banksia bulletin
issue number 032 - spring 2008
Friends of Bayside 2008 contact list Friends of Balcombe Park Coordinator: Joan Couzoff 26 Balcombe Park Lane, Beaumaris 3193 Phone: (03) 9589 1060 Friends of Bay Road Reserve Coordinator: Michael Norris 5 Deakin Street, Hampton 3188 Phone: (03) 9521 0804 BRASCA Coordinator: Janet Ablitt 4A Fairleigh Avenue, Beaumaris 3193 Phone: (03) 9589 6646 Friends of Brighton Dunes Coordinators: Elizabeth McQuire 34 Normanby Street, Brighton 3186 Phone: (03) 9592 6474 and Jenny Talbot 71 Champion Street, Brighton 3186 Phone: (03) 9592 2109 Friends of Cheltenham Park Coordinator: Valerie Tyers 65 The Corso, Parkdale 3194 Phone: (03) 9588 0107 Cheltenham Primary School Sanctuary PO Box 289, Cheltenham 3192 Phone: (03) 9583 1614 Friends of Donald MacDonald Reserve Coordinators: Alison and Bill Johnston 4 Wellington Avenue, Beaumaris 3193 Phone: (03) 9589 5459
Friends of Long Hollow Heathland/ Friends of Table Rock Coordinator: Ken Rendell 33 Clonmore Street, Beaumaris 3193 Phone: (03) 9589 4452
Acknowledgements Thank you to all the people who have contributed to this issue of Banksia Bulletin. The editors encourage people to submit articles, however Bayside City Council reserves the right to edit or omit articles. Artwork, illustrations and photographs can also be submitted to feature in the publication.
Friends of Merindah Park and the Urban Forest Coordinator: David Cockburn 72 Spring Street, Sandringham 3191 Phone: (03) 9598 6148
Disclaimer The views expressed in the Banksia Bulletin are not necessarily those of Bayside City Council or its representatives.
Friends of Native Wildlife Coordinator: Michael Norris 5 Deakin Street, Hampton 3188 Phone: (03) 9521 0804
Editors Amy Hough, Andrea Davies and Terry O’Brien
Friends of Gramatan Avenue Heathland Sanctuary Coordinator: Ken Rendell
Friends of Ricketts Point Landside Coordinator: Sue Raverty 5 Rosemary Road, Beaumaris 3193 Phone: (03) 9589 2103 Friends of Watkins Bay Coordinator: Moira Longden 73 Dalgetty Road, Beaumaris 3193 Phone: (03) 9589 2725 Marine Care Inc. Ricketts Point Convenor Phil Stuart PO Box 7356, Beaumaris 3193 Mobile: 0419 366 513 St. Leonards College Conservation Group 163 South Road, Brighton East 3187 Phone: (03) 9592 2266
Friends of George Street Reserve Coordinators: Val Tarrant 47 Bayview Crescent, Black Rock 3193 Phone: (03) 9598 0554 and Pauline Reynolds 9 Reno Road, Sandringham 3191 Phone: (03) 9598 6368
Banksia Bulletin is published quarterly by Bayside City Council to service people interested in enjoying and protecting the local environment. If you would like to be added to the Banksia Bulletin mailing list, please contact Bayside City Council on 9599 4444 or email: banksia@bayside.vic.gov.au. Please indicate whether you would prefer to receive your Banksia Bulletin by post or via email. Corporate Centre PO Box 27 Royal Avenue SANDRINGHAM VIC 3191 Telephone: 9599 4444 www.bayside.vic.gov.au enquiries@bayside.vic.gov.au Hours of business 8.30am – 5pm Monday – Friday (except public holidays)
Cover photograph: Acacia paradoxa by Pauline Reynolds
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Copy deadlines 2008 Copy deadlines are set for the first Friday of the month of release: Summer 2008 Monday 1 Dec 2008 for release mid Dec Autumn 2008 Friday 6 March for release end March
Printed on 100% recycled paper.
