Response to Info Request - Attachment 6b - Ecological Assessment Part 2 MCU18-0015 & RAL18-0001 · MCU18/0015

                                             Ecological Assessment – Attunga Heights



      Scientific Name        Common Name                                      Likelihood of Occurring on the Site
                                                     Possible. In east and south-east Australia, the Rufous Fantail mainly inhabits wet
                                                     sclerophyll forests, often in gullies dominated by eucalypts such as Tallow-wood
                                                     (Eucalyptus microcorys), Mountain Grey Gum (E. cypellocarpa), Narrow-leaved
                                                     Peppermint (E. radiata), Mountain Ash (E. regnans), Alpine Ash (E. delegatensis),
                                                     Blackbutt (E. pilularis) or Red Mahogany (E. resinifera); usually with a dense
                                                     shrubby understorey often including ferns. They also occur in subtropical and
                                                     temperate rainforests; for example near Bega in south-east NSW, where they are
                                                     recorded in temperate Lilly Pilly (Acmena smithi) rainforest, with Grey Myrtle
                                                     (Backhousia myrtifolia), Sassafras (Doryphora sassafras) and Sweet Pittosporum
 Rhipidura rufifrons    Rufous fantail
                                                     (Pittosporum undulatum) subdominants. They occasionally occur in secondary
                                                     regrowth, following logging or disturbance in forests or rainforests. When on
                                                     passage, they are sometimes recorded in drier sclerophyll forests and woodlands,
                                                     including Spotted Gum (Eucalyptus maculata), Yellow Box (E. melliodora),
                                                     ironbarks or stringybarks, often with a shrubby or heath understorey. They are
                                                     also recorded from parks and gardens when on passage. In north and north-east
                                                     Australia, they often occur in tropical rainforest and monsoon rainforests,
                                                     including semi-evergreen mesophyll vine forests, semi-deciduous vine thickets
                                                     or thickets of Paperbarks (Melaleuca spp.) (Dept. Environment 2016).
                                                     Unlikely: Suitable habitat not observed onsite. This species inhabits shallow
                                                     terrestrial freshwater (occasionally brackish) wetlands, including temporary and
                                                     permanent lakes, swamps and claypans. They also use inundated or waterlogged
                                                     grassland or saltmarsh, dams, rice crops, sewage farms and bore drains. Typical
                                                     sites include those with rank emergent tussocks of grass, sedges, rushes or reeds,
 Rostratula australis   Australian painted snipe     or samphire; often with scattered clumps of lignum Muehlenbeckia or canegrass
                                                     or sometimes tea-tree (Melaleuca). The species sometimes utilises areas that
                                                     are lined with trees, or that have some scattered fallen or washed-up timber.
                                                     Breeding habitat requirements may be quite specific: shallow wetlands with
                                                     areas of bare wet mud and both upper and canopy cover nearby. Nest records
                                                     are all, or nearly all, from or near small islands in freshwater wetlands , provided


Job No: Q12038/RW3                                         JWA Pty Ltd                                                         81