Author: dradma

Working Bee – 02.03.2025

Weather forecast was for a warm one so an earlier start to usual was the smart move. Apart from the heat, it was a perfect day to get some bush regeneration done.

I was strolling to the planned location when I walked past this section I had cleared previously at the big ol’ sandpaper fig.

‘Cleared’ area just above the ol’ sandpaper fig

What clearing right? Latana was already diving for that empty space. Natives were still doing well but it was clear they would be in battle soon. So slight detour, maintenance was in order.

Maintenance finished

I pushed back against the upper wall of lantana and cleared more privet at the entrance. There are small birds that use the lantana for nesting near this location so I could not push too far.

There was multiple poison peach and sandpaper saplings at this location so I feel it has been worth the effort so far.

After this short detour, I kept onto with the original plan of extending the clearing of invasives at the recent planting site.

As far as how the new plants are going… just great. I think it is 100% survival rate at present.

The only concern is the amount of invasive plants that have also popped up. Hence the benefits of surrounding the plantings with mulch but at this location, trying to get mulch into place would be a mammoth job.

I spent another few hours at this location and made good progress. I had brought the weed puller down to handle the larger privet that could still be pulled out. It really paid off. I think this photo shows the idea. There was also Cassia, Lantana, Ochna, Camphor laurel which had to come out.

Some of the trees remove via the weed puller
Another chunk of bush cleared of invasives

I was happy with the results.  There is about half a dozen poison peach trees of varying maturity in this section. Apart from the other usual suspects, I also noticed some white cedar here. It seems to be all paying off. Just need to put a stop to that regrowth around the new plants.

I expect next week to be more of the same…

 

 

 

 

Site inspection – 19.01.2025

We’ve had some big storms in Newcastle over the last week. Many trees and branches have been blown down from wild winds and a few downpours. So I was interesting in determining how the new plants had fared.

In all, they have fared well. The native violets would of been fully submerged in the creek and I can see the surrounding soil was partly washed away but the plants are still in place.

I decided to leave the plants as they are, even though one of them has a fair bit of its roots exposed. I figure it must be been grounded to some degree to not be washed away.

The other ground cover was fine:

At this stage, I think it just wants more sunlight and it will do well. I still need to keep some of the invasives back though.

I was expecting the dianellas to be going strong with all the rain, and two of them are, but the middle one is struggling for some reason. My guess is it is getting too much water so maybe it will come good as the ground starts to dry out.

The Sydney golden wattles at the front of the reserve are going gangbusters. They have all sprouted substantial new growth. I think at this point they are not going to need any more maintenance.

A few of the acacia longifolia at the front of the reserve

The plants that were just planted at the rear of the reserve are all going strong. I was worried that some of them would cop a branch or two but mostly they were all lucky.

I am hoping that with the ground getting such a good drenching, it will give them all a boost. Fingers crossed.

Androcalva sp. (Native hemp, Brush kurrajong)

Androcalva fraseri

Androcalva rossii

 

These are not in Dick’s creek reserve but have been observed in abundance in nearby bush.

 

These species get confused with each other. Differences are discussed here: https://southcoast-nsw.naturemapr.org/species/747

The photos below was an immature tree in Glenrock State conservation park.

 

Working Bee – 04.01.2025

I could not ignore the infestation of palm grass growing on the south bank at the bottom of first fall. It has been getting steadily stronger for the last 12 months so that became my starting point this morning. I forgot to grab a photo so that will have to come later…

Fred and Sandra were on site this morning and worked like a powerhouse to clear a substantial amount of lantana and privet along the creek towards the rear of the reserve.

Hard at work
Job well done

I kept on working in the same fashion as the last few working bees. With the privet being close to the creek’s edge, it is important to preserve the root system to avoid erosion. Hence I used the cut and paint method on trees close to the creek.

Here’s me in front of a section I was working on…

With a little more access to the creek, it was a little faster to get the plants watered. It is not normally required to water plants in bush regeneration but the weather is notably dry at present. I will keep giving them some water until I am sure they have established themselves.

After our working bee, we were just having a cup of tea when we saw this guy:

Pacific baza

We don’t see these guys as often as some of the other birds so it is always interesting to see them.

 

Working Bee – 01.01.2025

New years Eve. What a great day to make a little more progress on the target area. I have been feeling the need to give the plantings some water but it has been quite the struggle to get down the creek to gather some water and then back to the plants. So, to make the process easier, I intended to remove the lantana and privet to allow a shorter path to the creek.

It didn’t work so well. Numerous native vines had wrapped around the privet to the extent that it was far more difficult than normal and even after removing the privet, the vines still make the trip to the creek quick tricky. Still, it was an improvement and the plants watering was a lot quicker this time.

This was my progress for the day.

It is not possible to see the creek but it is now possible to reach the creek through that vegetation.

Working Bee – 24.12.2024

It was taking all too long to prepare various locations for the remaining plants given to us from the landcare nursery. There was a risk they would die before they got a chance to be planted so I decided to bring forward the working bee to plant the remaining plants. The location we have recently cleared seemed quite suitable. We had 24 plants left so it was quite a job to get them all planted in one session. I had some helpers too. Lee and Ella were there to help…

Helpers extraordinaire
Job well done

It’s quite hot and dry at present so I am going to need to get down to water them over the next few weeks.

Unfortunately we have no mulch to use. What would be great is if we could convert the lantana rafts into mulch but there is no obvious way to do that yet.

Planted species were:

5 x Acacia implexa
5 x Acacia ulicifolia
2 x Acmena smithii
3 x Syncarpia glomulifera
5 x Dodonaea triquetra
4 x Gonocarpus teucrioides

A good way to finish the year…