banksia bulletin - spring 2008
In this ISSUE Friends of Brighton Dunes Jenny Talbot Friends of the George Street Reserve Valerie Tarrant and Pauline Reynolds
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Planting for Bronzewings Michael Norris
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From the Bushland Crew Mitchell Benders
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A butterfly haven at Bayside Val La May
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Can including shrubs make your revegetation more noisy miner free? 10 Land for Wildlife News The Bayside Friends Forum Barbara Jakob
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The dreaded Indian myna - the cane toad with wings 12 Derek Hanley Bayside Pigeons Michael Norris A snake on Sandringham breakwater John Nacamuli Sandringham Heathland National Trust
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The dreaded Indian myna the cane toad with wings
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Draft Bayside Open Space Strategy (2007-2017) 16 - 18 Amy Hough Working Bee Dates
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Touch poisons should rarely be used, spray poisons even less. And poisons should only be used by people trained to use them. They are often used indiscriminately and inexpertly. A large tea tree at Green Point was killed several years ago because it was prostrate and the person spraying accidentally sprayed the leaves as well as the weed underneath.
Friends of Brighton Dunes In his well researched and fascinating book, Feral Future, Tim Low makes the point that Australia has countless invasive plants, insects, fishes and animals, and that sometimes it is just beating one’s head against a brick wall trying to be too much of a purist about pest control. The rabbits, descended from a few pairs introduced to Australia in 1830, still dominate our countryside in their millions, only kept under control by the development of a new type of the disease myxomatosis every few years. Cats kill millions of birds and small mammals every year. The early settlers wanted to ‘civilise’ the bush, and scattered cabbages, chickens, lemons, rye, coffee, pigs, wheat, cherries, and everything else they could think of wherever they went. 4
The famous Baron von Mueller went for walks scattering blackberry seeds to ‘improve’ the bush. We owe many of our choked waterways to him, as well as the beautiful Botanical Gardens. All of Melbourne’s bush reserves are weed-infested according to Tim Low. Indeed he says that the most weed-infested city reserves are right here in Melbourne. One of the important aspects of our work is to prioritise weeds, and not sweat the small stuff, like the charming little grass from Canada known as ‘hare’s tail’. Too purist an attitude, through over-use of machinery and poisons, will often result in throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Spraying several times a year is not a good idea. Whatever happened to pulling weeds out by hand?
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The soil is the basis of life. The problem with poisons is that they interfere with the microfauna in the soil. The mesofauna are the animals large enough to burrow through the soil. The microfauna move through the spaces, gaps, and cracks that already exist in the soil – beetles, cockroaches, ants, witchetty grubs, cicada nymphs, slugs, worms. Both mesofauna and microfauna live off the plant material digested and excreted by the microfauna. To poison the soil is to poison the microfauna. Although it is an invasive weed from Africa, the boxthorn (Lycium ferocissimum) serves a number of purposes and should never be removed wholesale but only in small patches. Much of the ground cover has gone, so the berries provide food. The thorns protect the birds from the assaults of cats, which kill thousands of birds a year in Bayside. Bayside should consider a curfew for 12 hours a night such as they have in Surf Coast Shire. The roots of the boxthorn, with so much vegetation gone, form an essential holding system for the sand dunes, against the ravages of human feet, and the wind. Jenny Talbot Co-Convenor – Friends of the Brighton Dunes (Dr Jim Willis Reserve).
Friends of the
George Street Reserve ‘Nothing is so beautiful as spring’ ‘Nothing is so beautiful as spring’, the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins declared in the opening lines of his poem, ‘Spring’. He could have been writing of the George Street Reserve heathlands as they burst into their new 2008 flowering – perhaps the best we have seen in recent years. Hopkins continues with a line about weeds which ‘shoot long and lovely and lush’. Surprising to us is the idea that weeds are lovely, since Citywide and we volunteers spend many hours uprooting the weeds which threaten to take over our indigenous flora. As Jo Hurse pointed out in the recent Bayside Environmental Friends Forum, we do the work because of the value of conserving precious remaining tracts of the heaths, woodlands and foreshore vegetation that are unusual in an area so close to a large city.
