At first, it’s a gentle, deep sound, which expands into the night as it grows. Then another frog might join the slow, melancholic chorus in a different key – and a moody, musical performance begins among the reeds at the edge of the Merri Creek. Our ecologist Michael Longmore is there to hear it.
But if, like Michael, you’ve heard this call recently, you’re remarkably lucky. The Growling Grass Frog, listed as vulnerable at both national and state levels, is holding on against the odds. Populations have declined across Australia since the 1970s, including those along the Merri Creek.
The good news is that with your help, Michael and the team at Merri Creek Management Committee will work to protect the southern populations of Growling Grass Frogs along the Merri Creek and you can help. Find out more about our plans below.
Michael is one of the lucky people who’ve heard the call of the Growling Grass Frog. Earlier this year, we were able to send members of our Ecological Restoration team to the location where frogs had been heard in 2019 for the first time in years. The surveys Michael and his teammates completed were possible thanks to our wonderful supporters, who donated to fund our Growling Grass Frog campaign in 2023 – thank you. But Michael wants to keep hearing that call for many years to come.
That’s why we’re asking for your support again.
And this time, we’re aiming much higher. We need to raise $90,000 by 30 June. Here’s how we’ll use your generous support:
- Carry out a 5-year program of Growling Grass Frog monitoring at Moomba Park Wetlands as well as three new wetland sites, north of the Western Ring Road.
- Improve foraging habitat for Growling Grass Frog in the vicinity of the Moomba Park Wetland.
- Expand citizen science water-quality monitoring to engage with residents in established and new suburbs north of the Ring Road, where awareness of the importance of biodiversity needs to grow.
- Help to protect the Growling Grass Frog from its second biggest threat, chytrid fungus, by developing protocols and hygiene kits for citizen scientists, to reduce the accidental spread of chytrid fungus into monitored wetlands.
Join us in our vision for the Growling Grass Frog – help us ensure that the beautiful and melancholy calls of this precious frog do not fall silent.
The dusk light is fading and a small group, gathered at the edges of a wetland, switch their spotlights on and cast beams across scattered grasses and ponds. The February night is warm and still – perfect for spotting frogs. The group, three surveyors from Merri Creek Management Committee and Merri-bek Council, are scouring a new wetland at Moomba Park, Fawkner, for the presence of the Growling Grass Frog,which until recently, hasn’t been seen locally for over 50 years.
The Growling Grass Frog is a ground-dwelling tree frog that was once abundant along the Merri Creek, but whose calls went largely unheard in the area in the 1970s. The species is now listed at both state and federal levels as vulnerable, having disappeared entirely from some areas, including the extent of the Australian Capital Territory. In 2019 however, Merri Creek residents were thrilled to report the distinctive call was being heard locally once more.
“Until recently, we thought the frogs were getting washed down from further upstream,” says Michael Longmore, who heads up the Ecological Restoration Team at Merri Creek Management Committee.
“But once we studied the area, we were hopeful there could be an evolving frog population. We wondered whether incorporating frog habitat into existing plans for a stormwater treatment plant could work – and Merri-bek Council were quick to get on board, even though the prospect of the frogs using the wetland was considered a long shot.”
Collaboration along our precious creek
The wetland where Michael and his fellow surveyors now stand (completed in July 2023) is the result of Merri Creek locals, Merri-bek Council, Melbourne Water and Merri Creek Management Committee collaborating to ensure the Growling Grass Frog’s call will still be heard here in another 50 years. The pond’s success as habitat will be an important marker in the frog’s struggle for survival. And tonight, the stakes are high – a survey in November 2023 found no frogs; in January 2024 a second survey found just one. The team hopes the extra month might have given the frogs a chance to settle in.
Michael plays pre-recorded audio of the famous, guttural Growling Grass Frog call, which has been likened to the sound of a chainsaw. The team waits in silence for a response. After five minutes, the torches are turned back on. Michael’s teammate Nico Wayland stops and backtracks to a spot at the grassy edge of a pond, then takes a step closer.
Sitting atop stands of Common Spikerush (carefully selected by wetland designers for this purpose), is a pair of adult Growling Grass Frogs. And the news gets better: a closer inspection reveals the frogs are proud new parents. In the grasses and on the ground nearby, first one and then another tiny frog is seen. The final count is 18 soon-to-be-adult frogs.
It’s the news that Merri Creek supporters have been hoping for. In 2023, seventy-three generous donors were so inspired by our shared hopes of hearing the calls of the Growling Grass Frog here again that they donated nearly $20,000 to the Merri Creek Environment Fund towards research, surveys, community engagement and citizen science.
The Growing Grass Frog life cycle
The “baby frogs” that Nico and the team are seeing are known as metamorphlings. These are frogs in the third stage of a frog’s four-stage life cycle, with the first and second stages being eggs and tadpoles, and the final stage being fully formed adults. Metamorphlings have lost their tails and have fully formed legs but are not yet old enough to breed.
