Landcare – Dick's Creek Bush Regeneration

Working Bee – 24.08.2024

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.

Working Bee – 17.08.2024

This is certainly the time of year for Bush regeneration. Good temperatures and soft soil make pulling out invasive weeds so much easier.

My intention was to get to the Bracken fern mound, close to the Sandpaper fig tree I cleared around last week. To do so though, I had to go through Site A and I really could not walk past it while it was in the state it was in.

While fishbone fern dominates this area, it is the privet that concerned me. Fishbone fern is easy to deal with while privet can develop deep roots which can result in a lot more work to remove them and they are well able to push out most other vegetation, especially when combined with lantana.

This is site A. It was once thick with lantana and then it was host to many bleeding heart trees. At present it has more fishbone fern than anything else.

This next photo shows site A after removing most of the privet and lantana along the back bank of site A. It is hard to see any improvement as there is still a wall of privet at the back of the area.

I did free some dianella of fishbone fern, seen here on the right, but for the most part, the fishbone fern has to wait for another day

I cleared site A of lantana and privet and then continued to do the same thing along the bank, past site A. The photo below is me looking back towards site A after finishing up for the day.

I was very happy to see this Poison peach tree (center of image) at the end of the day. I had seen this tree as a young sappling not long after doing some bush regen in the area. I would say it is now fully grown, standing around 5m tall. It joins my list of things to do as I see the lantana has started to encroach on it.

I was happy to find this poison peach tree at the end of the day.

There were a few mystery plants I came across during the day. One vine was identified by a facebook group. Mystery plant – Clematis aristata

Same thing next week, weather permitting.

Working Bee and inspection – 10.08.2024

Perfect weather to do some bush regeneration yesterday.
No rain but the ground has had a good soaking so the weeds couldn’t put up much of a fight when being pulled out.
From my last few visits, I knew a lot more work was required to recover from the neglect of the last few years.

First step: An action plan. I moved around the reserve and tried to list the sections that required attention.

This stand of ginger lilly and palm grass continues to grow. It needs to be controlled while a native such as native ginger is allowed planted and encouraged.

These Sydney golden wattles were planted only four or five years ago but currently appear to be struggling or dead.
Though it is hard to see in this photo, there around about eight Cheese trees which were planted a few years ago.
They appear healthy but are clearly failing to make progress against the heavy clay soil.
I still hold hope that some of them will find a way to expand their roots to allow more growth.
The grass needs to be removed or thinned to allow new growth to have a chance.

Cheese trees and Sydney golden wattle are struggling

First falls is going well. A tree fern and some sandpaper figs are now growing out of the cliff face.

Dick’s creek first fall. Showing the tree fern and sandpaper fig growing out of the cliff face.

On the south bank, besides first fall, there is some clean up to be done. Fishbone fern is starting to appear, croften weed is still popping up and the privet tree has bounced back.
Still, it is mostly in good nick. An hour or so of work should have this area back in good order.

South bank besides the bottom of first fall.

On the south bank, just before the Fern wall, a section of bank is soil rather than the usual rock.
Palm grass has taken hold and needs to be addressed. This is true for the entire creek. I imagine an entire day will need to be
devoted to removing palm grass.

South bank besides First and Second falls

As a whole though, the section of creek between first and second falls is not all bad.
A lot of endemic ferns are going well, the Gahnia on the north bank is more established than ever and most of the visible trees
are meant to be there. The issues are the palm grass, the swedish ivy and the fishbone fern. Each of these will take quite some time to address

Creek course between First and Second falls

South bank between first and second falls. Fern wall to the left of the image.

North bank between First and second falls

Fern wall, on the south bank between the first and second falls looks good but some bird nest ferns have gone ‘missing’.
We have had people steal bird nest ferns in the past and I suspect it has happened again. I can’t be sure until I locate previous images.
The ferns that are still there are going spectactular. The tree fern has shot up, as have other tree ferns at other locations.
Conditions must of been just right for this species.

Fern wall on south bank between first and second falls

Besides Fern wall though is the swedish ivy that is yet to be removed. Areas that have been done are still clear though so that is a good
sign that it can be fully removed.

