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.
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 workJob 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.
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.
A very productive working bee today. It felt like I got three times as much done than usual…. maybe because there were three times more people than usual?
Fred and Sandra Anderson joined the group on Sunday for a spot of lantana bashing. I had a clear idea of the area I wanted to work on but we had to get there first. So the direct track down to site A got a little work:
A track through the fishbone fern down to Site A.
There are some used railway ties near this location. If I can cut them down to size somewhat, I might be able to make decent stairs over the slippery parts.
We made our way down the cleared lane-way at the rear of the reserve to get to the large patch of lantana between the ol’ fallen fig tree and the creek. Before we reach this location, we need to penetrate the wall of privet that lines the lane-way.
A small hole in the privet wall to access the field of lantana
At this location, there is at least 100m2 of this:
Lantana living its life to its best
I had previously cleared most of this location but then left it alone for far too long. While it is once again dominating the scene, it still has not gotten to the point it was at before I first cleared it. It’s younger and easier to pull up. Still a job though…
Here and there were a few plants that had obviously taken root when the lantana was previously pushed back. For example, this tree fern:
Tree fern found underneath the lantana
Hopefully the shock of all the extra light won’t be too much for it.
Another interesting find was this bower bird nest:
Bower bird nest
I had only cleared this area a few weeks back so I know it is new but no obvious decorations yet. I hope we did not disturb it too much…
After a few hours, I believe we had cleared a solid third of the field of lantana.
Results of the day
We left it at that but with Saturday’s weather forecast looking good, I should be able to push on further at this location on the next working bee.
A perfect day for bush regeneration. Nice temperatures on a cloudy day with soil softened by recent rains.
It has been a disappointment to watch the Sydney golden wattles at the front of the reserve dying. I planted these trees only about four or five years ago so I was surprised to see them pass so quickly.
Dead and dying Sydney golden wattlesInsects are making short work of tree…
The trunks are being hollowed out by insects. I think the living sections do not have long to live. It is hard to know if the insects killed the tree or if they started devouring the tree after it died.
My first task of the day was to clear some more monstera along the track leading to the bottom of first fall. It is shaping up nicely and I believe it will soon be my preferred track to enter the reserve.
Currently though, this Rhus tree is in the way…
Rhus tree – don’t touch
Leaves of the Rhus tree
It did use to be a lot larger until I cut it down but it is still going strong. It is going to need to be poisoned to have it gone once and for all.
Today I decided it was a good time to focus on fishbone fern. Fishbone fern is loving the weather and is popping up and taking over in many many locations. It does a great job at establishing itself in difficult locations such as rock faces. From there it can spread out and prevent new growth.
While clearing a stand of fishbone fern from the bottom of first fall I noticed a currawong making full use of a native olive tree. I do get a kick out watching native birds eating from native trees.
The currawong’s nest is nearby so I will be watching the spot underneath for more native olive trees saplings next year.
Red cedar growing underneath the canopy of a bleeding heart tree
It was also interesting to check out this red cedar tree that has been growing from underneath the bleeding heart tree. The bleeding heart does not appear to impinge the growth of the red cedar but I suspect the favour will not be returned as the red cedar starts to outgrow the bleeding heart.
I made my way over to the stretch of Gahnia between first and second falls. Some Gahnia was popping up further up the bank so I worked to clear the fishbone fern around that and then I followed the same principle from there.
That is, clear the fishbone fern on the way to and around any natives. Sure enough, while clearing the fishbone fern I found small natives that had not been able to clear the dense fishbone fern. I am sure they will be looking a lot better in the next month or so.
Area of fishbone cleared around a sweet pittasporum tree
Finally, to keep a promise to myself, I had to clear the lantana off the poison peach tree I noticed a few weeks back. The area, to my horror, has returned to a dense privet forest interlaced with lantana.
Privet is taking over…
This location was largely cleared of privet a few years ago, so it shows how prolific privet can be. On the plus side, these trees are quite young so they should be easier to handle.
Lantana was also going strong at this spot. I was able to remove the main culprit, a large lantana that was spreading in all directions. I can see the weight of the lantana’s branches had striped off some branches off the poison peach tree. This photo shows one side of the tree is lacking in branches. It should be happier now.
Poison peach tree
That was enough for the day. Hopefully next weekend produces the same type of weather so I can start tackling those problem areas.
Another late afternoon working bee done and dusted.
Privet has been goading me for a few weeks now. There have been many privet trees that I can spot from the front of the reserve.
In the past I had been relying on manual removal or cutting trees to their base and then removing any regrowth that appeared over time. This, of course, relies on me being on site regularly to ‘tend’ to the regrowth. However, after seeing the amount of regrowth after a quite substantial leave of absence, I have begun to be more willing to use poison. I have been convinced there is no long term impacts from glyphosate and it either kills the plant or greatly hinders their growth.
This was my approach on Saturday. I cut the trees to their base and then applied glyphosate. I will be interested to see the results over the next few weeks or months.