Nico is excited to see such a quick response to a management intervention.
“With most ecological restoration work it can take many years to see much result from your efforts. But this time, the frogs appeared pretty quickly after the wetland construction. We’re thrilled!”
Michael Longmore agrees.
“The frogs still have a long way to go – and it’s important that we keep surveying – but this is an early sign that the efforts Merri-bek Council made to consult experts about what the Growling Grass Frog needs to thrive, was worth it. We hope to share more stories of success with our donors, who helped to deepen our understanding of this precious frog by supporting our campaign last year.”
Thankyou
We thank the generous donors who supported our Merri Creek Environment Fund Autumn 2023 appeal to Help our endangered Growling Grass Frog. These donations will continue to provide information about how we can best support these precious frogs to thrive in the Merri Parklands.
Want to help land managers learn more about the Growling Grass Frog? Download Melbourne Water’s frog census app. You can play an important role in helping to capture frog data at local creeks, rivers and wetlands.
Metro Trains, a customer of MCMC, was recognised with a High Commendation award in the Excellence in Environmental Outcomes Category at the annual Infrastructure Sustainability Council awards on 7 September, 2023. The Biodiversity Manager of Metro Trains, Ben Roberts, said “I feel the award is a great recognition of the skilled and dedicated effort that MCMC have contributed since the inception of the biosite program. Throughout the program, MCMC have provided a consistent and reliable service which has resulted in the MCMC managed sites steadily recovering over this time, including improving site conditions which have significantly increased threatened species abundance.”
Achievements made by Metro Trains at the Biosites include: 314% increase in abundance of threatened species; recovery of three Threatened Ecological Commuities; the return of five previously unrecorded threatened species; and the introduction of regular cool season eco-burns as a “business-as-usual” practice.
Also see the video of our work with Metro Trains on remnant rail reserves in this segment on Gardening Australia in 2021.
Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people understand the September and October months as Porneet season on Country. This time has many warmer and sunnier days which plants and animals respond to. In Porneet this year, MCMC’s community activities have focussed on birds and we’ve seen them fluttering around to mate and foraging for nest building materials, and noted that nests range from leafy, twiggy constructions, to mud lined with feathers, or woven with horsehair!
Merri Creek Primary School students enjoyed spying on three nests by the Merri and saw the arrival of Pacific Black Ducks, Australian Wood Ducks, Chestnut Teals and one Northern Mallard. The children could easily identify these birds by using the Friends of Merri Creek’s brochure: Merri Birds.
During vacation program in Hawkstowe Recreation Reserve in Plenty Gorge Parklands, we observed Australian Wood Ducks searching for food with 11 fluffy chicks, and drew Sacred Kingfishers and learnt about their long journey and special habits.
In Merri-bek, children queued up to have local birds painted on their hands as part of a festival in Coburg. This led to wonderful exchanges about indigenous biodiversity, and to noticing the pinkishness of Kookaburra’s beaks and the bluishness of wing feathers, the importance of healthy feet and places to perch, the different shapes of beaks, the long flights for migrating Sacred Kingfishers to visit Merri Creek.
Email admin@mcmc.org if you’d like support to focus on Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung seasons and local plants and animals.
To commemorate National Threatened Species Day, the Merri Paddle, a subgroup of Friends of Merri Creek, recently hosted a Roundtable of Stakeholders to discuss ways to bring platypus back to the Merri. Participants from member councils (Cities of Hume, Whittlesea, Merri-bek and Yarra) and organisations, including Melbourne Water, the EPA, DEECA & AQUEST (RMIT), presented and participated in discussions on practical solutions for improving Merri Creek at specific sites to facilitate an increase in platypus numbers on the Merri. Besides Merri Paddle and Friends of Merri Creek, the community was represented by Rotary, Bacchus Marsh Platypus Alliance and MCMC. The event was a positive, collaborative and pragmatic approach that we hope will solidify and create new partnerships in order to reduce pollution levels in the Merri.
To learn more about the Merri Paddle group go to: https://www.friendsofmerricreek.org.au/merri-paddle
Sincere thanks to the funders of the event: Melbourne Water, Friends of Merri Creek, MCMC and the City of Merri-bek with support from DEECA and the City of Darebin.
Our sincere thanks to the 73 generous donors to our 2023 Merri Creek Environment Fund appeal, Help our endangered Growling Grass Frogs. The appeal raised $19,444 and will be a great help in finding out more about these frogs in the Merri Parklands in northern Fawkner. We want to know whether and where they’re breeding in the vicinity, whether they’ll make use of the new wetland that Merri-bek Council has developed in Moomba Park and how we can best support them to thrive in the Merri Parklands.
We received some very appreciative comments from donors:
“I’m always inspired by your work and efforts, keep up the great work and thank you!!”
“Love your work in bringing nature to the urban environment.”
We also received a delightful letter with a donation from Merri Creek itself – see the incredible full story in the article: Donation from Merri Creek itself!
