autumn/winter 2017 Have you seen a Common Bronzewing in Bayside? From the Mayor Welcome to winter, Bayside. While the sun may be shining a little less Derek in getting the group started. brightly there is still plenty to do in our Wethe wishfirst to the put group up their the besthand of and luck assist own backyard. during the pilot phase. Winter and spring are great seasons Our Friends of Bayside Program for preparing the garden and planting, has been running now for more than and the Bayside Community Nursery 20 years. It started as the Friends of is now open for all your indigenous Sandringham back in 1992, which had a plant needs. focus on protecting pockets of bushlands The cooler weather also lends from undesirable development. itself to rugging up and joining the Since amalgamation in 1994, the Friends groups at various working program has expanded to become bees that keep our heathlands and the Friends of Bayside, comprising reserves thriving. 19 groups that look after patches We are very pleased to welcome a natural bush and parkland, study our new Friends group to Bayside. Friends of native fauna, and assist at the nursery. Bayside Roads’ is a new initiative where Today, our Friends are key to volunteers are piloting a litter patrol preserving these areas from the many on various routes focusing on streets urban threats such as weed invasion, that surround Bayside’s golf courses. trampling and pests. about our Friends groups, please Thank you to Black Rock residents The Friends program continues contactIf you Council’swould like Friends to find of out Bayside more Derek and Lizzie Jones for initiating this new Friends group, which has [email protected] formed with support from Council and byto flourishworking and with evolve other and local members Support Officer Jill Robinson via email, the Royal Melbourne Golf Club (RMGC). environmentalexpand their positive volunteers, influence part of Cr Alex Del Porto A group of volunteers from the RMGC the Bayside Environmental Friends Mayor Neighbourhood Players Group were Network (BEFN). Bayside City Council Manufactured with Manufactured using 100% FSC® post process chlorine free consumer waste. (PCF) pulps. In this issue Special features Other articles PLANTS OF BAYSIDE 4 DONALD MACDONALD RESERVE’S CONTROLLED BURN 5 WEED REMOVAL ON SHARING BAT BOX ELSTERNWICK PARK KNOWLEDGE 6 7 LAKE ISLAND NURSERY OPEN SEASON 10 THE NOT SO COMMON BRONZEWING 12 NEW FRIENDS TACKLE ROADSIDE LITTER 14 AUTUMN SUNSET AT CAN YOU SPOT A MUSK GEORGE STREET RESERVE 15 LORIKEET? BIRD WALK AT 8 RICKETTS POINT 18 WILD IN BAYSIDE WITH INVERTEBRATES 19 FROG WATCH IN BAYSIDE 20 KIDS’ CORNER 21 16 HABITAT HOLLOWS VOLUNTEER GROUPS 22 To get back in season, Banksia Bulletin has combined its Autumn and Winter editions for 2017. Our seasons became a little behind after Council elections in October last year delayed the production of our Spring 2016 edition. We apologise if this has caused any inconvenience, however, we are pleased to be back on track! Plants of Bayside With Aaron Hurrell of Citywide Parks and Gardens Large Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum) The Kangaroo Apple makes for a nice screening plant or It is known as a colonising plant, meaning it is often one a filler plant while waiting for something that grows slowly, of the first to regenerate from fire and other disturbances, to get bigger. usually from underground stems and seed. It is an erect, short-lived and fast growing shrub belonging Kangaroo Apples are often used as a primary coloniser to the Solanaceae family, which also includes tomatoes plant at revegetation sites as its fruit attracts birds, which and nightshades. in turn spread the Kangaroo Apple seeds or any other Growing between 1-3 metres high by 1-3 metres wide, seeds the bird may have already eaten. The more mature this shrub’s stems can be purplish in colour with either and large Kangaroo Apples also form protection for broadly ovate or irregularly lobed leaves. some of the more slowly growing secondary and tertiary The flowers range in colour from blue to purple and revegetation plants. appear between September and March. The large Kangaroo Apple has been harvested for the The fruit also range in form, from egg-shaped (ovoid) to chemical compound solasodine, which is used in birth ellipsoid (a closed circle shape that is flat) and are orange control medication. in colour when fully ripe. Boon Wurrung people were Visit the Bayside Community Nursery where the Kangaroo known to eat the fruit. However, the immature fruit is toxic Apple can now be purchased. when eaten and should be avoided. The Large Kangaroo Apple is found in a variety of different ecological areas. They do require moderate to well- Source Bull, Marilyn (1991) Flora of Melbourne: A guide to the drained soil and can tolerate full sun and semi shade to indigenous plants of the greater Melbourne area Carlton Vic: dappled shade. Hyland