celebrating birdsland

Birdsland then and now, a fascinating local history event.

 

Belgrave’s Birdsland Reserve and surrounds are prized by local walkers and nature lovers. Almost everyone has their own Birdsland story.  

The area serves as wildlife corridor, flood retarding basin, wetland, indigenous plant nursery and environment education centre, as well as providing a large network of walking and cycling trails.

Yet Birdsland’s calmness belies a dramatic and, at times tragic, history of pioneers and politics.

In this local history event hear a panel of speakers with first-hand connections relate the historic milestones of this much loved land, and share your own knowledge with others.

Speakers include:

Marion Preston, of Nixon Rd speaking on the early pioneers tragedies & hardships focusing on Dargon, Nixon and Brandt.
Betty Marsden, on the Shire's purchase of the property
Kelly O'Brien, on the present varied uses and significance of the reserve

Where: Belgrave Library, Reynolds Lane, Belgrave

When:  Thursday 9 Oct at 1:30pm
Cost: Free, but bookings required 9754 7266 or online

 

birdsland boardwalk gets official opening



Great to have the Shire's bushland officer,
Gavin, assist with official ribbon cutting duties.

It's official, the newly constructed boardwalk linking the Monbulk Creek bridge with the shared trail at Birdsland in Belgrave Heights is open and ready for traffic.

In another first for me, I've never officially opened a boardwalk before, the elevated boardwalk links the new footbridge over the creek to the Birdsland trail.

The boardwalk will provide cyclists and pedestrians with a safe passage into the reserve, away from traffic as well as providing a unique view of the Monbulk Creek corridor. This corridor is important as it's home to one of our iconic locals, the platypus.

The timber railings are plantation hardwood, no native forest used here, whilst the boardwalk planks are made from recycled plastic manufactured by local maker, Replas.

It's great to see the construction of this community asset which provides safer options for reserve users. Birdsland is a well loved place, visited by many locals and not only home to platypus, but to other iconic species including sugar gliders, powerful owls and wedge tailed eagles.

The boardwalk is part of the joint Yarra Ranges Council, Melbourne Water and Parks Victoria project to develop a cycle trail network linking the Belgrave township to Lysterfield Lake Park.

linking birdsland

It’s great to see the new boardwalk being constructed at the entrance of Birdsland.

The boardwalk forms part of the works recommended in the Birdsland Master Plan. Years in the making, the Master Plan guides works and use of the reserve for years to come.

The boardwalk will provide an off road connection to the Belgrave to Lysterfield trail enabling pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders to cross the Monbulk Creek from the front car park without being forced on road to use the bridge on McNicol Road.

It provides much safer options for trail users and will help Birdsland be more accessible to reserve users.

planting success

Sunday was National Tree Day, a day where people from across the country are encouraged to do something positive for the environment and reconnect with nature.  

 

I was delighted to join the Southern Dandenongs Community Nursery tree planting event, revegetation planting on Parks Victoria land at the back of the Birdsland Reserve in the Lysterfield Park. It was great to join locals to once again, revisit this site and plant a range of canopy and understorey plants abutting the riparian area of the Monbulk Creek, a local waterway significant due to its platypus population and proximity to residential areas.
 

 

There was also a concurrent planting event close by the nursery and Birdsland Environment Education Centre for families with young children.
 

I can report that 500 plants went in at Lysterfield Park, whilst the children planted 150 plants up at the Birdsland Education Centre in Birdsland. It was a great effort by all.

It's become a bit of a custom at the
Southern Dandenongs Community
Nursery to plant a tree to mark the
occasion, I was very happy to
oblige and be assisted by nursery
President, Garrique Pergl.

The day was a great collaboration of community, Parks Victoria, the Southern Dandenongs Community Nursery, Southern Dandenongs Landcare Group, Friends of Birdsland and Yarra Ranges Council and I was pleased to play my small part in improving the local environment.
 

 

There’s been amazing growth of plants put in earlier plantings and this region is going to provide a great buffer to Monbulk Creek into the future.

minibeasts on show at birdsland

Yes it's that time of year again, where young and old can learn all about our local little creatures at the Minibeast Festival. It's a great way to find out more about our local environment, particularly those creatures who inhabit our waterways and provide a valuable food source for our local icon, the platypus.