South bank between first and second falls. Besides Fern wall

At the top of Second fall, things look mostly ok. There is still privot, palm grass and fishbone fern to address but
it is good to see the weeds have not jumped back quickly into this area.

Fishbone fern is once again dominating the ledge on the north side of Second fall.
Luckily, the natives have a longer reach than the fishbone fern so are still able to catch the light they need.

Cabbage tree palm is looking good after some shading trees were removed from a nearby property.

Site A is still clear of lantana but is now covered in fishbone fern. Disappointingly,
something laid waste to the stand of bleeding hearts which were growing here. There is still a few but most are now dead.

This bank has always been dominated by fishbone fern but it has currently taken it up a notch
now that it is getting so much more light with the removal of some large trees at the top of the bank.

Simlarly for the bank behind 16 Green Valley Rd.

Hill above site A upto 16 Green Valley Rd

This photo shows some of the bleeding hearts that have been pushed over. Hopefully more will grow
when the fishbone fern is removed.

From site A, looking towards the creek at the rear of the reserve, it appears as if privet has taken over. Hopefully it is
not as bad as it looks…

From site A, looking down to the rear of Dick’s creek reserve

There is a stretch of poisoned lantana at 16 Green Valley Rd. I am not sure what the purpose is.

Lantana behind the properties on Green valley Rd

This area is kept clear by the property owners above.

Hill leading up to properties on Green Valley Road

Fern trees along the back of the reserve look to be doing well. However, the lower storey is once again dominated by undesireables such as lantana and ginger lilly.

Fern trees along the read of Dick’s creek reserve

Lots of privet in this area towards the creek as well.

Cleared strip of land to the creek near rear of reserve

A stretch of land is kept clear down to the creek by the property owner above. The land to the side of this ‘alley’ is
infested with privet and lantana.

Lantana towards rear of reserve. Creek can be seen towards the bottom

I had previously cleared around a large sandpaper fig at this location. Lantana was once
again encroaching heavily on this tree and the area in general. I needed to clear the lantana just to get to the tree so I could start
clearing around it.

Lantana and privet encroaching on sandpaper fig that was previously freed

Around three or four years ago, the sandpaper fig tree had fallen over. It was disappointing at
the time but since then, the tree has continued to thrive and is still bearing fruit. This photo shows the roots have grown to accomodate
its new position.

Roots of fallen sandpaper fig have grown to accomodate its new position

At this point I had finally reached the base of the tree. My intention was to clear the area
around the tree so I could walk freely around it, but that ended up being too ambitious as some of the privet and tobacco trees were
too big to pull out by hand.

Fallen sandpaper fig with encroaching lantana and other invasives

This photo shows new shoots rising vertically while the main trunk is now more horizontal. It looks
like this tree will be around for many years to come yet.

Fallen sandpaper fig with encroaching lantana and other invasives. Despite falling about three years ago, it remains strong and is still producing fruit

One positive discovery was finding this poison peach tree. There were also some young sapling nearby.
I was able to free them from the lantana which was starting to get on top of it. It is about three metres tall.

This poison peach tree and some younger saplings was covered in lantana. It is about three metres in height

Wile it is not clear, this photo shows the sandpaper fig tree. I was able to walk around it
(rather than climb) by the time I had finished. Some large privets had to be left for another time. I was happy with the result.

This was the sandpaper fig tree after clearing around it. It still looks chaotic but by the end it was free of lantana and privet

This shows the ‘dent’ in the wall of privet. I am mindful that any clearing like this invites foot
traffic from the kids in the neighbourhood. It will pay to start at the center of the sea of lantana near here and work towards the edges for this reason.

The area I cleared to get to the sandpaper fig tree.

Near the creek at the end of the reserve has become infested with privet but there are still
some natives doing well. For example, this cabbage tree palm…

Looking towards rear of the reserve towards the creek. Mostly privet but still some natives struggle on

A wall of privet…

On the side of the cleared strip, privet dominates.

