Page 0: Page 1: Autumn 2010 In this issue: Dear Bushcarers and Community Gardeners New Bushfire Management Officer The International Year of Biodiversity Wake up to Climate Change Community Garden Happenings Wildlife Watch News Wildlife Watch News Greenstyle your Home and Garden this Summer Light Your Candle this Earth Hour Second Hand Saturday East Timorese Fundraiser • • • • • • • • • • • Dear Bushcarers and Community Gardeners Willoughby will once again participate in the Easter show, in conjunction with the Sydney Metro Catchment Authority and other Councils. We will promote Bushcare and other environmental initiatives to show-goers. We greatly appreciate those who have volunteered your time in the past and if you are interested this year please contact Angie Fricker on 9895 6137 or via email at angie.fricker@cma.nsw.gov.au. Bushcarers are invited to join the new Community Fauna Survey Group and discover what wildlife is about. This group will be visiting a different reserve each month over the course of the year to carry out systematic fauna surveys at a number of locations. The first sites to be visited are: Artarmon Reserve- Wed evening 24 Feb Explosives Reserve - Sat morning 6 March Flat Rock Gully - Sun morning 18 April Blue Gum Reserve - Sun morning 2 May • • • • For more info contact Liz on 9777 7871. The Bushcare Major Day Out will be Sunday 30 May. Two very successful Bushcare Major Days Out were held in Page 2: 2009 last year. This year it will be held at OH Reid Reserve, West Chatswood, 9-12noon, followed by a BBQ. Other Councils across Sydney will be holding their own Major Days Out on the same day. Local State Member Gladys Berejiklian has already signed up! Contact Mandy to register your interest in participating. If you haven’t yet done your Bushcare Training please ring Liz Powell on 9777 7871 to book in asap. Remember you don’t have to do them all at once if you are short of time. You can complete them over 2 years but it is important for everyone working on council land to do them. They are held locally, 9am-1pm on 12, 19 and 26 June. New Bushfire Management Officer Council’s new Bushfire Management Officer Megan Covey. Some of you may have already seen Meg out and about as she joined Council in Oct 2009. Meg has brought plenty of skills and knowledge from National Parks and is being kept busy working with the Bushfire management team. The International Year of Biodiversity The United Nations has declared 2010 to be the Council’s new Bushfire Management Officer Megan Covey International Year of Biodiversity. Its aim is to increase worldwide awareness of biodiversity and its importance, and to engage more people in its conservation. Congratulations to all volunteers already out there working to protect and enhance Willoughby’s biodiversity. If your environmental group would like to raise the awareness of other people in your area, contact Council to discuss support for your local event, phone Mandy Wilson 9777 7875. Wake up to Climate Change Willoughby City Council invites you to attend this special breakfast event on Wed 10 March in appreciation of International Women’s Day. Natalie Isaacs, passionate CEO of the 1 Million Women campaign, will speak about her goal of inspiring one million Australian women to take practical action on climate change. Join us for breakfast or for more information visit www.1millionwomen.com.au. Bookings are essential for this free event. Please RSVP to Nicola Faith, phone 9777 7691. Community Garden Happenings Page 3: Barton Road The garden at Barton Rd is expanding far faster than we had envisaged. Not long after the announcement of the first gardening session, the Department of Housing had two more garden beds built, to complement the bed that had been built by Council. All three beds are now being used by the residents, who have just harvested potatoes and beans, and are looking forward to harvesting pumpkins, zucchinis, watermelon, tomatoes, eggplant, more beans, radish, okra, etc. The quality of my gardening skills are being well shown up by the quality skills of Huang, Julie and Anh. These three regulars have had a long and interesting history of growing fruit and vegetables, particularly in other parts of the world, but have not had the opportunity to use there skills where they live... until now. It is early days, and more needs to be done to accommodate the growing interest, but slowly more and more people are joining in. Nancy and Lina work in the community garden Council Officer Tejinda running a compost workshop Summer crops The summer crops at Warners