Latitude and Longitude for Samsonvale is: -27 °14' S, 152°47' E (GDA 94)
Welcome to 'Sittella' our 'Land for Wildlife' registered, acreage block situated northwest of Brisbane. We moved here in 1998 and were one of the first in the Shire to register on the 'Land for Wildlife' program.
Over the last couple of years we've enjoyed a journey of discovery taking photos of any new flowering plants each month, using a digital camera, then downloading onto the PC and cross referencing with books until we can come up with the ID.
In tandem with this identification trail we've a program of removing exotic weeds that have invaded (preferably hand removal). Weeding by hand is invaluable on a number of counts. 1. There is little to no disturbance of surrounding native flora. 2. The lack of disturbance allows the existing natives a chance to gain precious ground, and 3. it provides an opportunity to really look closely and carefully at what else may be growing there too; native wildflowers, often so subtle you would otherwise overlook them and never know they were there.
In the process we've become acutely aware of the 'web of nature' and in particular, just how many faunal species are dependent upon a native habitat for food, shelter and survival . This said, we've long followed other interests along these threads in the web of the natural world and have recorded and photgraphed birds, mammals, butterflys and insects of South-east Queensland. Visit our main site at www.aviceda.org
My own abiding focus remains the understorey; sadly overlooked by many yet it has an abundance of beautiful wildflowers, vines and grasses. 'Sittella' is made up of dry schlerophyl forest with a largely grassy understorey and shrub level leading down on a steep southerly slope to a sheltered, sometimes wet gully area which contains some dry rainforest species.
Although the focus here may be our own block, 'Sittella', it is a website to promote the whole area that Sittella is located within; with an emphasis on preservation given the disturbing rate of clearing of natural areas in Queensland.