But amongst it…

Unidentifed vine next to cleared strip. Pretty sure it is native but need it identified

Unidentifed tree – pretty sure it is native but need confirmation

Unidentifed tree – pretty sure it is native but need confirmation (ignoring the lantana and privet)

Unidentifed tree – pretty sure it is native but need confirmation – at sane location but different species I believe

Unidentifed tree – pretty sure it is native but need confirmation – same species as shown previously but was previously taller

Another unidentified species with dark shading along the veins of the leaf

Tree fern next to creek at rear of reserve is growing very quickly

After this point I went along my usual route along the creek back to the track that leads to site A but it was so infested with lantana and the privet it was a battle to move and taking any photos was not really an option. It is going to take a lot of time to get it back to the state I had it at a few years back.

Next Working Bee – Weekend of 21st of Jan, 2023

Dependent on the weather, this weekend should be good for another Working Bee. If you would like to volunteer some time for Bush Regeneration at Dick’s Creek Landcare, please let me know via the contact page.

Contact

Working Bee – 06.02.2022

Was able to do a solid 3hrs on the Saturday which felt quite productive. Great day for bush regeneration with a cloudy day keeping it quite cool and previous rains making the soil easy to work with.

We have had a lot of rain so everything is growing well at the moment.

Including the weeds unfortunately. The track from second fall that I normally use had been swallowed by fishbone ferns.

So that was a good place to start… I looked through the fishbone fern for any natives and cleared around those. I found pittosporums, false bracken, blue flax lilly and others who were all doing their best to stay above the fishbone fern. I have done this multiple times now and each time the desired native plants get more numerous and larger. It is all heading in the right direction.

A native olive tree that I had previous cleared around is doing well with new growth showing but no new shoots closer to the cliff were visible. Still, other natives were taking advantage so that’s a win.

Notice the blue flax lilly and elderberry panax in the bottom left corner…

After this I moved down the lower creek section and pushed back lantana around a stand of bracken that I have posted about previously. Unfortunately the rain came in so no photos.

There are many seedlings of desired species popping up at present. Another two years will see a transformation I believe.

One last thing I could not resist taking a photo of was this spider. A beautiful specimen I thought… A golden orb spider I have been informed.

I’m looking forward to next weekend. My intention is to once again look for natives that need some more space to grow but there is also an infestation of Swedish Ivy that needs attention. It has been disturbing to see it popping up in more and more places.

Working Bees back

At present, there are still some extra restrictions or procedures that still need to be followed as per the email (shown below) sent via Lake Macquarie landcare:

Dear Landcare volunteer,

Following the recent announcement that the state has achieved 80% COVID-19 vaccination status, Landcare activities can recommence as of this Monday, the 18th of October. In line with Public Health Orders and Council’s COVID Risk Assessment, the following controls will be required to be met for all Landcare work sessions.

At the beginning of each work session Team Leaders will need to undertake a tool box talk to discuss these controls.

Required controls:

• Stay at home if unwell or if you have been to a potential exposure site
• Maintain social distancing of 1.5 metres between people
• Wash and/or sanitise hands regularly
• Avoid sharing of tools and practice regular tool cleaning
• No sharing of drink or foods
• No car-pooling outside of household members
• Double vaccination is a requirement to be able to volunteer or Medical exemption if you are unable to be
vaccinated due to medical reasons
• Signing on to the Daily Work Diary indicates that you would be able to demonstrates your vaccination status (or
medical exemption) to an Authorised Officer if required (e.g. Police officer)
• Mask wearing in outdoor environments is optional
• In the event that you or a volunteer receive a positive COVID-19 test result or notification as a close contact
and have been volunteering since exposure
or the exposure occurred at site, you MUST contact NSW Health and the Landcare Resource Centre at the earliest
opportunity, providing names and contact details of all volunteers working on that date
• If you have volunteers or members of the public challenging your presence or these controls – refer them to the
Landcare Resource Centre 4921 0392 or Council on 4921 0333.

If you anticipate you will need any assistance implementing any of these controls, or if you have any concerns, please contact the Landcare Resource Centre.

Unfortunately, I still have a few weeks before my second jab is administered so working bees will have to wait until then but not long now…

Lantana debris experiment

I have often been left with large piles of dead lantana after landcare working bees. Current recommendations is to leave those piles on site to breakdown in time. However, Dick’s creek is (well, it was…) a small reserve with a big lantana infestation. Those piles take up a lot of space that I would prefer to see being used by native flora. Those lantana piles take a long time to break down. I have heard people suggest twelve months is long enough for it all to disappear but I have seen piles remain mostly intact for years (see video below).