The rewards are particularly noticeable in springtime when the abundance of the heathland flowering in the George Street Reserve is a delight. The pure white of beard heath (Leucopogon virgatus) stands out against the ‘eggs and bacon’ (Bossiaea cinerea) clumps of bronze and gold, and creamy wedding bush (Ricinocarpos pinifolius) buds begin to open. The vegetation in the burn sites is flourishing and it looks set to survive very well, although another hot dry summer would be a testing time. Recent visitors from northern suburbs have enjoyed walks through the whole reserve, commenting on their amazement at finding such tracts of bushland in the midst of houses and factories. Friends would like residents to introduce people from different parts of Melbourne to our reserve. One good place
to start is at the slip-rail in Tulip Street where the excellent new signboard tells the history of the area and shows photographs of wildflowers. A second is on the George Street boundary where the signage contains maps of the reserves and useful information about the vegetation. As Bill Molyneux wrote in the Flora of Melbourne, (Hyland House, Melbourne, 1993): …‘we need to recognise just how fortunate we are in having such a rich flora at our back door …. we can all do something towards reversing some of the vast damage done to this vital heritage’.
Valerie Tarrant and Pauline Reynolds Joint Coordinators
Photograph of Bossiaea cinerea by Pauline Reynolds banksia bulletin - spring 2008
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Planting for Bronzewings On 19 July, 29 volunteers, mostly Friends, helped put in over 350 indigenous plants at the Sandringham golf driving range in George Street. Most of the plants were acacias, grasses, flax-lilies and bossiaeas, chosen because their seeds are food for a locally threatened indigenous bird, the common bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera). Our leaflet (on page 13) shows the other pigeons that reside in Bayside. We have recorded up to seven bronzewings regularly at the golf range and its surrounds since 1995, with signs – but not proof – of breeding. Their favourite site had understorey and also water – vital for a species that eats only seeds – but was largely cleared in 2005. Presumably they still drink at the nearby Pobblebonk Park pond, where incidentally tree frogs have arrived since it dried out and was cleaned and replanted by the Council in 2004. Cheltenham Park used to be the bronzewing stronghold. In the 1992 Cheltenham Park Management Plan, Damien Cook noted a nest and up to ten birds, a large number for a species that is uncommon in the Melbourne suburbs, and included a photo of a bronzewing feeding on introduced grasses. We never counted more than six birds but found three nests in 2000 alone. Then the population crashed in 6
2001 with no more than one bird being seen until early this year. We cannot know why the crash happened but many threats were evident. A favourite site had been tidied up, dying acacias had not been replaced, flowering gums were encouraging the noisy miners – aggressive native honeyeaters that have invaded much of Bayside in the last 30 years – foxes were present, drought or climate change had brought in crested pigeons – rivals for grass seeds never seen in Bayside until 1994, and Pindone oats had been used to control the local rabbits around the time of the crash. Elsewhere in Bayside up to four bronzewings still turn up from time to time, with a possibility they still breed on the Royal Melbourne Golf Course. Large numbers occasionally come to the George Street area for large seeds. Ten or more were recorded at Bay Road Heathland Sanctuary in 2001, probably feeding on black wattle seeds, and at Brixton Road in 2005, eating seeds of the introduced tree lucerne at a site recently sold for development. It is a mystery how they know the food is there, or where the extra birds come from. But the crested pigeons behave in the same way. Like magic over 100 of them recently arrived at a newly seeded oval where the average banksia bulletin - spring 2008
Common Bronzewing photograph by Kim Croker taken at Donald MacDonald Reserve count was 14. No wonder they can out-compete bronzewings in the search for grass seeds. While we were working a noisy miner drove off a nearby bronzewing. We hope the planting will provide a haven for these beautiful birds and help them to survive. Many thanks to all who helped: the lessees and staff of The Range, Sandringham, Citywide Parkcare, including Carmen Skrobonja who designed the plant layout, our photographers and poster designers, the Bayside Leader, Bayside City Council and Melbourne Water for great support, and of course the volunteers. We especially valued the enthusiasm of the six who are not yet Friends, and hope they enjoyed the experience and will join in again. Michael Norris Friends of Native Wildlife
From the Bushland Crew My name is Mitchell, and I’m the newest member of the bushland crew here in Bayside. All my life I’ve had a keen interest in native animals. After I finished Year 12, I studied zoology at the University of Melbourne where I became interested in ecology and botany. My interest in botany stemmed from wanting to help preserve native species. I feel that the only true way to preserve native species is through the rehabilitation of their natural habitats. In this way, pest species can also be controlled and the ecological equilibrium between different native species can be preserved. My interests have grown substantially, stemming from planting a couple of nectar
producing shrubs in my backyard to maintaining large areas of bushland. I joined the Citywide Bushland team with a view to help maintain and regenerate bushland habitat for the many native species found in Bayside and hope that I will be part of a team that achieves that.
