conservation category) and an increase in the bird numbers and species (25 species for Folly and 31 for Maramanup). Ruth concluded the presentation with a series of photographs showing bird life on the wetlands followed by some video footage captured by remote camera traps. Ruth was thanked for her presentation and asked to convey our congratulations to the Group for its achievements.

Member Sightings

The meeting concluded with a discussion of sightings. Daniel Heald told the meeting that he has been visiting beaches between Rockingham and Bunbury to find out what has been washed up by winter storms. His comprehensive list of findings includes the following:

• Magellania flavescens Lamp Shell (Phylum Brachiopoda, Order Terebratulida) – quite the find. Had a bright orange, coral-like sponge growing on it.

• Actinia tenebrosa – Waratah Anemone; Oulactis macmurrichi – Southern Sand Anemone; Velella velella – By-the-wind Sailor (a free-floating hydrozoan); various fragments of coral, and fossil corals at the Dawesville Cut breakwater, Halls Head, and Cape Peron

• Hippa sp. Mole Crab; Lepas sp. Goose Barnacles attached to Cuttlebones, and Lepas pectinata growing on Spirula spirula (Ramshorn Squid shells); Leptograpsus variegatus (Swift-footed Shore Crab); Planes sp. Drifter Crab (that spend their lives clinging to floating Sargassum seaweed, unless the storms blow them ashore); a small mantis shrimp exoskeleton; tidepool amphipods.

• Coscinasterias muricata – Eleven-armed Seastar; Holopneustes porosissimus – Pored Sea Urchin; Phyllacanthus irregularis – Western Slate-pencil Urchin; Livonia sp. Heart Urchin, and other unidentified sea urchins and sea stars.

• Densipora sp. – Wireweed Spiral Bryozoan, that grows into hard spirals around the stem of Amphibolis; Micropora coriacea, a common bryozoan that grows on kelp; and numerous other bryozoans.
• Feathery hydroids, and others that resemble pipecleaners, growing on Wireweed.

• Fucellia tergina – Kelp Fly; Creophilus erythrocephalus – The Devil’s Coach-horse (Fearsome-looking black and red rove beetles. What one was doing being washed up at my feet in Bunbury I don’t know, but I dried her out and sent her on her way);       Phycosecis ammophilus – Beach Beetles (tiny grey beetles with heart-shaped scales, that live only on beaches, and scavenge)

• Many, many bivalves including Acrosterigma – Oblique Cockle; Anomia – Jingle Shell; Barnea australasiae – Angel Wings (bore into hard mud and soft stone); Cardita incrassata – Grooved Cardita); Malleus sp. – Hammer Oyster; Xenostrobus pulex – Little Black Horse Mussel (growing in their hundreds where-ever sand and rocks met surf) and other species of Mussel; Ostrea angasi – Mud Oyster; Pinna bicolor – Razor Clam; Tawera lagopus – Fine Tawera; and millions of pipis.

• Sepia apama – Giant Cuttlefish; Spirula spirula – Ramshorn Squid

• Acanthopleura hirtosa – the Rough Chiton; and other chitons

• Gastropods, including Bulla sp. Bubble Shells; Campanile symbolicum, the Bell Clapper or Giant Creeper (living fossils, and the only survivors of what was once a successful family, now found only on our SW coasts, but that I’ve also found fossilised in abundance at Cape Peron); Conus anemone – Anemone Cone Shell (worm hunters with a dangerous sting – DO NOT pick up intact shells); Various Abalone; Hipponix sp. – Hoof Snails (limpet-like shells that live attached to the shells of larger Tritons, Murexs, and other gastropods); Janthina sp. – Violet Sea Snail (floating predators of By-the-Wind Sailors, that spend their life clinging to a raft of bubbles); various Periwinkles; Bedeva paivae – Mussel Drill Murex; Dicathais orbita – (here on the west coast, formerly known as Dicathais aegrota, and covered in raised bumps. On the south coast, it’s smooth, and was called the Dog Winkle, Dicathais textilosa. Over east, it’s covered in deep grooves, and was called the Cart-rut Shell);
• Nassarius sp. – Dog Whelk; Polinices sp. – Moon Snails, and their clear, sausage-shaped eggs masses; Oliva sp. Olive Snails; Ranella australasia Tritons; Rhinoclavis sp. Ceriths, both alive and fossilized at Halls Head and Cape Peron; Tonna variegata – Variegated Tun (a very large snail that kills its echinoderm prey with sulphuric acid, and will spray you with it if you disturb it.); Granata imbricata – False Ear Shell; Syrinx aruanus – Australian Giant Conch (the world’s largest gastropod, which gets up to 18 kg, and almost a meter long); Phasianella ventricosa – Pheasant Shell; Turbo torquatus – Turban Shell.

• Slit Limpets including Amblychilepas, Diodora lincolnensis, and the very large black Scutus antipodes – the Elephant Snail.

• A rather battered sea hare who got caught in one of the storms.

• Limpets, including the Star Limpets Patella sp., and the Tall-ribbed Star Limpet Patelloida alticostata.

• Seagrasses including Amphibolis and Posidonia – the beaches at the Leschenault Conservation Area were covered in Posidonia fiber-balls.

• Brown Algae including Colpomenia, Cystophora, Ecklonia, Padina, Sargassum, and the odd-looking Turbinaria, which looks like it’s covered in inside-out umbrellas.

• Green Algae including Caulerpa brownii; Caulerpa sedoides forma geminata; Codium – Dead Man’s Fingers; Ulva; and Halimeda (the latter a chain of hard, chalky, green plates. Entire meadows may consist of a single multi-nucleate cell, connected to the next ‘plant’ by threads running through the sand or gravel).

• Red Algae including Gelinaria ulvoidea, Gigartina brachiata turf; and red corallines including Amphiroa; Corallina officinalis; Haliptilon roseum; Jania; Metagonilithon chara and Metagonilithon stelliferum (the latter two both epiphytes of Wireweed)

• Various sponges, some fresh enough to be a brilliant vermillion.

• Sea squirts including the colonial Botryllus – golden star tunicate (growing on the stems of Wireweed, possibly the invasive Botryllus schlosseri, but I found Perth newspaper columns from 1926 that described the same species); sand-encrusted sea squirts (also growing as epizooids on Wireweed); Pyura Sea Tulips washed up with the Wireweed; and enormous orange sea squirts the size of a baby’s head.

• Red-capped Plovers were found nesting on the public beach at Dawesville.

Colin Prickett