STEP Working Bees

Working bees have been very productive recently. Now is a good time for STEP members to visit the STEP site and see what has been achieved so far.  We are always glad to see members who would like to join our Thursday morning ‘working bees’.

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The Birdlime Spider of Block 100

Article contibuter by Stephen Skinner

The Birdlime spider (Celaenia kinbergi) is an interesting member of the diverse family of Orb Weavers. She, and yes, she is the big spider, the male is tiny, builds a day-bed and the wonderful ‘lobster buoy’ incubation sacs and little more.

Birdlime Spider

She is believed to lure her diet of moths using a pheromone-mimicking scent. The more she eats, the more of the incubation sacs she will construct, and the ground below her day-bed will be littered with moth carcasses. Given warm weather and so plenty of moths she may build one egg sac every five to seven days, taking a bit longer as the days shorten and the weather cools. She is a long lived lady and may have bunches of about a dozen sacs across the season. The spiderlings are tiny and may have hatched from the early sacs well before the last one is finished. This lady has seven sacs hanging in her chosen sapling. 22nd May 2011.

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CVA helps construct Botanic Garden visitor pathways

Saturday 21 May 2011 and at 9.30 the start of a wonderful day at the STEP site, National Arboretum Canberra, in the glorious autumn sunshine. A bunch of conservation volunteers were driven on site in the Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) van by Tim Harvey.

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