continue the revegetation works that have taken place.
I have just recently taken over the role of managing both Cheltenham Park and Gramatan Avenue Heathland, and I greatly look forward to the challenges that each will pose. It will provide me with important knowledge and experience of looking after inland reserves and broaden my plant identification skills.
habitat type.
In Cheltenham Park I’m hoping to maintain the aesthetics of the park, and hopefully next year
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In Gramatan Avenue Heathland Sanctuary, I want to help preserve this remnant patch to be as weed free as possible as it offers such a unique habitat to some local native species that utilise this relatively uncommon I look forward to working with the all the volunteers and friends groups to help manage the parks, and hope that together we can maintain these areas for many years to come. Mitchell Benders Citywide Parkcare
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A butterfly haven at Bayside The replanted Bayside Indigenous Resource Garden is a great place for butterfly watching.
The garden is located on Bluff Road, just in from the corner of Royal Avenue in Sandringham. This article will concentrate on a few of my favourite species, including two that had not been previously recorded for the Bayside area. The yellow admiral, shown in the photo opposite, can be seen year-round in the garden. (During the cold months, most butterflies are in their egg, larval, or pupal stage.). This is an attractive insect, of about 50mm in wingspan. Also known as the Australian admiral, the butterfly flies rapidly and erratically, frequently alighting on vegetation. These admirals often land upside down on a tree trunk and drink from sap flowing out of the tree. I observed this behaviour in the Indigenous Resource Garden last February; the admiral was feeding from the sap of a large spotted gum (Eucalyptus maculata) in the eastern part of the garden. The butterfly is most
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likely gaining nourishment from the carbohydrates in the tree sap. ‘My’ admiral is rather ragged, having possibly escaped a bird-attack. Michael Norris, who has been monitoring butterflies in Bayside for at least ten years, observed a yellow admiral feeding from coast wattle sap last year in the garden. He even tasted the sap and found it rather sweet. Adult butterflies can only consume liquid food, because their mouthparts are modified into a tube-like proboscis, which is coiled at the front of their head. Butterfly larvae feed on solids such as leaves, wood, etc. Thus the two different life-cycle stages do not compete with each other for food. In fact, some butterfly and moth adults do not feed at all— they lead a brief (but happy?) life dedicated to reproduction.
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A much smaller butterfly, the saltbush blue was first recorded in the garden in late 2007. The saltbush blue has a wingspan of only 18mm. It is also known as the chequered blue, because of its bold underwing pattern. This butterfly zooms around low to the ground, but it does frequently alight on plants, such as the coast saltbush (Atriplex cinerarea) and the seaberry saltbush (Rhagodia candolleana), which are abundant in the garden. Slightly smaller than the saltbush blue is the greenish grass dart. It is one of the ‘Skipper’ family of butterflies, which is expanding its range, due to introduced grasses being widely planted. (Another ‘Skipper’, the orange palm-dart Cephrenes augiades appeared in southern Australia several years ago, probably brought in with tropical palms.)
Greenish grass dart
This little grass dart (also called the yellowbanded dart) frequently settles in the sun to bask, or lands on the side of a grass stem. But you have to be quick to photograph it, as it takes off like a rocket. It is another new butterfly to our area. Like most of the ‘Skippers’, the butterfly has a distinctive way of holding its wings at a right angle to its body when at rest. Who knows what other species of butterflies await discovery in our local gardens and reserves? Now that the warmer weather is here, frequent butterfly searching will no doubt be productive. Just don’t forget to take your camera along!
