Since i did two weeks of volunteer work, I’m going to try to put it all on a few entries instead of one entry for every day–that would just take too long. So Let’s see how this goes.
DAY ONE 29/6/09 -Monday (Read 29th of june, 2009)
Work: Seed collection for Bead Glasswort plant at Lake Wyn-Wyn and Lake Mitre
Purpose: to put the seeds into the Millennium Seed Bank in the UK
Millennium Seed Bank- This is a place where a collection of all possible wild plants are saved in case of catastrophe occurs so plants can then be regenerated.
DAY TWO 30/6/09 Tuesday
Work: search and GPS the rare Forked Spyridium
Purpose: Because this plant is known to have vanished from much of the area it used to live, it was our responsibility to find what was left of it in an area known to still have some exiting spyridium and GPS it so it can be monitored for later reference.
IT ENDED UP POURING RAIN! so our day was cut short so we ended up just making orchid cages back at the DSE office the rest of the time.
DAY THREE 1/7/09 Wednesday
Work: Make nest boxes for bats, and other animals varying in size, make a fence for the golden Sun Moths
Purpose: because of the large fires in Australia very recently, a lot of the native trees that take hundreds of years to grow burned off. Nest boxes would be nailed to remaining trees for animals to live. and where we were working was the only place in the world where Golden Sun Moths are found. Because of this, the locals were able to fence off the site where they come to lay their eggs in October. But the fence they made did not keep the local sheep out, so it was our job to reinforce it so the sheep wouldnt eat the plants that the moths lay their eggs.
FUN FACT!
the Golden Sun Moth only give birth to females that will never need to fertilize their eggs, also meaning they never need a male! Only females give birth to females with already fertilize eggs!
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- collecting seeds for the Millennium Seed Bank
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- Crew ready to search for Forked Spyridium
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- picture courtesy of Glenn (DSE employee)
