News from Darebin Creek July 2014

Transcription

1 News from Darebin Creek July 2014 Creek Dates for your Diary 2014: - 20 th Aug. Committee Meeting 7pm DCMC - 31 st August Southern Rd Wetlands planting West Heidelberg - 28 th Sept Quarry Hills Maintenance Day Whittlesea - 15 th October Committee Meeting 7pm DCMC - 26 th October Darebin Creek Bird Survey West Heidelberg The Friends of Darebin Creek was formed in 1995 to protect, restore and conserve the Darebin Creek and its adjacent parklands as a natural environment for the enjoyment of the community. 1) Planting in South Morang 25 th May By Peter Grenfell For our Sunday May 25 event, the City of Whittlesea Bush crew ran a planting day at the back of Quarry Hills Granite Hills adjacent to Hunter Road, South Morang. A good mix of locals and regular friends turned out for what was a sunny, if windy morning. Bush crewmembers had already dug the holes, and plants, stakes and guards were laid out, so all we had to do was plant into the soft soil. Everyone was able to have a catch-up and it was great meeting new members, such as Ruth from Bellfield, as well as a couple of local families. A huge amount of native trees, shrubs and understorey species were planted to create a habitat bio link between Plenty River, Darebin and Merri Creeks. Whittlesea are doing weekly plantings in this area during May and June, so if you missed out for the Friends event, you can still attend a subsequent planting day. I am sure we will return to this site in future years to see the fruits of our labours. At the end we all had a cup of tea and snack. Special thanks to Sheryl and Trevor for yummy doughnuts!!

2 2) Committee Meeting Wed 18 th June By Phillip Orth Our June Committee meeting has now become a bit of a regular for soup and mulled wine to be enjoyed prior to getting down to the action. As last year Sheryl brought the mulled wine and Helen Walker Cook brought two beautiful soups and bread for the 12 of us to enjoy. On such a cold night it was a wonderful treat, thank you Helen and Sheryl, you outdid yourselves this year. Speaker Adrian Hotchins Firstly Adrian Hotchins spoke on the environmental activities going on in Boorondara council, in particular the Biodiversity Asset management plan or BAMP for short, which has quite a strong strategy of improvement of identified degraded areas next to creeks and parks and will continue for a number of years. The bushland team there have also just been awarded an United Nations World Environment day Award in 2014 for specific initiatives in local government, congratulations to all involved. Thank you very much for your entertaining talk Adrian. General Business 1) The recent planting and weeding days at Green Street and South Morang had gone very well with an excellent turn out of friends; we need to keep this coming. 2) Phillip and Sheryl have updated the membership financial database and removed a number of non-financial members that have not renewed in the last 2 years. 3) Six new members were accepted into the group and we are finding that the new PayPal functionality on the website is working well for all. 4) Next year is the Friends 25th Anniversary and some suggestions were noted, such as a BBQ at the Environment centre for all members with photos of previous events and people that have been involved with the group over the years. Possibly the April event would be best. We could also record the history of the group especially some of the stories. 5) Neil McLachlan attended the meeting and discussed the actions being undertaken by the Bellfield Residents Action Group (BRAG) including the new community orchard at the old Ford Park; clean up days and development at the Banksia St High School site. The meeting closed at 8.45pm. Our next meeting will be on 20th August, with artist Katie Roberts talking about her Darebin Creek- related artwork.

3 3) Planting Southern Road Wetlands West Heidelberg - June 29th It was a grey and rainy day but we had around 15 hardy volunteers come down to help Damien and the Banyule bush crew plant over 800 plants in the rehabilitated wetlands surrounds. The area had been prepared with weed mat and was ready for the plants, which were a mixture of rush sedge and knobby club brush down near the water and some Dichondra further up the slope. So everyone got their Hamilton s out and started planting. The boys Clancy, Leo and Sai become out admin support, collecting the small pots and making sure that everything was cleared out of the way. This will be a complete rehabilitation of the wetlands area, we will also be continuing the planting in August and this will become a project for some time for the Friends, which promises to be an excellent area moving forward. There will be further dredging of the wetlands themselves and replanting later also plus maybe some seating to enjoy the lovely view that will eventually be available. We did manage to get all the allocated plants into the area in time and had a very nice cuppa and Tim Tams next to the truck to warm us up. All in all it was a very successful morning and thank you so much to everyone that attended. Phillip Orth Sai and Leo help planting