Yellow admiral
Val La May Friends of Native Wildlife References Braby, M.F., The complete field guide to butterflies of Australia. CSIRO Publishing 2004. (Available on Google Books) Coupar, P. & M. Coupar, Flying colours, common caterpillars, butterflies and moths of Southeastern Australia. NSW Press, 1992.
Saltbush blue dorsal
[Photos: All by Val La May (taken in the Bayside Indigenous Resource Garden) except the extra of the yellow admiral by Martin Purvis and the side view of the greenish grass-dart, which is © P. & M. Coupar.
Yellow admiral dorsel banksia bulletin - spring 2008
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Can including shrubs make your revegetation more noisy miner free? Noisy miners are aggressive Australian honeyeaters that dominate many areas of remnant vegetation and forest edges from which they can competitively exclude small birds. A similar domination can also occur in planted wildlife corridors. A research project carried out in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales aimed to determine which corridor plantings encouraged the presence of small native birds in regions where noisy miners dominate. Six vegetation mixes were investigated in the main study: eucalypts with and without shrubby understorey; acacia with and without shrubby understorey; exotic conifer, and exotic deciduous trees. A supplementary study then examined sites with a mixture of eucalypt and acacias with a shrubby understorey. The findings showed that noisy miners dominated corridors of eucalypts, virtually excluding small birds, whereas native acacias, exotic conifer and exotic deciduous corridors had small birds and no resident noisy miners. The non-native sites appear to be supplementary habitat, rarely being used by small birds for feeding and mainly being used as a convenient resting place. 10
The greatest abundance and richness of small birds occurred in plantings combining eucalypts with at least 15 per cent acacias, in this case bipinnate species and a shrubby understorey. Given these results, it is recommended that eucalypt plantings should be supplemented with both larger acacias (preferably bipinnate) and a shrubby understorey. Bipinnate acacias are not an important feeding resource for noisy miners, but do provide small birds, such as thornbills, with a desirable food resource and also a vegetation structure in which it may be easier to evade noisy miners. It is possible that noisy miners avoid sites with a proportion of trees and shrubs with dense foliage and low food benefit because to dominate them would provide insufficient return for the energy output. Active management to encourage regeneration from residual species, the soil and seed bank, and naturally dispersed seeds us usually the preferred method for regeneration of remnants. Where this is not possible, and the
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aim of the project is to provide habitat for small native birds, then plantings that contain at least 15 per cent non-eucalypt canopy species (particularly bipinnate acacia species) with a shrubby understorey could be beneficial. In all cases, appropriate revegetation practises should be used, such as using locally indigenous species, matching species to the landform, and establishing natural spacing and layers in the vegetation. Note: if your vegetation type doesn’t have taller bipinnate wattles (e.g. black wattles and silver wattles) then use other local species of a similar type – e.g. sheoaks, mint bushes, banksias and tea trees. Reference: Hastings, R.A. and Beattie, A J (2006) Stop the bullying in the corridors: Can including shrubs make your vegetation more Noisy Miner free? Ecological Management & Restoration. Volume 7 Number 2 Taken from Land for Wildlife News – Research Page 7 DSE Vol. 6. No. 3 April 2008
The Bayside Friends Forum The Bayside Friends Forum was held on Saturday 13 September 2008. Barbara Jakob opened the day and welcomed all guests and speakers. Her introduction emphasised the environmental issues for the world and the people here in Bayside that do their share to make this earth a livable place. Jo Hurse, Bushland Team Leader from Citywide Parkcare introduced us to the daily work her crew is doing. Year 9 students from Sandringham College gave a presentation showing their care for Ricketts Point and the Marine Sanctuary and the practical
action they have undertaken, helped by the ruMAD program (that means ‘Are you making a difference?’) Kerrie Spinks spoke about volunteers. She really got us thinking about different generations and what each generation has to offer to others. Brendan Condon told us that climate change is a real threat - and there are real ways of
countering it, with vegetation playing an important part. We can help by preserving biodiversity and making corridors for plants and wildlife to move. All together a most enjoyable in inspiring event. Barbara Jakob Bayside Environmental Friends Network
Upcoming meetings of the Bayside Environment Friends Network in 2008 22 October and 19 November 4.30 – 6.30pm at Hampton Community Centre 14 Willis Street, Hampton Please RSVP to Barbara Jakob on 0408 03 2963 or via email barbara@bjakob.com.au
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We’ve all seen them strutting around the streets in pairs, or in small groups of a half dozen or so.