Where: Birdsland Reserve, Belgrave Heights
When: Sunday 27 April, from 11am to 3pm
Food: BBQ provided by Selby Primary, vegetarians and coffee lovers catered for
Cost: Free!
Activities: Platypus walk and talk, exploring minibeasts, giant yabby lantern making for the Lantern Parade.

Thanks to Southern Dandenongs Landcare Group for coordinating and Melbourne Water and Yarra Ranges Council for support.

The Minibeast Festival is an annual favourite, at last
year's festival I was delighted to add this lemon tree to
the sustainable garden at Birdsland.
Pictured left to right: Vicki from SDLG, Gavin from Yarra
Ranges Council and me, Cr Samantha Dunn.

climate change time capsule starts ticking

What better way to start Australia Day 2014 than to participate in a Climate Change Time Capsule event out at Birdsland.

Peter Cook and Cr Samantha Dunn, prepare to
'plant' the time capsule, this marked rock will make it
easier for the community to unearth the capsule in 2050.

Peter Cook, time capsule organiser and President of the Dandenong Ranges Renewable Energy Association, said “On Australia Day politicians across Australia will be attending citizenship ceremonies and talking about our great country. Not many, we suspect, will touch on what governments could or should be doing to restore a ‘safe climate’.”

The day was an opportunity to think about climate change and our vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. I continue to be concerned about the lack of action on climate change and the dismantling of the Climate Commission. Although on a positive note I am heartened by the crowdfunding of the new Climate Council.



I commend the groups who participated, who continue to
work to highlight the need for action to work to a safe climate,
 I was honoured to be able to turn the first sod.

Our current levels of Co2 emissions is 396ppm and we know that we are headed for  more extreme weather, the brunt of which is being felt in all corners of the earth. 2013 was the year of broken records, every single month climate heat records were broken in Australia.

The purpose of the time capsule was to answer for future generations what we knew about climate change and what we did to prevent it.

The time capsule intends to answer those questions. The time capsule included a plethora of information as well as seeds from local endangered acacia species and many community groups joined in the proceedings to bury the time capsule.

Local CFA brigades and emergency service volunteers and workers were especially recognised at the event as it is them who are in the frontline of dealing with the consequences of climate change and extreme weather.

So many groups contributed to the time capsule, on the day we were joined by representatives of the Dandenong Ranges Renewable Energy Association, the Southern Dandenongs Community Nursery, Selby CFA, Belgrave Heights and South CFA, the Shire of Yarra Ranges, The Victorian Greens - Dandenong Ranges branch, Emerald Community House, Southern Dandenongs Landcare, Friends of Glenfern Valley Bushlands, Friends of the Monbulk Creek (trestle bridge), Emerald for Sustainability and the Knox Environment Society.

happening around and about local lyster bushland

There's a lot going on in the bushland areas in the Lyster Ward, here's a snapshot of some of the current range of activities. I acknowledge and thank our environmental volunteers whose efforts are the key to the success of many of these projects and they contribute many volunteer hours to improving our local environment.

Belgrave to Lysterfield Bike Trail

Yarra Ranges is working with Melbourne Water and Parks Victoria on constructing the linking trail from Belgrave through Birdsland, Melbourne Water’s retarding basin (the lakes at Birdsland) and Parks Victoria’s existing trail network to Lysterfield Lake Park.

This project includes the newly constructed Monbulk Creek footbridge at the entrance to Birdsland on Mt Morton Rd, the linking trail to the Wellington Road/Lysterfield Road traffic lights and the upgrade of Melbourne Water’s Blackwood Forest Trail.

It's a great example of a range of land managers working together to maximise project outcomes.

Belgrave Lake Park Revegetation/Weed Control Project

There's a lot of weed control works going on at Belgrave Lake Park, funded through the Urban Fringe Weed Management initiative and Melbourne Water’s Corridors of Green Program. This project is in its third year starting with extensive woody weed removal and trad removal along the Monbulk Creek. It's been terrific to see more than 3,000 plants be part of a revegetation program, planted by both contractors and volunteers (some on Awesome Ornithorynkids day).

Birdsland Reserve Pest Animal Control and Nest Box Program

There's been some fox control activities taking place in conjunction with Parks Victoria, in its third year and exploring new techniques like soft jaw trapping.

