dradma – Dick's Creek Bush Regeneration

Working Bee – 07.03.2026

It was perfect weather to do some bush regeneration today. My intention was to continue on at the same location as the last working bee. However, before starting I did a quick inspection of past locations.

At the start of the trail down to the mid section, it is clear that it is time to start removing some of the fishbone fern. It is hard to see in this image below but the stand of bracken fern that I cleared the fishbone fern from, years ago, is holding its own. I have decided not to clear that area further until some of the bigger branches of the dead camphor laurel have dropped.

Dick’s creek between first and 2nd falls

My plan is to start from the Ghania near the creek and clear strips a few metres wide of fishbone fern. That will allow the ghania to move into that area and will allow the sun to reach any new growth.

This plant that I was hoping was swamp lilly does not appear to be swamp lilly. I imagine it is unlikely to belong but I will id it before removing it.

This one is hanging in there. I will clear the fishbone fern sometime soon.

Sandpaper figs are really going strong at present. They have always done well but they are now also moving towards the area near the first fall.

This guy has struggled for years but has now clearly got it’s roots in. There has been a lot of growth in the last 12 months. It will be interesting to see how it handles the next big wet as the current can be quite intense at this location.

I checked the location of my previous plantings at this spot.

This was the Hibbertia scandens I planted at the end of 2024. It looks healthy but has not grown much. Surprising as I thought this would be the perfect location for it.

Next to this, on the bank, I planted Dichondra repens (Kidney weed) which is still going well but is in danger of being overshadowed by palm grass and some other problematic weeds. It’s now on the to-do list.

On the other side I planted viola hederacea (native violet) which was battered badly at one point by the fast currents during heavy rain. I still see a single seedling so it is possible it will spring back but unlikely at this point…

Below is the south bank at the bottom of first fall. It also needs more maintenance. Unfortunately, it has taken a battering from the local kids playing at this location. It should bounce back…

My reference point. Looking up to first fall from the top of 2nd fall. Still too much fishbone fern on the right and swedish ivy on the left.

I had previously been happy with the variety of natives at the south bank at the top of 2nd fall. It is still going well but the ground cover is a problem. Swedish Ivy and unwanted grasses need to be removed.

At this spot (not all visible), pittosporum, cheese trees, elderberry panax, hairy clerodendrum & native olive.

On the other side, it is a bit of a mess though not all bad. A native vine, Gynochthodes jasminoides is dominating. I leave it as it is not smothering anything too badly. It just looks messy.

Swedish Ivy is taking off on the North bank as well… I had previously cleared fishbone fern at this spot, expecting the bracken fern to take its place but that is not how it has turned out.

North bank under 2nd falls has gone steadily backwards. It’s more privet than anything again.

I eventually made my way to the desired location, between the old fallen tree and the pit and spent a solid chunk of the day breaking up the lantana at the location. What I know as the ‘pit’ is waist deep hole, about nine square meters in diameter. I have no idea why it is there but it contains some human debris so I assume it is man made. I had previously cleared the area of lantana in the past but I didn’t really finish it and so I am not surprised that it came back to bite me. It’s not finished but I was happy with the progress.

I was accompanied by a large water dragon while working. It had very unusual colouring with a dark red on the belly and orange on his back. He had no fear of me to the point where he would come straight at me to grab a bug that might of been uncovered while pulling up roots.
Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo while I was working so I was happy to see him as I was leaving the site. I thought I would capture him on film but he then went and did the same thing and scared the bejesus out of me while going for a bug just in front of me.

Working Bee – 22.02.2026

A solid morning of bush regeneration today.

I have multiple locations which require attention but I decided to try and stay focused on the areas where the lantana has sprung back. It requires some discipline to walk past areas that are in dire need but all in good time…

At the rear planting site, it looks good in general but it is surrounded by privet and lantana. You can see in the photo below, quite a few natives with only a few offending species that need to be removed (ie passionfruit in the foreground). I can see pittosporum, bleeding heart, poison peach and some of the natives we planted. So mostly good. I will try to move the mound at some point.

Just in front of this site though, was an infestation of privet and lantana. Actually, this is true in all directions but one step at a time…

I cleared the space upto the big fallen tree:

Cleared site between planting site and big fallen tree

This photo still looks chaotic but it is a big improvement. It takes a a while for the remaining plants to shine through and the uprooted plants to die off.

I think I will be focused on the area on the other side of the big fallen tree. I am yet to finish the map showing these landmarks I use.

I should be able to do most of this area:

Overgrown area between old fallen tree and the ‘pit’

I never really fully removed all lantana from this location and now it has come back to bite me. On the plus side, now there is natives growing in the area while in the past, there was nearly no native lower canopy and mid canopy species.

The mound made from today:

Working Bee – 15.02.2026

Finally got to the planting site at the rear of the reserve. It had fared better than I feared. I was worried that palm grass was going to take over the site but surprisingly there was not much more than the last time I attended.

Pittosporum at the front, bleeding heart to the right, tobacco tree center left.

Tree fern doing nicely. Palm grass looks worse here than reality. It was only the one patch

There was a lot of night shade which can be seen in this photo.

There was a lot of night shade which is typically not considered too bad an exotic considering it is easily removed but it can still suppress native growth so out it came.

This is a short video I took from the entrance to the planting site (from Glen’s alley).

For a while I was having trouble orientating myself. I could not find plants I knew I had planted. I eventually found this guy:

Lilly pilly going strong despite being strongly shaded by privet when I first found it.

Some of the plants (most?) had not survived but some were doing well and there were numerous plants that had self seeded. Bleeding heart and sandpaper fig is always present but this time, poison peach (trema tomentosa) was popping up all over.

From next to the Lilly pilly with the mount on the far right.

I did not do a full census of the survivors but this image shows a few “Dodonaea triquetra” and some small “Acacia implexa” and “Acmena smithii” going strong.

These plantings along with the native growth makes me feel it is heading in the right direction. I will be happy to leave this spot for a while and keep pushing back towards the 2nd water fall. Just taking out the privet and lantana creates notable improvements at this site.

Working Bee – 14.09.2025

A solid working bee today. Once again croften weed, mist flower and others was taking off in the south bank of the creek. It has never come back as badly as it was when landcare first started working in the area.

It was good to see some natives amongst the mix. Unfortunately my camera was too dirty to take some good before and after pics but I will put this one here to remind me of what accomplished:

Blurred photo of results by end of working bee session

Working Bee – 20.09.2025

At the entrance of the reserve, near where the creek flows under the road, is a stand of ginger lily. Ginger lily is not welcome at Dick’s creek but I have never had a suitable replacement so it has been left alone. There was also some palm grass mixed in with it but over time the palm grass has come to dominate that location. Palm grass is becoming more and more of a problem throughout the reserve so this stand was a good place to start the process of removing it all.

I took advantage of the fact there nothing endemic at the location. I chopped at it to get to the stumps:

Then I had to use a mattock to get the stumps out. There were quite large and numerous.

It looks a lot better with just the ginger lily. Of course, it would be better again if it was native ginger. It will have to stay there until there is a replacement though as it is a location that is at a high risk of erosion.

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.

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…

Fraxinus griffithii (Himalayan Ash)

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.