Kwinana Rockingham Mandurah Branch Monday, 16^th MAY 2022

We had to put off our planned talk for the May meeting until later due to bereavement in the speaker’s family. The late change meant that the meeting would be a Members’ Night, with three members providing input.

First to present was Ailsa Rabone, who provided some photographs taken on a trip to Christmas Island and Cocos Islands in 2021. These photos showed some birdlife, including Red-footed and Brown Booby, the Christmas Island Frigate Bird and White-tailed Tropic Bird. There were also photos of various crab species, including the Red Crabs that Christmas Island is famous for, and the Giant Robber (or Coconut) Crabs, the largest land crabs in the world. Alisa also showed photos of flora and scenery.

The next one was Daniel Heald. He started with some photos taken by Desiree Heald of a Giant or Hedge Grasshopper (Valanga irregularis), Australia’s largest grasshopper, which she found attached to a soccer goal net at the school where she teaches. Daniel explained that this species is typically found in the north of the country but is being found more often in Perth in recent times. It certainly appeared to be very large and probably would not be welcome in the backyard veggie garden! Daniel also showed photos of Horehound Bugs (Agonoscelis rutila, one of the Stink Bugs) and explained their behaviour.

He then showed a photo of Trissolcus basalis, a small Parasitoid Wasp introduced to control the Green Vegetable Bug (Neraza viridula). A female wasp deposits one of her eggs in an egg of the Green Vegetable Bug, and the larva hatches and completes its development within the egg. He finished off by showing a photo of an Olive Lace Bug (Froggattia olivinia), an Australian native sap-sucking insect that attacks the Mock-olive (Notelaea longifolia) but has also moved from its native host to the cultivated olive, where it can reduce yields and even kill trees.

The final presenter for the evening was Colin Prickett, who commenced by sharing the results of the 2022 Annual Shorebird Count within Ramsar 482, the Peel-Yalgorup system of wetlands which saw 81 volunteers count 10,150 shorebirds (23 species) and 42,603 waterbirds (66 species). Colin then showed a series of photographs taken over the first four months of 2022. The photos included some shorebirds such as Common Sandpiper, Hooded Plover, Red-necked Stints, Pacific Golden Plover, Whimbrel and Common Greenshanks. Other birds included the Brown Honeyeater and Nankeen Kestrel. There were also photos of insects and spiders, including some Orb-weaver Spiders from his garden. He also showed photos of Autumn Orchids such as Leafless Orchids, Hare Orchids, and Common Bunny Orchids flowering over the last month in local reserves. The audience thanked all three presenters for sharing their images.

Colin Prickett