Thirty nest boxes have been installed in two sections of the reserve, the Monbulk Creek corridor and old growth tree section of the ridge paddock. Ongoing monitoring of all locations has revealed up to 80% of boxes are in use. This project has been jointly funded through the Southern Dandenongs Landcare Group Caring for Country grant and Council’s budget.

Here I am with Yarra Ranges Environmental
Achiever of the Year, Vicki Boyle, a powerhouse
in the environmental volunteering stakes.
Nest boxes provide our local arboreal
mammals with housing options.
Many habitat trees have been removed
over time leaving nowhere for these
creatures to call home.

Bushland Management Plans for Hazelvale Valley Reserve, Bellbird Street Park and Birdsland

The Bushland Management Plans set priorities for bushland management for all these important reserves situated along the Monbulk Creek, they span between 2 to 5 years and are a collaboration between Shire contractors and our dedicated environmental volunteers.

planting a platypus picnic

I had a terrific time at the Platypus Picnic held this weekend. The Birdsland Environment Gardening Gang (the BeeGees) organised the day and it was a great opportunity for families who want to improve the environment in a family friendly way to do so.

Activities included fun with Peter the Platypus, learning about what platypus like to eat and planting habitat for platypus. A range of other activities were on offer but the children were very happy to get their hands dirty planting along the Monbulk Creek and this kept them amused for most of the afternoon.

It was great to see the children working together to get their plants in the ground with very little guidance required, these kids already knew what to do!
 

The wonderful group of volunteers who organised the days
activities, well done to Kerry, Clare, Jordan, Jimmy and Elicia.

The BeeGees is a great new initiative, based at Birdsland and launched at this year's MiniBeast Festival, it aims to provide a fun environment in which families and their children can take part in environmental and gardening activities, whilst increasing their knowledge of the world around them.

Well done to organisers, what a great way to improve the environment and have fun doing so, much of the Monbulk Creek is very degraded and this revegetation work is vital to improving the quality of the waterway and improving the habitat of those vertebrates and invertebrates that live in it including our iconic local, the platypus.

With ongoing work the health of
Monbulk Creek can be restored so
it's premium habitat for platypus
and our other waterway creatures.

 

samantha in the media

3MDR Roundabout
Interview with Graham Beal

Yarra Ranges Council rejects plan to fine people who feed cockatoos on private land
by Emily Webb
Free Press Leader
29 May 2013

Track works get back to nature
by Russell Bennett
Mail Newspapers
28 May 2013

samantha in the press

Child vetoes 'biased report'
by Mara Pattison-Sowden
Mail Newspapers
21 May 2013

Council's nod for small lots
by Mara Pattison-Sowden
Mail Newspapers
21 May 2013

Birdsland of a feather
by Emma Sun
Mail Newspapers
21 May 2013

birdsland master plan gets tick of approval

report from the roundtable – 14 may

It’s been a long journey but I was delighted to be able to move a motion at this week’s council meeting to endorse the Birdsland Master Plan.

The plan has been in the making since 2010 and has included extensive consultation with community members, key users of the reserve, environment groups, community group users as well as agencies who have an interest in the reserve.

Birdsland is one of the jewels in Yarra Ranges, with high conservation areas, significant habitat for the local wildlife including a pair of wedge tailed eagles and a beautiful part of the shire offering abundant passive recreation in a stunning setting.

I was pleased to learn that Betty Marsden OAM (ex Sherbrooke Shire President and Councillor), the visionary behind the Shire of Sherbrooke acquiring the land, was pleased with the masterplan recommendations.  Betty has long been involved with the reserve so it was terrific to hear her positive feedback.

The masterplan sets the direction for the reserve into the future and provides a framework to ensure that the site is sensitively developed and managed for the future. It focuses on three development zones being the entrance car park, the central picnic zone and the education centre and cottage precinct.

The masterplan will provide the strategic basis to seek funding not only through the Shire’s capital budget but also through the state and federal government.  There is great potential for the site, particularly greater community use of the education centre and cottage precinct, but it must been handled sensitively and the masterplan provides a basis for any future development. I look forward to seeing the masterplan implementation for this wonderful asset in Yarra Ranges.

I’m pleased to report that the motion was supported unanimously by councillors (note: Cr McCarthy absent).

minibeasts mesmerize

I was delighted to be able to launch the Birdsland Environmental Gardening Group, also known as the BeeGees as part of the second Minibeast Festival at Birdsland.