House Publishing 4 Banksia Bulletin | Autumn/Winter 2017 Donald MacDonald Reserve’s controlled burn By Jo Hurse Citywide Parks and Gardens regime to stimulate plant cycles these vegetationto survive. Withoutcommunities the natural can senesce fire and A controlled ecological burn at Donald die, causing a drop in plant diversity. MacDonald Reserve in Beaumaris was Historically, there have been two prior conducted by Citywide Service Solutions controlled ecological burns conducted in April. at Donald MacDonald Reserve. Ecological burning is an annual activity that the Bushland Crew from Citywide was undertaken in 1997. In 2004, manage for Bayside City Council. a secondThe first, burn fronting was undertaken. onto Fourth Street, Ecological burns often stimulate along the Stawell Street frontage. proportion of the shrub and tree layer the burn site, creating a great deal of In 2006 there was a large wildfire in the reserve prior to these burns. excitementgrowth of wildflowers among community and orchids groups. in The Tea Tree and Wattle were cut Fire and smoke stimulate the soil stored biodiversity.Together, these The crew fires conducthave resulted detailed in down and used as the primary source seed causing it to germinate and grow. andan overall regular increase quadrat in surveying the reserve’s of plant floral Ecological burns are known to be species which provide data to support this. With strong support from the local If the reserve was not burnt, the community,of fuel for the the fire. annual ecological burn ecosystems. This is particularly relevant ongoing decline of biodiversity would tohighly the heathlandbeneficial vegetationto many Australian communities continue. In place of the diverse is extinguished that day, and after of which Donald MacDonald Reserve is heathland, weeds take over such as Coast theis always autumn/winter a success. Therains, resulting seedlings fire a part. Tea-Tree (Leptospermum laevigatum) will germinate all over the burned In many cases, plants from heathland and Coast Wattle (Acacia longifolia area, attracting native fauna and local subsp. sophorae), which made up a large vegetation communities require fire flora enthusiasts. Banksia Bulletin | Autumn/Winter 2017 5 Sharing bat box knowledge A number of members from Friends of Native Wildlife (FoNW) are participating in the Ivanhoe Bat Box Monitoring Project at the invitation of the leader of the project, Rob Bender. Story by Elizabeth Walsh and Sally Eldridge Photos by Daniel Burrowes Friends of Native Wildlife Inc. Friends of Native Wildlife Inc. Rob started the Ivanhoe Bat Box Monitoring project nearly 20 years ago in parkland adjoining the Yarra River. He has been monitoring bat boxes monthly ever since. Gould’s Wattled Bay Recently, FoNW took (Chalinobus gouldi). part in an inspection of 27 bat boxes located in trees up to six metres high. BAT BOX UPDATE Researcher Danielle led the inspection, By Elizabeth Walsh donning safety belt equipment to attach Co-Convenor to the ladder. Leaving the occasional spider in the boxes while extricating the Rob Bender has joined FoNW bats, Danielle placed the microbats in cloth bags with a number identifying the boxes for Council to install in box they came from. localto help parks finish and some heathlands. microbat Rob Under the lid of each box was a device, has introduced his artistic talent which monitors temperature and humidity. painted on one box and each one More research is underway to gauge hasby including its own painted a flying bat bat above stencil how positioning of the boxes may be FoNW will arrange another visit the entrance. critical during the changing seasons to Ivanhoe in spring if there is more Regular monitoring and local and whether temperature and humidity interest shown by members or contacts recently discovered a are factors. interested residents. group of microbats in an outdoor Once all the boxes had been inspected, Monitoring bat boxes is important to umbrella in Sandringham that the 37 bats collected were taken in their check they stay in good condition, do had been folded during the cooler bags to a nearby location for them to be not restrict the tree they are installed in months. This occurred soon after two large neighbouring and recorded. them. Other Melbourne studies suggest blocks were cleared of all identified,All of the weighed, bats collected measured, this month examined thatand toit canfind take out whensome timebats mightbefore occupy bats vegetation. Regular nightly were of the same species, Gould’s will occupy boxes. Microbats are often foraging previously recorded on Wattled Bat (Chalinolobus gouldii). found in Beaumaris and a number of echolocation equipment in a Mite samples imbedded in the locals have enjoyed watching the small nearby small bushy park and a wing membranes, as well as DNA long tree lined park had ceased, samples, were taken for research from probably due to clearing the block.