pittosporum – Dick's Creek Bush Regeneration

Another productive working bee today. It’s been great to do bush regeneration lately. The ground gets regular soakings which makes removing plants like fishbone fern far easier and more effective as more of the roots are pulled up with the plant.

My focus is still on getting the tracks in better shape.

Monstera spreading along the boundary and climbing nearby trees

I started once again with the start of the track where the monstera has dominated for decades. I typically ignore this location but monstera is undeniably spreading and so needed some attention.

I have been clearing a bit of monstera and other exotics from this area each week. I don’t clear it completely as there are water dragons and land mullets that live in this area and I would not be surprised if they use the monstera as cover.

Monstera is relatively easy to control so it is still a low priority for now.

This guy loves to wait until I am right beside it before it takes off in a rush. Gets me almost every time! It was worst today as he was on a rock at eye level as I was moving past.

My daughter and I wanted to explore the ground under a nearby currawong nest as I had seen a Channel billed cuckoo near the nest and I was wondering if the currawong’s egg had been evicted. Unfortunately, the area under the nest was just too messy and boggy to search. On the way there and back though, I noticed more Gahnia and young pittosporums struggling against the fishbone fern. Hence, that turned into the next spot to work on. The image below shows my efforts.

After clearing the fishbone fern the pittosporum, Gahnia and false bracken can now be seen

This ‘track’ down the hill leads to the Gahnia. I want to avoid this situation as it is not obvious how people would walk through that Gahnia without causing too much damage.

So, to avoid this issue, I cleared the fishbone fern from between trees before the Gahnia. Now people will be able to walk onto the rocks at that level and will be able to cross the creek easily.

Doing this lead me to discover a new instance of a native grass (name?) I have seen near Second fall. I cleared around that, around the swamp lilly I found last week and around the native olive tree at the same location.

I was then able to use my newly created track to find my way down to Second fall and up the track towards Site A where I found more natives that needed freeing from fishbone fern. This is the track at present:

I was out of gas at this point but there is quite a bit to do at this location.This image shows (not clearly) many small sandpaper figs and a Clerodendrum that are struggling against the fishbone fern. This will be a priority for upcoming working bees.

A number of sandpaper figs starting growing after this area was previously cleared but since then, it is struggling against the fishbone fern.

Site A is also in a bad way. Not much can grow here until the fishbone fern makes way…

So much to do!

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.

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…

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.

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.

That was enough for the day. Hopefully next weekend produces the same type of weather so I can start tackling those problem areas.

Tag: pittosporum

Working Bee – 03.11.2024

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