Park are in a stage of transition at the moment! The first crop of climbing beans are now a web of dried stems, with a few persistent fruit still bearing the seeds that will start next springs crop. What a difference twelve months can make. Last summer the pumpkins failed to set any fruit, despite the gardener’s efforts to assist pollination, water and fertilise. This year we have had two waves of pumpkin fruiting. Already, the gardeners have picked some very large Queensland Blue pumpkins. Shortly after that harvest, a new crop of pumpkins appeared and are now nearing harvest. There are some obvious differences between last year and this year. The preparation for this years summer crops stretched back into spring, winter and autumn, whilst November 2008 saw the start of the current garden, leaving no preparation time. The soil that the pumpkins are growing in is far more fertile and structured now, compared to the basic material that we started with in the previous year. We are already thinking about autumn, winter, spring and next summer; which plants grow best in each season, how to improve the health of the soil, how to out-smart or work with the conditions that make gardening difficult. The Willoughby Community Garden (at Warners Park) welcomes new members and meets on the first Saturday and third Sunday of each month, 8-11 in Summer, 9-12 in Winter. For more info ring Mandy on 9777 7875. Chatswood Garden This year will hopefully see the formation of a Community Garden very close to the centre of Chatswood. This is potentially a great opportunity for people, living in high-density housing, to get involved in gardening with other members of their community. Look forward to an in depth update in the next Newsletter. Page 4: By the time you received this Newsletter the garden will have had a visit by our closest neighbouring community garden. The Permapatch Group is meeting at the rear of the Uniting Church on the corner of the Pacific Highway and Mowbray Rd. We will give a rundown of the meeting in the next newsletter. Wildlife Watch News Termites – heartless home wreckers or selfless home makers? Termites are one of the most economically destructive of all animals and consequently run shivers up the spines of home owners right across Australia. But not all termites are capable of causing damage to man-made structures and being what we perceive as “heartless home wreckers”. In fact, of over 300 species in Australia, only about six pose any serious threat (two of which are introduced). One very common local species regularly seen building nests high in dead or dying trees in bushland areas is Nasutitermes walkeri. These guys are a non-aggressive A termite nest or Lace Monitor hatchery? hardwood-eating species and are not generally considered a major threat to houses. Instead N. walkeri tend to target senescing native hardwood trees. In doing so they assist the natural cycle of reducing deadwood to soilenriching organic material. They also make major contributions to the creation and care of nesting sites for a wide range of hollow nesting animals. Their relationship with Lace Monitors is particularly interesting and earns them the title of ‘selfless home makers’. The Monitor’s MO is to find an arboreal nest of N. walkeri or other aboveground nest building termites, burrow deep into them and lay their eggs amongst the working colony. For the carefree living female monitor, that is as far as parental responsibility goes, as she leaves the eggs to be incubated by the termites, at a cosy 34° for up to eight months. When the young hatch, they burrow out of the C, mound to enjoy their own solitary, responsibility-free lives. But of course the warm fuzzy feeling one gets from seeing the wonderful workings of nature in action may quickly fade when your house collapses around you from termite damage. The key then to avoiding that horrifying but very avoidable scenario is to know your termites: who they are, where they live, how to find them and how to stop them. Whilst personally I have issues with pest control companies, many are being more environmentally responsible and have actual ecologists working for them that can help you protect your assets whilst still protecting our natural assets. The first step a considerate home owner should take is to not to be too reactionary. The most obvious threat is not always the greatest. As mentioned, those arboreal nests you may see dotted around bushland areas do not harbour the termites that most threaten your home. Those that are a threat are probably living under a neighbouring