There is still a lot more to do of the same type of work. I was able to get to most privet trees in the upper two levels but there are many more at the lower level. I will be trying to get to them this weekend as they are currently so easy to spot while they are flowering.
A few wins I noticed…
This young pittosporum was hiding behind a small but mature privet tree. I suspect it will take off now that it will be getting more sun. I have noticed that self seeded plants tend to do better than anything I plant. Case in point, the cheese trees in the background that I planted many years ago are still only a few metres tall.
Young pittosporum at the front of the reserve
This stand of soft water ferns on the cliff behind fern wall is going strong…
A new healthy stand of soft water ferns
On the path between 2nd fall and site A, I found these Dianella sp. going strong. These were much taller than I had seen previously. Between 1 and 2 meters tall.
Dianella sp. standing their ground against a sea of fishbone fern
In this area there was also a lot of young Sandpaper figs, some Clerodendrums and various other natives. Still, they are in the minority…
On the downside, site A, which I was beginning to call ‘bleeding heart forest’ is back to being called ‘site A’ now that the bleeding hearts have all disappeared. I have no idea what happened…
Bleeding heart forest is no more
In conclusion, a productive working bee with some pleasant discoveries.
Between first and second falls, across from fern wall is a section covered in saw sedge (Gahnia sp. ).
Stand of saw sedge on north bank between first and second falls
I have been very happy with this section as I had previously thinned out the fishbone fern in the past and the sedge has gone strong since. Still, even from a distance I noticed the fishbone fern making a comeback and on closer inspection it was worse than I thought. The mature sedge is doing well but the fishbone fern was clearly dense enough to hinder new growth.
Fishbone fern is easy to remove but in this case I had to move relatively slowly as to not damage the sedge in the process. It ended up taking a few hours but I feel the result was worth it.
I was also able to maneuver the weed puller between the sedge to allow removal of a small privet tree which was growing from a stump.
Same area minus a bunch of fishbone fern
It is going to be interesting to watch this area over the next few months. Hopefully the sedge will beat the fishbone fern into those spots that are now free.
Another working bee completed last Saturday. I had mist flower going strong on the South bank after first falls. It is very easy to spot when it is flowering and unfortunately, it has been prolific.
Disappointingly, by the time I got to the area, I could see a lot of the flowers had gone to seed. Basically it means I will be faced with the same issue next year. Because mist flower tends to break off easily, it can be difficult to get enough of the plant to ensure it won’t grow back. I believe I got most of it at ground level but I have the problem of accessibility with the plants at the top of the cliff. The edge of the cliff is sloped at the top so it becomes risky trying to reach it from the top but the cliff is a bit too high to easily reach from the bottom. I have left the plants on the cliff for a time when I have some equipment to help reach that section.
In the same area I also removed the croften weed, fishbone fern, palm grass and any other unwanted species in the area. I also tried to poison the privet tree that is growing strong at that spot. I am writing this a week after the working bee and I don’t see any effects on the tree so I am beginning to think I went to easy on it.
It was disappointing to leave so much mist flower behind but it won’t be forgotten. It’s time is limited.
As a whole, this area is not doing too badly. Most of the ground is covered in native ferns and a number of trees have sprung up naturally and are going strong. There Bleeding hearts, sandpaper figs, and a red cedar all going strong.
Another positive note, the plants growing on the cliff face to the side of first falls is currently looking great.
Cliff face at first fall
There are a few sandpaper figs growing from the cliff face as well as a tree fern on an abundance of maiden hair fern. It all looks quite healthy at present.
I had come to believe the weather was going to prevent any progress in bush regeneration on the weekend but it came good Saturday afternoon so I was able to make small bits of progress here and there.
I ended up staying at the top level and addressed a few things I often notice but always put to the bottom of the priority list. First I removed the bits of mist flower that popped up. It is good to tackle the mist flower at this time of year as it’s white flowers make it easy to spot. Unfortunately, for that reason, I know there is much more on the south bank between first and second falls.
I hacked away at the stands of palm grass and ginger lilly that just keep getting bigger. I dare not remove it in whole as the site would be vulnerable to erosion if deluge hit us. What would be better is to attempt to replace the stands with something native like native ginger or the like.
I also chopped out a lot of Monstera on the north bank. There is still a lot there but I removed it off the trees it was climbing up and started to clear it, starting from the underneath the canopy. I found what could be a decent track to access the creek from the upper level. It has always been covered by the monstera.
Finally, I spent time removing sections of the vine (name escapes me) which has been moving up the tree on the north bank, just besides the properties on Green Valley Rd. It can be seen in the photo below from a few weeks back. I have seen it climbing the tree slowly, killing young tree branches as it moves up. I did not poison the vine but instead, I manually removed sections of the vine from the bark. It was wrapped around the trunk quick thickly. I am hoping it will not take too long to die.
The vine climbing the tree in the background has been making it’s way up the trunk for many years.
Hopefully the weather will be more accommodating for bush regeneration next weekend.
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.
