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BirdLife Southern Highlands Annual Report Presented for adoption at the Annual General Meeting 31 January, 2017

BLSH enjoyed another very busy and rewarding program during 2016 and our branch continues to make considerable gains in the areas of conservation and community engagement while maintaining a full program of recreational birding opportunities for its members.

During the year BLSH either organised or had a significant presence at these Workshops, Presentations and Community Engagement Events:

 Friends of Thirlmere Lakes Workshop  Wollondilly CWA Regional Conference [Kangaroo Valley]  Exeter CWA Branch Meeting  Colo Vale Craft and Chat Group,  Berrima Public School [Year Two Birdwatching and Great Aussie Bird Count]  Glenquarry Public School Atlas Site  Waterfall Scout Camp  Wingecarribee Shire Council Schools Environment Day  Wingecarribee Shire Council “ Breakfast with the Birds”.  Wingecarribee Shire Council “Threatened Species Day”.  Highlands Walking for Pleasure Group  Exploratory Assessment of Farm Club Birding Concept [Werai]  Mittagong Creek Monthly Bird Counts.  Private Property Surveys.  Bundanoon Winterfest Walk  Bundanoon Glossy Black Cockatoos Conservancy Tree Planting Day

We already have several requests for presentations during the new year!!

Two inquiries from commercial operators were also followed-up with a view to BLSH providing support for birding activities for which our branch would have been remunerated. Neither has come to fruition.

The increase in the number of community engagement projects continues to demonstrate the strength of the current management committee structure. When all positions are filled, the workload is equitably spread across the Management Committee roles, allowing recreational birding to continue to enjoy its appropriate place in the BLSH Annual Program while allowing branch involvement in conservation, advocacy and education issues to grow.

A major commitment to the “Wall to Wollondilly”, a Greening Australia Project, while having been approved, has had a delayed implementation period. Hopefully, the new year will bring renewed activity . An exciting component of the $27,000.00 allocated to BLSH over six years, will be devoted to purchasing multiple sets of binoculars for use at workshops and during school visits. This will enable our community engagement activities to progress to a new level. Quotes have been obtained and invoices requested for 30 sets of Celestron 8x32 entry level binoculars.

During the year a range of formal presentations were made by Simon Robinson, Peter Dewey, Sandy Berry and Col Kohlhagen, on behalf of BLSH. In his role as Records Officer, Graham Olde, began producing valuable graphs and charts from Birdata with a licence funded by BLSH.

23 branch outings were scheduled during the year for members at sites ranging from Bargo to the north, Paddy’s River to the south, Budderoo Plateau to the east and Belanglo Forest to the west, and at other places in between. Unfortunately, several outings had to be cancelled due to unfavourable weather conditions. A total of 13 Members volunteered as leaders during the year.

In addition, three Latham’s Snipe counts were also scheduled and conducted at the Botanic Gardens, at the Bowral Street Council Reserve and at the Boardman Road Drainage Ponds. Our Snipe Counts are synchronised with those taking place under the auspices of the SWIFFT- Latham’s Snipe Project at places between Jerrabomberra in the ACT and Port Fairy in Victoria. The ninth annual 24 Hour Bird Count Challenge during which 13 sites were visited and just on 100 species recorded was also on the 2016 program.

Extended field trips were held in autumn and spring, and proved to be most successful:

March: Based at Narrandera and 12 members visited these significant sites:

 Mates Gully Stock Reserve  Five Bough Wetlands  Rocky Waterholes Reserve  Tuckerbill Swamp  Lake Wyangan  Cocoparra National Park

October: Based at Canberra and eight members plus one visitor visited these significant sites:

 Mulligans Flat  Jerrabomberra Wetlands  Campbell Park  Forde Ponds  Shephard’s Lookout.

Since 2013, a small team of BLSH Members has been conducting monthly surveys at five sites along Mittagong Creek between Mansfield Reserve and the Channel Deviation near the Bowral Brickworks. These surveys were set up in partnership with the Wingecarribee Shire Council Natural Resources Staff to help establish baseline bird numbers before, during and after Council’s Riparian Regeneration Project along Mittagong Creek. Over 100 species have been recorded across the five sites along the creek since the surveys commenced.

The results of these surveys have also been logged onto Birdata as Bird Atlas fixed-route surveys. The updated Birdata Portal introduced by BLA in mid-2016, presented an opportunity to begin conducting these surveys in a more systematic and scientific manner.

With the help of Ian Perkins, Manager, WSC Natural Resources, the fixed routes were recently plotted and recorded using GPS Trackers and the Council’s Digital Mapping System.

A Two Hectare Survey Area has now be set out at four of these sites. This will enable future surveys to be conducted as Two Hectare-20 Minute Embedded Birdata Surveys which provide far more useful data than was the case previously using the fixed route method. As an overlay to the physical configuration, each survey site has been allocated a specific habitat description, based on standardised characteristics adopted across many land management systems. Council Staff will also fix markers at the corners of each survey area which will facilitate the involvement of additional BLSH members in this ongoing project in to the future.

At the fifth site, Mansfield Reserve, three discrete Two Hectare Sites were plotted along the former fixed route survey track. These areas were based on, and placed within, three distinct vegetation regimes. This will allow more finely nuanced changes to be plotted in three adjacent but clearly defined sites, and comparisons made across the three sites. Both Birdata and the Wingecarribee Shire Council will benefit from the more finely tuned data collected by this BLSH initiative.

Three very interesting, well attended and informative Guest Speaker Nights were sponsored by BLSH:

 February: Richard Chamberlain [The SWIFFT-Latham’s Snipe Research Project]  May: Juliet Dingle [Friends of the Brush-tailed Rock Wallabies].  September: Michael and Sarah Guppy [Nesting Bird Research]

The support from one of our Members, Sue Hawick, who provided accommodation at her “Chorleywood” B & B, must be especially acknowledged. Not only did she provide generous financial support in this very practical way, she provided a very welcoming atmosphere for our guests.

Across the Branch Drawing Area there are now 162 members of BirdLife Australia, a slight increase from the January 2016 figure of 154. During 2016 invitations to join BLSH were sent 29 new BirdLife Australia members who reside in the Southern Highlands. 11 invitations were accepted. The total branch membership now stands at 113, including eight members from outside the Southern Highlands.

With continued involvement of and support from our members, I am confident that 2017 will be another enjoyable and productive year of birding in the Highlands.

Christine Kelly President BLSH