4 4) Planting at Lakes Nature reserve Whittlesea 13 th July By Phillip Orth On a very lovely sunny Sunday morning a group of Friends and Conservation volunteers met with the Whittlesea bush crew led by Alex and started replanting the Lakes Nature Reserve on Gordons Rd, this is a different section of the Quarry Hills Bushland Park that we have worked on previously. As usual the Whittlesea bush crew had made it very easy for us with most of the holes drilled, stakes and netting laid out and ready to go. So we just picked up our mallets and started work. After a short break for a lovely morning tea with lamingtons and Anzac biscuits we continued with the work, finishing all the planting required just after noon. The plants included bulbines, chocolate lilies, Burchardia umbellata (milkmaids) and native raspberries and we look forward to seeing how the fairly empty area looks in the future with all the new plants. Thanks again to all the friends who made it out on such a chilly (though sunny) morning, without your help and support our aims of restoring remnant vegetation areas and creating new native landscapes along the creek can never be achieved. I get planting!!

5 5) National Tree Day Reservoir Sunday 27 th July. by Phillip Orth On a beautiful and sunny Sunday morning 18 volunteers comprised of local residents and Friends of Darebin creek members came down to the creek side near Gronn Street to continue our National Tree Day endeavours. This area has benefited from our ministrations for many years and certainly is showing the results. Each year the different heights of trees planted can be seen and there is now a definite corridor of bushland along the creek side that is growing each year. We planted over 200 trees including Bursaria spinosa, acacias such as hedge wattle and gold dust wattle, acacia paradoxa and a few manna gums right down near the bank edge. There were also a few sticky hop bushes (Goodenia) for good measure. The ground, while soft had a few rocks, so it was tough going for the Hamiltons and everyone worked very hard to finish the plantings. Certainly thank you so much to everyone who came along and helped out, we can t do our work without you the volunteers. Next year the entrance to the planting will be at Purinuan Street as we have planted that far down from Gronn Street!! Well Done everyone and thanks to the Darebin bush crew for the lovely morning tea and support. Kate and Nathan help out! Finished plantings!

6 6) Winter Soup Recipe Cauliflower and leek. By Phillip Orth As a little extra for our members, please find a great simple soup recipe for these cold winter months and it is very cost effective! Ingredients, 1 cauliflower, 1 leek, 1 stick of celery, 2 salt reduced vegetable stock cubes (or chicken), 1 litre of hot water, 2 cloves of garlic. Get a large pot and put some olive oil in bottom, cut up some garlic cloves and heat up the oil frying the garlic for a little while. Then add in the leek cut into thin circles and the celery cut into bits. Stir around for a while over heat until a little bit braised and then add the hot water and the two stock cubes. Stir this together well and let it come to boil. Then add in the cauliflower cut into florets and let it come back to boil. Simmer gently for at least 20 mins. After simmered take of the heat and use a stick blender to puree the soup nicely. If it is a bit thick add a bit more water. Then add a bit of normal or soymilk and stir in. Soup is done enjoy I love this soup and make it frequently!!! Friends Photos Please see our Facebook page quite a number of new photos have been added. We welcome any interesting photos from our members just to friendsofdarebincreek@gmail.com Get Involved in Darebin Creek Events in th Aug. Committee Meeting 7pm DCMC - 31 st August Southern Rd Wetlands planting West Heidelberg - 28 th Sept Quarry Hills Maintenance Day Whittlesea - 15 th October Committee Meeting 7pm DCMC - 26 th October Darebin Creek Bird Survey West Heidelberg

7 Got anything to say? Contributions to the FODC newsletter always welcome. Please forward to or Contact Numbers Phillip Orth President Water Pollution? (quote drain sign s number) Convenor/ Sheryl (h) Melb Wildlife Sanctuary & Membership Officer Sibbison Indigenous Nursery Shopping Trolley Hotline Adrian Hotchin Events Litter Report Hotline Wildlife Rescue Hotline Darebin Creek Management Committee Vic Police Motorcycle Squad NOTE: The Friends of Darebin Creek Membership Brochure comes complete with map and information in seven languages. Call Sheryl (tel no above) for copies to distribute to neighbours, schools and clubs, and other centres. Visit our website at