house, and are likely to be an introduced species. At this stage you should be talking to a termite expert and be vigilant about maintaining termite barriers, while observing insect activity around your house. Again the wholesale destruction of invertebrate wildlife is not a good long-term strategy. Termites also have many natural predators including those ever present and sometimes annoying small black ants that help keep their Page 5: movements in check and can increase the effectiveness of termite barriers. Latest Willoughby Wildlife Sightings Lace Monitor nest in termite mound - HC Press Park, Castle Cove, January Diamond Python (a big one!) - in a backyard on Sailors Bay Road, Northbridge, December Powerful Owls (pair) - Ferndale Reserve, Chatswood, January Male & Juvenile Satin Bowerbird - Ferndale Reserve, Chatswood, January Echidna - Explosives Reserve, Castle Cove, November Common Tree Snake - Clive Park, Northbridge, January Marsh Snake - Artarmon Reserve, January • • • • • • • On Brush-Turkeys A couple of years ago we decided to get chickens and a little later a Brush-turkey got attracted to the food on offer. Those who have experienced Brush-turkeys in their garden may have some reservations about Brush-turkeys. It happened to me. Brush-turkeys (Bt) are Megapodes, a Gondwanan family of birds that are unique because they don’t use their body heat to incubate their eggs. The 3 species of megapodes living in Australia build mounds of vegetation. These mounds are aided in the process of decomposition by bacteria, fungi or small invertebrates which generates the heat that Bts require for the incubation of their eggs. The mound is built and maintained by a male who (in the breeding season) has a more strongly defined yellow band around its neck. The male will spend its days regulating the temperature of the mound by adding or removing vegetation. Our Brush-turkey moved in and decided to make a mound in the adjacent reserve, metres from our house. The Bt can shift 56kgs of material a day and an average Bt mound contains 2286kgs of moist soil and litter. They are undeterred by stairs, they simply move enough material to form a ramp. It is this part of Bts that got me worried, because it is rather like a vacuum cleaner moving the leaf litter and any small plants that get in its way. Fortunately however, once this task was completed, life with our Brushturkey neighbour settled into a welcome routine. Whilst BTs aren’t monogamous, each night the male who “owns” the mound and his regular female partner form fantastic silhouettes in the gnarled branches of an Angophora. The female is smaller than the male, though when it is carrying an egg, any difference in weight is small. The moundbuilder’s eggs are extremely large when compared to its bodyweight, exceeding all other birds except the Kiwi. In the wild, a female Bt will produce 18-24 eggs per year though 50 eggs have been produced by birds in captivity. Brush Turkey in an Angophora tree. Photo by Mathew Keighery Page 6: Unlike their distant cousins the chickens, female Bts provide no care for their young. Whilst a hen will lay a clutch of eggs before beginning to brood and providing the incubation, a Bt lays the egg deep within the mound and provides no other assistance. Brush-turkey eggs take 49 days to hatch and are amongst the most developed chicks of any bird. The chick digs its way out of the mound which can take a couple of days and is ready to fly when it emerges. Without parental care, Brush-turkey chicks have to learn from trial and error and their survival rate is extremely low. This morning, I heard a sound of alarm from our Brush-turkey, so I took a look and the healthiest looking fox was there at the mound stalking. It looked at me a couple of times intently, assessing me, calculating the threat I represented before moving off. (Information about Megapodes was obtained from “Mound-builders” by Darryl Jones and Ann Goth, CSIRO Publishing, 2008.) Greenstyle your Home and Garden this Summer Make your home and garden more ecofriendly with a personalised visit from a Greenstyle advisor over the summer period. For a short time, the Greenstyle program is offering some great incentives to kick-start ecofriendly gardens in the New Year. A compost bin, bird bath, native plants or a vegie garden kit are all up for grabs in Willoughby City Council’s Greenstyle competition. All you need to do is register to have Willoughby’s Greenstyle advisor visit your home and you will go into the running to win one of these great prizes. The competition is open to Willoughby