The common Indian myna – a chocolate brown bird with a black head and neck, and yellow legs and beak. They have white wing patches, which you can see when they fly. They are very numerous around greater Melbourne. (However, they are not to be confused with our native noisy miners - a grey bird of similar size, which inhabits semi bushland areas.) These feral birds are an environmental menace. Common Indian mynas nest in tree hollows, or places like them, such as cavities in roofs. They reduce biodiversity through predation and competition with our wildlife, particularly hollownesting birds such as rosella’s and small mammals. They are aggressive competitors for nesting space and they will kill chicks and destroy the eggs of native birds. Originally, Indian mynas were brought to Melbourne in the 1860s to control insect pests in market gardens. They have been spreading since, always following human activity. They establish themselves in new areas by following roads into towns etc, rather than penetrating through bushland directly. 12
Apart from a direct threat to our wildlife, they are also a hazard to humans; for instance they congregate in shopping areas with outdoor cafes, and are opportunistic feeders when plates of food are left unattended. They sleep overnight in communal roosts. Usually in large exotic trees with dense foliage. Several hundred at a time inhabit each roost, and there are usually several roosts in each suburb. They are very noisy prior to dusk and you can hear the roosts from a kilometre or more away. Basically, their range is on the eastern Australian seaboard centered on Melbourne, Sydney and Cairns. They have spread out from there. There is a population in Canberra and regional areas as well. There are a number of informative websites, such as The Australian National University website – Common Indian Myna: http://sres-associated.anu.edu. au/myna/index.html Anyway, it’s all very well to talk about Indian mynas, but what is being done about them, and more to the point; what are we banksia bulletin - spring 2008
going to do about them here in Melbourne and Bayside in particular? I’m not saying that we can eliminate them, but they need to be controlled, because if we don’t, then a few years down the track, all we will see around will be Indian mynas. You can look at Canberra and what has been happening up there. In 2006, some people decided to do something about the myna problem, and formed an organised group, which has spread to about 500 people actively involved. They have trapped 17,000 plus of these feral birds across the Canberra suburban area in this two year time-span. Have a look at the Canberra Indian Myna Action Group website: www.indianmynaaction.org.au Because the bird is a communal rooster at night, strategies to capture large groups all in one go are being researched, but in practice this is difficult, as some roost trees and structures are huge. Part of a strategy to control them is individual trapping. This must be carried out in an ethical and humane way.
Bayside Pigeons Common Bronzewing. Scarce in SE Melbourne, feed on seeds of grasses but likes larger seeds from wattles, wheat, tree lucerne. Needs water. Males have a yellow forehead. Trapping on an individual scale is a drop in the ocean, but as in the Canberra experience, a network across an area starts to impact on numbers significantly. Traps have been developed and various commercial varieties are available for purchase. These traps exclude other birds by means of selective valves, and are designed specifically to trap Indian mynas. For example, see Myna Magnet Australia Pty Ltd website: http://www. mynamagnet.com.au
Crested Pigeon. Dry country bird first seen in Bayside in 1994. Now in all open spaces. A symptom of climate change?
Various groups have formed to actively control myna numbers, particularly across regional New South Wales and up through the coast, so the mynas are not going to get it all their own way.
Rock Dove. European, introduced almost worldwide. Huge range of breeds including racing and white fantailed pigeons. Few live away from humans.
Which leads me back to us here. Is there anybody else interested in this issue out there in Bayside (and beyond)? If there is, I’d like to hear from you. My email is derekhanley@ optusnet.com.au
Only one with that spiky hair-do!
Spotted Turtle-dove. Common in gardens and bush. Introduced from SE Asia in the nineteenth century. Has a spangled collar.