To celebrate the launch I planted a lemon tree, no home
should be without one! Pictured left to right: Vicki Boyle -
Southern Dandenongs Landcare Group, Gavin - Yarra
Ranges Council and Cr Samantha Dunn - Lyster Ward.

The BeeGees is intended to teach kids and their parents about growing food, the importance of a healthy environment and have fun doing it too. It’s aimed at children of all ages and it’s great to see the education centre gardens at Birdsland being used to demonstrate the backyard gardening.



Parks Victoria had a great display of native animals, Ranger
Andrew Van Vloten delighting kids with the Wedge Tailed
Eagle display.

Events offered as part of the Minibeast Festival included water watch, discovering all the mini beasts that live in healthy waterways. Melbourne Water also had a great interactive display to explain what happens with water runoff in the city versus the forests. There were nest box displays, talks on a Monbulk Creek local, the platypus and a waste tour were kids were taken into the depths of the tip.

Glenn Brooks-McMillan is our resident expert on platypus,
he capitvated young and old alike with his presentation
on one of our cutest locals, the platypus.

Kids had a great time turning into scientists undertaking investigations into exactly what creatures they’d discovered in the Monbulk Creek water.

Local artist Glenn Scolyer was there for a lantern parade workshop, a very popular activity, Glenn was run off his feet helping kids with their lanterns (the lantern parade will be held in Belgrave on Saturday 22 June – on facebook here).

Glenn's lantern making skills are extraordinary, this
Sherbrooke Amphipod is an amazing replica, although
a little larger than the real thing!

Glenn is currently working on his own lantern the very special, endemic to the Dandenongs, Sherbrooke Amphipod. The Sherbrooke Amphipod has been listed as a threatened species in the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988. The amphipod has a very restricted distribution in Victoria only occurring in the Dandenong Ranges.

Belgrave Pre School supplied the catering, doing a roaring trade on the sausage sizzle and of course the Southern Dandenong Ranges Community Nursery were a key participant giving every child a free indigenous plant to take home. Southern Dandenongs Landcare Group were out in force, raising awareness about weeds, the environment and domestic cats and their harm to the environment if not well managed.

The always breathtaking, wedge tailed eagle. The live locally
and are an impressive sight, it was terrific to see this
one fly by as part of the festival.

It was a great collaboration between volunteers, agencies, community groups and council and I thank everyone who volunteered their time to make it a great day out at one of the shire’s key conservation reserves.

discovering birdsland

Cr Samantha Dunn launches the Birdsland Masterplan,
be sure to have your say about this much loved
bushland reserve.

What a great day to launch the Birdsland Masterplan at the Birdsland Discovery Day. The sun shone and Birdsland was full of people enjoying the great outdoors.

The masterplan has been a long time in the making, but necessary in guiding the future of this well loved and well used reserve.

There were some terrific activities throughout the day,
of course there was a planting along the riparian area
of the Monbulk Creek.

The masterplan provides a clear direction and strategy for the development and upgrade of facilities within the Birdsland Reserve and the Monbulk Creek Retarding Basin. It ensures that current user groups can continue to use the reserve and make use of enhanced recreational opportunities, whilst reflecting upon the environmental and historical significance of the reserve.

The masterplan is grouped into six key themes, Ecology, Circulation, Agistment, Education, History and Fuel Zone Management.

My thanks to all the volunteers who helped make Birdsland
Discovery Day a great community event. I am always
in awe of your passion for our environment.

If you'd like a copy of the masterplan click here. You can also view a hard copy at our community links in Upwey and Monbulk.

I encourage you to have a look and be sure to feed back your comments by 9 November. 

samantha in the press

Answer call of nature in Belgrave Heights
Leader Newspapers
by Kimberley Seedy
4 September 2012

Is Yarra Ranges Council too green?
Leader Newspapers
by Kimberley Seedy
4 September 2012

Mail Newspapers
4 September 2012

birdsland discovery day - have your say on the masterplan

Cr Samantha Dunn on the boardwalk over the wetlands
area of this high conservation bushland reserve.

Join with me, the Southern Dandenongs Landcare Group and the Shire's Environment team for the Birdsland Discovery Day.

The day will celebrate this unique reserve and give community members a chance to learn about the draft Birdsland master plan.

Yarra Ranges council wants to hear what you think about the master plan, this is a 10 year plan that will steer what happens at our much loved Birdsland Reserve.

I'll be there will be there to listen to your views.
 
But there's much, much more:
Kids Activities
Story Tent
Espresso Coffee - yes the real thing
Planting Event
Nature Walks
Food is available too.

Thanks to Southern Dandenongs Landcare Group for their support.

Want to know more email Gavin Prentice on g.prentice@yarraranges.vic.gov.au
Can't wait till then? You can check out the Draft Birdsland Masterplan here.

birdsland discovery day

Mark the 9th September in your diary, it's Birdsland Discovery Day.

Enjoy this wonderful reserve and discover what's been proposed in the Draft Birdsland Masterplan at the same time. Back at council's meeting on the 24th July,we endorsed the draft to go out for public comment.

When: Sunday 9th September, 11am to 3pm
Where: Main Picnic Ground, Birdsland Reserve, 271 Mt Morton Rd, Belgrave Heights

Council officers and environmental volunteers will be there to talk about the masterplan. I'll be there as well to listen to your views.

Southern Dandenongs Landcare Group will also be on hand to show off one of the Shire's most unique reserves.

The day will include:
Kids activities
Story Tent
Espresso Coffee - that's right the real stuff!
Planting event
Nature Walks 
and there's food available too.

If you'd like to know more you can email Gavin at g.prentice@yarraranges.vic.gov.au. 

friends of birdsland - its official!

I couldn't think of a better way to launch Friends of Birdsland than at the Mini Beasts festival held out at Birdsland this weekend.

Southern Dandenongs Community Nursery
President, Garrique Pergl and Cr Samantha
Dunn stake out the Sheoak Cr Dunn
planted to celebrate the day.

It was wonderful to see a diverse range of community members visit the Education Centre and Southern Dandenongs Community Nursery to be enlightened about our local Mini Beasts.

It was terrific to learn about the importance of wetlands
in maintaining healthy waterways. This region of
Birdsland has had extensive work to revegetate it
back to its natural state. It's a wonderful habitat for
mini beasts and their predators.

Children had a great day out as Junior Scientists exploring our waterways for mini beasts. It was a delight to see the joy as they discovered boatmen, baby dragonflies and other waterbugs. Beth Wallis, Yarra Ranges' Water Management Officer was on hand with our microscope monitor, so children could see an enlarged view of their mini beasts on the TV screen. 

There were playtpus talks with Glenn Brooks-MacMillan, the new Southern Ranges Environment Alliance facilitator. 

It was wonderful to be able to launch the Friends of
Birdsland at the Minibeast Festival. It's a
bushland reserve that's very dear to people
in the region.

I had the great pleasure of launching the new Friends of Birdsland group and talking about the upcoming masterplan consultations for the reserve. To celebrate the occasion I planted a Sheoak (Allocasuarina) amongst the Landcare for Singles plantings.


Birdsland was originally a farm (owned by the Bird family),
there are still many relics of the old farm, Garrique found
this old farm tool whilst we were wandering around
 the heritage orchard.

Garrique Pergl, President of the Southern Dandenongs Community Nursery, spoke about the history of the reserve and led participants on talk, walk and gawk down to the wetlands and around the historic farm house and orchard. 

This palm tree is part of the original
farm cottage garden. The cottage
is part of the heritage on the site
and is protected with a heritage
overlay.

There were family plantings on the creekbank of Monbulk Creek, a waterway that is considered significant due to it's population of platypus and proximity to Melbourne. These plantings will assist in the health of the waterway to encourage 'mini beasts', food for platypus.

Kids had a ball playing games, being ably assisted by Southern Dandenongs Landcare President, Jackie Glen and the "Selby Fairy". Wonderful to see TVAG there, making sure there was food on hand with their sausage sizzle. 

Michelle Jones from the Community Food Harvest Group gave a talk on planting out a herb garden and growing your own garlic, whilst Tamara Griffiths with her assistant "Ducky"  talked about swales and heritage fruit trees. 

It was a wonderful day out, I commend the organisers for putting it together, it was lovely to see this part of Birdsland used as it was intended, for Environmental Education.