residents until Friday 12 March and competition winners will be drawn on Monday 15 March, 2010. The Greenstyle program is assisted by the NSW Government through its Environmental Trust. For more information or to make a booking phone Karina Hanemann 9777 7877 or visit www.greenstyle.org.au. Light Your Candle this Earth Hour Willoughby City Council would like to extend a special invitation to residents to join their candlelit dinner experience to celebrate Earth Hour on Saturday 27 March from 6pm to 9:30pm in the restaurants of Wilkes Avenue, Artarmon. These restaurants are showing their commitment to reducing their carbon footprint by switching off their lights for the evening, offering customers a meal by candlelight with entertainment by acoustic musicians. A limited number of places will be available for dining. For more information phone Willoughby City Council on 9777 1000. Willoughby Mayor, Pat Reilly and Avalon Ible (Artarmon Public School Prefect) light a candle at last year’s Earth Hour festival Page 7: Join us in turning off your lights and television from 8:30 to 9:30pm, or longer, to show your support for action on climate change. For more ways to take action visit www.earthhour.org. Second Hand Saturday Second Hand Saturday is an opportunity for you to sell or give away items that you no longer want or need, before putting material out for the General Clean Up. It is a great way to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill – and to make some extra cash. To participate, residents simply register to hold a garage sale on their property the Saturday before their scheduled General Clean Up (General Clean Ups start on 31 March – check the Council website for your Clean Up date). Council will advertise the garage sale in the North Shore Times and on their website. Interested residents can register by filling in our on-line form or calling 9777 1000 (by Monday of the week prior to your proposed garage sale). This service is provided FREE of charge to Willoughby Council residents. East Timorese Fundraiser Bushcarers are invited to help for an hour or two at a fundraising BBQ for the East Timorese town of Ossu, on Sun 23 May. The BBQ will run from 8am-3pm at Bunnings Artramon. Any time you can volunteer would be very welcome - an hour, a couple of hours, half a day? Please contact Rosemary at rosiebekker@optusnet.com.au. Coming up... For more information on these events, please visit Willoughby City Council's Diary Dates. Activity 1 Million Women Breakfast Bookings on 9777 7607 Date / Time Wednesday 10 March 7:30am - 8:30am Kitchen Scraps to Compost Bookings on 9777 7730 Saturday 20 March 11:30am - 1:30pm Earth Hour For more information contact 9777 1000 Saturday 27 March 6pm - 9:30pm Beyond the Rubbish Bin Tour of Eastern Creek Alternative Waste Technology Facility Bookings essential on 9777 7755 Wednesday 31 March 8:30am - 1pm Page 8: Royal Easter Show Contact CMA on 9895 6137 1-14 April 'Follow Your Recycling' Tour Bookings essential on 9777 7730 Monday 12 April 8:30am - 12:30pm Heritage Festival Flat Rock Gully Bushwalk Bookings essential on 9777 7755 Sunday 18 April 10am - 12noon Artarmon Fair Kitchen Scraps to Compost Bookings essential on 9777 7730 Saturday 1 May 10am - 3pm Saturday 8 May 11:30am - 1:30pm Morning Birdwatch with Andy Burton Bookings essential on 9777 7755 Sunday 16 May 8am - 11am Kimbriki Tour & Eco-gardening workshop Bookings essential on 9777 7730 Friday 21 May 8:30am - 1pm Aboriginal Cultural Bushwalk in Mowbray Park Bookings essential on 9777 7755 Saturday 29 May 1pm - 3pm Bushcare Training Bookings essential on 9777 7871 Saturday 12, 19 and 26 June E-Waste Recycling Event - Recycle your old or unwanted computers, monitors, printers and televisions for free. There will be three drop-off points in surrounding areas on Saturday 14 and Sunday 14 March 2010. Limits apply. For more information visit www.willoughby.nsw.gov.au. The Concourse - Willoughby City Council is proud to present you with, The Concourse, the new name for Chatswood’s Civic Place. The new name and brand will launch the site to the market, bringing the finest local, national and international artists to your doorstep. Visit our new and exciting website at www.theconcourse.com.au. Page 9: Willoughby Leisure Swim School - Willoughby Leisure offers swimming lessons for children aged 6 months up, and adults. Classes cater for all abilities, from beginner to advanced swimmers. Visit www.willoughbyleisure.com.au for more information. Find Willoughby City Council on Facebook Willoughby City Council | Unsubscribe Page 10: