Now available in electronic copy, Birdlife in Blackheath tells a short story about creating habitat in Popes Glen Bushcare worksite in 2015.

Birdlife in Blackheath web

High resolution copies suitable for printing are available by contacting us by email at popesglenbush@ozemail.com.au

Here is a sneak preview of the first information brochure linking Bushcare with Bird Habitat. Currently at the printers! Bird Plants Blue Mts Final 2015 c (330kb)

Prepared by Popes Glen Bushcare Group for use over the whole mountains area, with assistance and funding from Greater Sydney Local Land Services.

Free to download, this is a compressed edition for web use; higher resolution copies are available for printing quality.

For any queries on the brochure, please contact us on this email address popesglenbush@ozemail.com.au (you might need to copy & paste).

Saturday 25th April saw up to 30 community members arrive in Popes Glen Bushcare worksite to help rehabilitate bird habitat. See “Bird Habitat Anyone?” post for more site details.

The Bushcare Group plans to create a habitat specifically tailored to attract and support smaller birds, such as Red-browed Finch, Superb Fairy-wren, Eastern Whipbird. Over 300 plants of local provenance and ready for planting.

First, dig a hole

Under bright blue skies Council Bushcare Officer Peter Chrismas demonstrated planting techniques to the whole group. We broke up into small groups to work in 5 small areas, previously marked out. Plants suitable for each micro-area had also been laid out earlier in the day. Very well organised indeed.

Then find a plant …

Hard at work still digging and planting

The very enthusiastic volunteers dug holes, planted & guarded, then watered every one of the tube-stock provided for the day.

The “finished” product

As the last few plants were being fitted in, the debris collected and final water spread around, the first drops of rain appeared and the skies began to fill with grey and darkening clouds. With most of the work done, many of the volunteers repaired to the morning tea (now lunchtime!) shelter. Some of us stayed behind to check for any rubbish & lost tools, also engaging in some impromptu weed identification while sheltering under tree ferns in the heavier downpours.

This dedication was rewarded, with the arrival close by of a White-necked Heron which had been patrolling the swamp 30 metres away earlier in the morning. Still & quiet as a statue, the bird patiently watched its prey hiding somewhere in the thick carex swamp grass beneath. We watched, took photographs, waited patiently too. But not as patiently as the Heron. We had left the bird to concentrate on its job, when a sudden sound made us turn again to find a large crayfish in the Heron’s bill.

Heron with Lunch

A fantastic job of juggling ensued, at the end of which the crustacean disappeared into the bird’s crop in a single, swift gulp. This heron has been in and around the Popes Glen swamp for at least two weeks and has been seen fishing before. Will it make home here? Very unlikely, but it is exciting to know that such a large bird is finding other parts of our previously lifeless willow-desert such good habitat.

There will be more such fun next month with another set of plants ready, but we can’t promise the Heron will repeat its performance. If you would like to come on 23rd May, or want more information, see below.

All community members are welcome, but numbers are limited so contact Alan to register and for details:   alan.lane@zeta.org.au    Ph 4787 7097

Saturday 28th March – a glorious morning for Bushcare activity. Sunny, no rain, not hot, no wind, blue skies and shade available. Perfect for PGBG volunteers to get stuck in to preparations for next month’s mass bird-habitat planting!

With up to 300 plants ready for 25th April, particular locations have been selected for each of the various species waiting for release from their tubes. Most of the plants have been propagated from seed collected on site or nearby.

This relatively small area is an important oasis of opportunity. Until this time last year, it was covered in Japanese honeysuckle, with most of the usual weed suspects poking up.

Approximately 20 metres square, with good native plant cover around three sides, it needs intense planting out to take advantage of the contractors’ weed removal efforts.

And we can almost sense the birds waiting for the new plants to appear.

There is still some weeding to do. Observant bushcarers might recognise the small oak tree in the foreground of this volunteer happy-snap. Rest assured it did not live to see lunch time, nor did its 5 mates.

The end result of our efforts is masses of small, cleared spaces each with a marker stick waiting for their allocated plant species.

This photo shows just a small section of the complete area.

Another very satisfying and enjoyable morning in Popes Glen.

There are still spaces available for anyone interested in visiting in April for the “big bird habitat planting day”. See the recent post “Upcoming Community Event” for details and how to book.

A Special Planting Day for the Birds of Popes Glen

Will be held on April 25 to begin creating habitat for all the small birds now visiting Popes Glen.

