fotpin News 2020
08 Nov 2020: Weeding Effort summary for the 1920-21 season, to October 31
The weeding effort for the 2020-21 season to the end of October was 205 hours, entirely within the Reserve (including the Extension). This was 88% more than last season and the fifth largest total effort in the 11 seasons of records and the second largest for the Reserve alone.
The increased effort reflects the fact that 2020 has been the wettest year since 2012 with above average rainfall from March through to October and a warmer than average winter. Ideal conditions for germination and growth of the many weed types present on the Reserve. (It was also ideal conditions for native species which are also present in abundance, with many species being observed for the first time in many years).
The collection of uncategorised broadleaf weeds (which incudes Mustard, Prickly Lettuce, Nightshade, Plantain, Flatweeds, Paddymelon and Sorrel) have received the most effort (62 h) closely followed by Capeweed (60 h), together comprising 59% of the effort. Exotic grasses (23 h), Thistles other than Saffron Thistles (23 h), Saffron Thistles (21 h) and Paterson's Curse (13 h) were next, together accounting ding another 39% of total effort.
See the weeding effort page and associated links to maps and charts for more statistics and comparisons with previous seasons and across the different management regions of the Reserve.
01 Nov 2020: Total number of native species recorded on The Pinnacle Nature Reserve reaches 660.
07 Oct 2020: Weeding Effort summary for the 1920-21 season, to September 30
The weeding effort for the 2020-21 season to the end of September was 131 hours,all within the Reserve (including the Extension). This was 150% more than last season and the fourth largest total effort in the 11 seasons of records and the second largest for the Reserve alone.
The increased effort reflects the fact that 2020 has been the wettest year since 2012 with above average rainfall from March through to September and a warmer than average winter. Ideal conditions for germination and growth of the many weed types present on the Reserve. (It was also ideal conditions for native species which are also present in abundance, with many species being observed for the first time in many years).
Most effort was spent on the group of miscellaneous Broadleaf weeds, (46 h; 42% of total). Next was Paterson's Curse (21 h) followed by Capeweed (16 h). Together these made up 86% of the effort.
Most effort was spent on Capeweed followed by the collection of uncategorised broadleaf weeds (which incudes Hoary Mustard, Prickly Lettuce, Nightshade, Tragopogon, Plantain, Flatweeds, Paddymelon and Sorrel). Between them they accounted for 74% of the effort. Thistles other than Saffron Thistles and Paterson's Curse were next, together accounting ding another 19% of total effort.
See the weeding effort page and associated links to maps and charts for more statistics and comparisons with previous seasons and across the different management regions of the Reserve.
09 Jul 2020: Weeding effort summary for 2019-20 season
June 30 this year marked the end of the 10th season of closely recording, georeferencing and monitoring fotpin's weed control effort. The usual annual summary of effort is described below. In a few weeks' time we will also publish a retrospective analysis of our 10 years of effort, how it has changed over the decade, to what extent it indicates sustainable progress in controlling the major invasive weeds on the Pinnacle Nature Reserve and what general recommendations for weed control on Canberra's Nature Reserves can be drawn from it.
The weeding effort summary for the 2019-20 season shows that our effort was the smallest of the last 10 years, both for the Reserve* alone (666 hours) and for the Reserve and adjacent paddocks combined (687 hours). This partly reflects a decline in weeding volunteer numbers over the years, partly an improvement in our efficiency, partly variability of the climate and partly, we hope, success in reducing the size of some weed infestations and therefore reducing effort required.
Despite the reduced effort compared with a few years ago, we are reasonably confident that all major invasive weed targets were controlled on the Reserve to the same extent as in previous seasons.
The weeds that absorbed most effort this season were miscellaneous Broadleaf Weeds (204 hours, all on the Reserve), St. John's Wort (127 h), Paterson's Curse (103 h, 99% on the Reserve), Saffron Thistles (73 h, 96% on the Reserve) and Verbascum (34 h, 99% on the Reserve). Together these accounted for 79% of the effort.
See the 2019-2020 weeding effort page and associated links to maps and charts for more statistics and comparisons with previous seasons and across the different management regions of the Reserve.
* Note: effort for the Reserve now
includes effort in the Extension, both in this season and in previous seasons.
08 Jul 2020: Members vote to defer the 2020 AGM for a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
See AGM 2020
09 Mar 2020: Weeding Effort summary updated to end of February
The weeding effort for the 2019-20 season to the end of February was 281 hours, 96% within the Reserve (including the Extension). This was was the smallest of the the 10 seasons of records and only 40% of their average. Effort in January (26 h; all in the Reserve) was also the smallest of our 10 seasons, only 23% of the average for the previous 9 Februaries.
The small effort for this season is in large part due to the hot, dry weather. Some rainfall and temperature statistics relevant to this period can be found below.
Most effort for the season to date has been spent on the group of miscellaneous Broadleaf weed (102 h), followed by St. John's Wort (60 h), Paterson's Curse (34 h), Briars (18 h) and Capeweed (16 h). Together these made up 82% of the effort.
See the weeding effort page and associated links to maps and charts for more statistics and comparisons with previous seasons and across the different management regions of the Reserve.
Rainfall recovery
After an exceedingly dry year in 2019 there has been a recovery in rainfall to close to average in January (40 mm) and well over 2.5 times average in February (still awaiting final figures from BoM). March has also got off to a strong start already having received about twice average rainfall. This means that we have already had more than half the rainfall received in the whole of last year and the wettest start to a calendar year since 2012. We can expect a strong recovery of weeds (and native species) in autumn and no doubt a strong increase in effort required for their control.
06 Feb 2020: Weeding Effort summary updated to end of January
The weeding effort for the 2019-20 season to the end of January was 255 hours, 96% within the Reserve (including the Extension). This was was the smallest of the the 10 seasons of records. Effort in January (14 h; all in the Reserve) was also the smallest of our 10 seasons, only 10% of the average for the previous 9 Januaries.
The small effort for this season is in large part due to the hot, dry weather. Some rainfall and temperature statistics relevant to this period can be found below.
Most effort for the season to date has been spent on the group of miscellaneous Broadleaf weeds, (92 h), followed by St. John's Wort (57 h), Paterson's Curse (33 h), Capeweed (16 h) and Briars (14 h). Together these made up 86% of the effort.
See the weeding effort page and associated links to maps and charts for more statistics and comparisons with previous seasons and across the different management regions of the Reserve.
Rainfall and temperature statistics
For the two Bureau of Meteorology rainfall gauging stations closest to The Pinnacle, the 6 months from July to December was the driest of the 46 years of records with only 105 mm (an average of 17 mm per month) well below the 46-year median for this period of 361 mm (60 mm per month). The rainfall for the 2019 calendar year (374 mm) was the third smallest since records commenced in 1974, ahead of 345 mm in 1982 and 360 mm in 2006. The total rainfall for the last 3 calendar years was 1488 mm, only 4 mm more than the driest 3 year period from 2006 to 2008 in the middle of the last drought.
The mean maximum rainfall for the each of the last 4 months (October to January) exceeded the previous record for the corresponding month by 4 degrees, while the all time record for the daily maximum temperature was exceeded twice in December.
28 Jan 2020: Guidelines for volunteer fieldwork in extreme conditions
In view of the challenging weather conditions at the moment which include extreme temperatures, poor air quality and extended total fire bans the Parkcare team has been working with safety experts to put together some guidelines to assist volunteers staying safe.
They've carried out an updated risk assessment and put together a simple one page document which
provides guidelines for
volunteer fieldwork in extreme weather [ 
0.5 MB].
25 Jan 2020: New illustrated species lists added to the fotpin website ...
... all linked from the new flora and fauna page.
New lists of species with confirmed sightings on the Pinnacle Nature Reserve have been added to our website, including: mammals, fungi, spiders, beetles, insects and many others. Photos of selected species are included in each list as well as links to where more photos can be found.
The new sightings are drawn largely from the Canberra Nature Map, where fotpin members and others report their observations of all living things great and small.
The website menu has also been modified and a number of other web pages updated.
Some of these changes will help to set the website up for future gradual transition to "responsive design" to make it more suitable for devices with different screen sizes.
09 Jan 2020: Weeding Effort summary updated to end of December
The weeding effort for the 2019-20 season to the end of December was 240 hours, 96% within the Reserve (including the Extension). This was much less than last season but similar to the season before, which was the smallest of the the 10 seasons of records. Effort in December was 44 hours, all but 3 hours of which was on the Reserve. This was the smallest amount of December effort in the last 10 seasons and less than 25% of our peak December effort in 2013-14.
The small effort for this season is in large part due to the hot, dry weather. Some rainfall statistics relevant to this period can be found below.
Most effort for the season to date has been spent on the group of miscellaneous Broadleaf weeds (92 h; 38% of total). Next was St. John's Wort (51 h), followed by Paterson's Curse (33 h) and Capeweed (16 h). Together these made up 80% of the effort.
See the weeding effort page and associated links to maps and charts for more statistics and comparisons with previous seasons and across the different management regions of the Reserve.
Rainfall statistics
For the two Bureau of Meteorology rainfall gauging stations closest to The Pinnacle, the 6 months from July to December was the driest of the 46 years of records with only 105 mm (an average of 17 mm per month) well below the 46-year median for this period of 361 mm (60 mm per month). The rainfall for the 2019 calendar year (374 mm) was the third smallest since records commenced in 1974, ahead of 345 mm in 1982 and 360 mm in 2006. The total rainfall for the last 3 calendar years was 1488 mm, only 4 mm more than the driest 3 year period from 2006 to 2008 in the middle of the last drought.