Has a bump above bill (the “cere”). Barbary Dove. Domesticated for centuries in North Africa. A few released or escaped cage-birds have nested in Bayside. Black collar band. Some are white.
If you haven’t got a computer, my mobile is 0422 953 684. Derek Hanley Bayside resident
Three other pigeons seen in Bayside in the last 10 years are far less common: the Brush Bronzewing and two probably from aviaries, Diamond and Peaceful Doves. All are Australian. By Michael Norris, Friends of Native Wildlife
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A snake on Sandringham breakwater During last summer, work (by Parks Victoria – Editor) on the Sandringham breakwater and their use of vehicles prevented me doing any fishing until their work ceased in the late afternoon. Then around 5pm, as I was walking to my favourite fishing spot, I found what appeared to be a snake, which had been run over by a vehicle. As my camera goes with me at all times, I took some shots of the snake and contemplated whether the skin could be preserved but due to the hot sunshine and the condition of the snake, this was not possible.
I have been fishing on the Sandringham breakwater since 1963 and never seen a snake, but I have seen snakes in other parts of the foreshore. And due to the large population of rats and mice along the foreshore of the whole of Port Phillip Bay, the possibility of snakes is very real. Snakes are not a real threat to humans and as they are usually very shy, a snake will scatter rather than ‘stand and fight’; only if cornered will a snake attack and bite.
Snakes usually feed on what is available in their habitat and surrounding, in this case, I believe the abundance of rats and mice which are unfortunately kept well fed by the visitors to our foreshore bringing all kinds of food and rubbish and dropping this refuse in the garbage bins along the beach and vegetated areas. I am sure I am not the only person who has seen a snake and I’m sure there will be more snakes sighted for many years to come. John Nacamuli Bayside resident
Photograph by John Nacamuli
Editors Note: We have sent John’s photographs to the Museum Victoria and also Healesville Sanctuary for confirmation and identification. We will let our readers know what species this snake was in our next edition.
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Editors Note: This article was passed to me recently and I thought it may be of interest to our readers. It is taken from page four of the Trust News by the National Trust, March 1981.
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Draft Bayside Open Space Strategy (2007-2017) Now available for public comment The Bayside Open Space Strategy (2007-2017) aims to provide a well connected open space system that is flexible enough to meet the changing needs of our community. The focus of this strategy is Council-managed open space. This includes parks, community areas, and foreshore reserves. This does not include other areas managed by Council (roads and lanes, roundabouts, shopping strips). Nor does it include areas managed by other authorities (railways, roads) or private owners (private golf courses, shopping centres). Population projections for Bayside over the life of the strategy indicate a slight rate of growth over all age cohorts until 2021. Compared to other metropolitan municipalities, Bayside’s population can be described as stable. An analysis of open space provision has been done for the municipality. This is compared to a number of other metropolitan municipalities. Open space is stratified and development standards established based on that stratification. A detailed analysis of provision by hierarchy is done for each of the nine suburbs that comprise the municipality. That analysis indicates some gaps in open space provision at a 500m-catchment level. At the broader level that is shown on the map overleaf.
Opportunities for implementation It is anticipated that this Strategy will be implemented over a ten-year period (2007 to 2017), subject to the availability of funds at the time. 1.
2.
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Preparation of appropriate plans for all parks 1.1. Prepare masterplans for Regional Parks, Neighbourhood 3 Parks, Bushlands and Conservation areas over the life of this Strategy. 1.2. Prepare profile plans for all other open space. 1.3. Ensure all open space is developed to the agreed standards for hierarchy and function. 1.4. Review maintenance levels and service levels based on established standards for hierarchy and function. 1.5. Ensure asset management and renewal priorities maintain open space to agreed levels. Integration of open space with existing linkages and networks 2.1. Integrate linkages between open space and Nepean Highway, railway reserves, Beach Road, the road and footpath network.
3.
4.
Seeking partnerships with other agencies 3.1. Enter into partnerships to achieve linkages and create local open space in areas that are currently inaccessible to the public. Other agencies might include with VicRoads, VicTrack, Department of Education, private landowners, private schools, and public schools. This might be achieved through management agreements involving privately owned lands. Provision of the basis for an open space contribution scheme, and guiding the use of these contributions. 4.1. Seek open space contribution: • Where open space supply is considered deficient • Where open space service levels are considered deficient • To provide linkages to other networks. 4.2. Consider swapping land that provides more valuable land for open space than some land that Council currently owns.
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The following table summarises the key results of each of the suburbs when open space provision is assessed according to the criteria.
Suburb
Provision of Open Space
Distribution
Size
Infrastructure and Opportunities
Community Needs
Linkages
Enhanced provision of open space required in the following areas
Beaumaris
• Distribution • Linkages
Black Rock
• Amount • Distribution • Linkages
Brighton
• Distribution • Local Needs • Linkages
Brighton East
• Distribution • Linkages
Cheltenham
• Linkages
Hampton
• Linkages
Hampton East
• Distribution • Size • Linkages
Highett
• Amount • Distribution • Size • Linkages
Sandringham
• Linkages
There are some areas with deficiencies in open space that arise because of either insufficient quantity of open space (Black Rock and Highett) or inadequate distribution of open space (Beaumaris, Black Rock, Brighton, Brighton East, Hampton East and Highett).
Public consultation Submissions and feedback on the draft Open Space Strategy are encouraged and will be received by Council until Friday 5 December 2008. Comments may either be emailed to:
All areas of the City of Bayside have been identified for improved linkages and connections to other open space destinations, the regional open space network or key community services and facilities. This improvement in infrastructure will be required to meet the increasing demands that rising participation in walking and cycling place on providers of open space.
masterplan@bayside.vic.gov.au
To achieve the opportunities for implementation requires resources. To complement the existing source of resources through Council’s rate base, it is considered that a contribution scheme is warranted.
Copies of the draft Open Space Strategy 2007-2017 are available on Council’s website www.bayside.vic. gov.au under the ‘Have your Say’ section.
This Open Space Strategy 2007-2017 builds a business case for the need for a developer contribution scheme. To realise such a scheme may require further analysis of open space distribution at the path network level, and profile plans across the municipality to determine the gaps in service delivery based on the nowestablished standards.
or posted to: Bayside City Council Parks Department PO Box 27 Sandringham VIC 3191
Hard copies of the draft Open Space Strategy 20072017 are also available at the Bayside City Council Corporate Centre and at all Council libraries. Alternatively, copies of the draft Open Space Strategy 2007-2017 are available on CD by request, please contact Parks Administration Officer, Marian Nicholls on 9599 4668. Should you have any further queries regarding the draft Open Space Strategy 2007-2017, please contact Council’s Environment Research Officer, Amy Hough on 9599 4444.
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banksia bulletin - spring 2008
Friends of Bayside
Working Bee times for October to November 2008 Time/Day
OCT
NOV
Balcombe Park
Last Sunday 10am - noon
26th
30th
Bay Rd
2nd Saturday 10am - noon
11th
8th
BRASCA
Contact Janet Ablitt ph 9589 6646
Brighton Dunes
Tuesdays 8am - 10am
7th, 14th, 21st, 28th
4th, 11th, 18th, 25th
Cheltenham Park
1st Sunday 10am - noon
5th
2nd
Cheltenham Primary
Contact school 9583 1614
Donald MacDonald
1st Sunday 10am - noon
5th
2nd
Elsternwick Park Lake
Contact Port Philip Ecocentre 9534 0413
George St
3rd Sunday 10am - noon
19th
16th
Gramatan
1st Sunday 1 - 3pm
5th
2nd
Long Hollow
Last Sunday 1pm - 3pm
26th
30th
Friends of Native Wildlife Contact M. Norris on (03) 9521 0804
1st Saturday 9.30am
Ricketts Point Landside
3rd Tuesday 1pm - 3pm
21st
18th
Table Rock
Last Tuesday 12.30pm - 2.30pm
28th
25th
Watkins Bay
Last Wednesday 1pm - 3pm
29th
26th
Gardenvale Primary School
Contact Brigitta Suendermann ph. 9530 0328
Sandringham East Primary School
Contact Katrine Lee ph. 9555 5250
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www.bayside.vic.gov.au