Following landcare rules makes the situation more challenging. It can’t be burnt, we can’t bring machinery on site to process it, it can’t be taken off-site, no building compost heaps etc. I have often felt at loggerheads with this issue…

As any gardener would know, a compost will only work when there is enough moisture and I think this explains my issue with lantana. As long as the remaining debris stays strong enough to keep it suspended above the ground and hence able to stay dry, it takes a long time to break down. I needed to get the debris into something that will keep it wet. So, what I am trying at present and what I show in the video below, is an experiment to see if combining dead lantana with more fleshy green leafy weeds will hasten the composting process. I am hoping it will.

I picked a few locations, ‘Site A’ being one of them. I tried to brake down the lantana as much as possible by standing on it and breaking it up with my hands. I then raked nearby tard/wandering willy (there is no shortage unfrotunately) into the pile. Hopefully, with some rain, it will break down and more area will become available for the flora that is meant to be there.

Fingers cross this will work so I will have an approach I can use for any other lantana infestations.

Here are some videos I took to describe the issue and the approach I am using…

Site Inspection – 2021.10.04

Not really a working bee on this day but I did remove some privet on the west side at the top 2nd fall and removed some fishbone fern on the East side.

This video shows the East side of the creek at the top of 2nd falls. It has a small native olive tree clinging to life by growing mostly horizontally from the cliff edge. It has always been forced out by the fishbone ferns growing from the edge.

Fishbone fern has an impressive ability to create its own root structure. It can end up in the most unlikely of places.
I partly removed the fishbone fern to hopefully encourage some other native flora and to hopefully aid the growth of the native olive tree.

Between ‘Site A’ and the creek, I often referred to as ‘Site A extension’. It has been around a year since I did that work and this video shows the progress at that location. There is a large pile of dead lantana which I want to remove somehow and there is some weeds that have popped back up but largely, it is pretty good. In particular, I liked seeing the hairy clerodendrum budding. I have never seen it flower before.

After taking that video I inspected the west bank of the creek. Under No.2’s property. I don’t normally go over the west bank as I decided quite a while ago to focus on the East side first. The west bank was a mixture of good and bad. There are many natives so we can be confident that the seed bank is in good health. It will be a matter of removing the weeds. In particular, privet along the creek is dominating.

One interesting find was this staghorn fern:

It is the first one I had noticed on the reserve. There was also a large birdnest fern nearby which was good to see.

In summary, the west side is in mostly good condition but the privet will need to be treated. That won’t be as easy as it sounds because getting around was very difficult. Lots of barbwire vine and sizeable cliff edge along the bank makes traversing the area quite difficult.

Working Bee – 18.09.2021

I got a few hours of lantana bashing in on Saturday…

The main pile of lantana at the end of the day.

Mostly I focused on the lantana near the creek towards the rear of the reserve. I had cleared the creek edge previously and this led to some natives taking off. The usual bleeding hearts and sandpaper figs but also a lilly pilly amongst others. Still, I hadn’t moved far from the edge of the creek and the lantana was threatening a return. I put an end to that…

That spot was chockers with lantana but now those sandpaper fig saplings towards the center of the photo should have a good headstart.

I am having to consider where people will walk when an area is cleared. There appears to be enough people going through the reserve now to make a difference. Not a bad thing but something to keep in mind in case some more fragile plants could be damanged. I left some privet and debris to deter people using this area. Easily removed when the saplings become big enough to not be easily walked on.

Just enough debris to deter would be walkers. They can go the usual way…

Here is a summary video I took at the end of the day. Poor quality unfortunately…

That fern tree that can be seen in the video is another win as well. More of those, yes please.

Working Bee – 12.09.2021

A quick session today. Actually classified as exercise rather than bush regeneration 🙂

Once again, just pushing back on lantana. I came across a large sandpaper fig tree that I had previously freed up from lantana. It had since then, fallen over but it continues to thrive. It had once again started to provide structure for the surrounding lantana. I removed the offending lantana and also bits of privet.

Sandpaper fig after I had cleared off the lantana.

I will need to come back to this spot as there is various promising saplings which need defending.

Here is a summary video I did of the site after clearing the fig.