From Weedy Wasteland to Thriving Wetland

Over the past 12 years PGBG has progressively removed the forest of huge willows and other weeds from the large silt flat at the headwaters of Popes Glen creek. We’ve been replacing them with local wetland plants and putting in structures to control flooding and storm damage. An environmental desert is being turned into a thriving permanent wetland!

Making a Home for Birds

Golden Whistler (photo Paul Vale)

A wonderful spin-off is the large number of small birds, some species unusual or rare in the Upper Mountains, who now visit the wetland. They are using our piles of woody debris as habitat, but these will decay into the swamp over the next few years.  Now is the time for planting of dense vegetation thickets to create permanent habitat for these small birds.

The First Bird Habitat Planting Day

• Will be held on Saturday April 25, 10am – 1pm
• Planting about 300 tubestock.
• No experience or tools needed.
• BYO morning tea.

All community members are welcome, but numbers are limited so contact Alan to register and for details:   alan.lane@zeta.org.au    Ph 4787 7097

A beautiful sunny day for a walk in the creek. Sunday morning 8th March was scheduled as a joint BMCC/NPWS  Great Grose Weed Walk event and a small, able group headed out of the Parks office just after 9 a.m. to find those pesky remaining Gorse and any other weeds that might appear.  Amongst the group today, no less than four Blue Mountains Bushcare Legends!

Work involved a lot of walking through dense bush, to find the occasional small clearing, silt deposit or drainage line where weeds tend to congregate as well as wet feet to check the banks from the creek itself.

About 100 gorse plants varying from small hand-pulled seedlings to larger 1/2 metre high cut-&-paint jobs were removed. Other weeds found and treated were Monbretia (not much – good!), English Holly, a few Broom & Fleabane. Of course, not only work done. Good companionship and teamwork displayed with the odd break for a cuppa and sandwich. Nothing like sitting in amongst the perfect native bush while doing that with friends. A very satisfying day indeed.

28th Feb was the scheduled workday. But a few days before that, the “Men in Red”  visited. The Bushdoctor arrived with a fantastic motorised wheelbarrow to repair some recent stormwater damage.

A large section of previously un-supported, fragile headwall was washed out of the drainage line, with resultant silt mobilisation and worries about further damage from the next storm, or just from regular flows in the creek. Using all the remaining stockpile of rocks on site, the red demons excavated, shaped and armoured the whole section in just one day.

So, this is what it looked like when the group arrived for work on Saturday.

A little more work to do to finish this off and much more work to do in the immediate surrounding area, but this flow line has always been a worrying piece of the rehabilitation jigsaw.

So with this major item looked after, a lot of weeding and general maintenance was undertaken upstream on a very pleasant day for working.

After the holiday hiatus, which for Popes Glen is 2 months, there are always masses of weeds to deal with and jobs to tidy up at the urban interface in the Blackheath camping area. Sunny and hot, Saturday 23rd saw a group of motivated volunteers attacking Monbretia clumps in flower, with herbicide, swipers & great support from our BMCC Bushcare Officer. Most of the green visible in this photo is native, but the weeds keep getting in.

With such warm and wet conditions recently there was very noticeable growth of the more recent native plantings & self-seeded regeneration. Unfortunately, we also found numerous sapling-sized Crack Willows sprouting from the multitude of small live pieces left in the swamp from a previous large tree removal. The photo here shows one of these, with a small piece about 10cm long and 2 or 3 wide producing 5 or 6 stems and masses of fibrous roots. It needed a mattock to remove and there are about 30 more to wade through the swamp and get out next time; from previous experience we know they won’t do any harm in the meantime.

The choked hydration/pond outflow channel also had to be reopened, an enjoyable job even in the hot sun and very rewarding with immediate results. This was completed with “help” from a swarm of Damselflies, Iota Ringtail(Austrolestes io) seemingly enjoying the sun and water. Just 25mm long and stunning blue colour they make an interesting spectacle in flight with all 4 large wings a blur. A bonus on another very enjoyable and rewarding workday.

Here is the first “Flash” for Grant year 3. This is a very exciting period for the Volunteer Bushcare group and the Steering Committee, as it sees the completion of the largest and most significant section of the engineering side of the Project. That is, the storm control structure and the surrounding landscape have now been armoured with large rocks, more wood, geotech material and coir logs right down to the main outflow into the creek proper.

Read the newsletter for other very encouraging news.

The Masthead is dated 20th December and that is when the document was mostly finished, but publication and distribution was delayed until late January – we knew most of the recipients would not be in their office over that period.

BMBN News Flash 07 Dec 2014 compressed