One reason members of COG Committee have not responded so far, is many of
us have been very busy these last 2 wks with (inter alia) the Fenner School
Mulligans Flat/Goorooyarroo surveys.
Personally, I like the concept & support most of the ideas already
proposed. The environment at Kellys Swamp has been greatly improved over the
last 20 or so years from what to me was an outstanding exhibit of exotic weeds.
FSP should follow.
COG should talk to ACT Govt, GA and ANPS about planning, species, planting
strategy and removal of weeds & even consider some financial support for an
agreed project.
Cheers,
Bruce.
From:
Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2013 7:28 AM
Cc:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] A FSP avenue
Happy to help, too.
Susanne
From: Mark
Clayton <>
To: 'Laura Johnson'
<>
Cc: 'canberra birds'
<>
Sent: Tuesday, 22 October 2013 4:26
PM
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds]
A FSP avenue
Thanks Laura,
hopefully we can get more discussion going on this. I am surprised we have not
heard back from the COG committee – perhaps something to be discussed at the
next committee meeting. I know there are lot of people interested in the
potential outcome and I am sure that ACTEW would like to have some sort of
input, even if they say it is not possible due to potential future extension
plans at FSW.
Cheers,
Mark
From: Laura Johnson [
Sent: Tuesday, 22 October 2013 4:11 PM
To: Mark Clayton; 'Martin Butterfield'; 'Denis Wilson'
Cc: 'Rosemary Blemings'; 'canberra birds'
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] A FSP
avenue
I just want to
second Mark's offer - if pairs of hands are required for planting, I will
definitely volunteer mine! (And try to rope in the ANU Biology
Society)
Looking forward
to hearing more about this issue,
From: Mark
Clayton
Sent: Tuesday, 22 October
2013 4:07 PM
To: 'Martin Butterfield'; 'Denis Wilson'
Cc: 'Rosemary Blemings'; 'canberra birds'
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] A FSP avenue
I couldn’t agree
more with Denis and Martin. One thing I have always disliked about most farm
plantings is the way (and I do know the reason why) Eucalypts (generally) are
planted in straight, often close together rows, and on many occasions without
additional species (acacias etc) used as “in between’ species. I have seen some
excellent examples where numerous species of different trees and shrubs are used
and these can be very bird attracting.
I am not
advocating the planting of trees or shrubs at the FSW along the pond embankments
as this could prove disastrous to the pond walls but putting in scattered clumps
of trees (preferably not Eucalyptus mannifera, the Brittle Gum used so
extensively as a local street tree, but species such as E. melliodora,
Yellow Box, and E. blakeleyi, Blakeley’s Red Gum, or even E.
polyanthemos, Red Box, all good for attracting birds and species found
locally. Coupled with understory shrubs, as several people have mentioned, this
could make FSW, and many other sewage ponds, into quite good bird attracting
places. There are large areas that could be utilised
Martin mentions
that Greening Australia could be a good source of knowledge as to how to plan/
plant the FSW area. I did receive a reply (off line) from a member of GA
suggesting that they could potentially be involved. Perhaps GA could contact
ACTEW as the “owners” of FSW to see what they think.
Of all the
replies that I received when I brought this idea up, only one person thought I
was wasting my time. To quote “I am confident no one else will share your view”.
It just goes to show how wrong and negative some individuals can be and how
passionate others are be in trying to help our local birds.
If it ever gets
to the stage of having a planting session at FSW, I am quite willing to lend a
hand.
Mark
From: Martin Butterfield
Sent: Tuesday, 22 October 2013 12:54 PM
To: Denis Wilson
Cc: Rosemary Blemings;
canberra birds
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] A FSP
avenue
Denis's comment has
stirred a couple more thoughts with me.
The first is that
Greening Australia (GA) would be an excellent source of detailed botanical
advice on this. No idea why I didn't suggest that
earlier.
Second, judging by
the success of the direct seeding GA undertook on our property some of the
Acacia species would be approaching 'tree' status within 3 or 4 years.
Direct seeding requires very little effort either in the implementation or
maintenance phases and can rapidly cover a lot more territory than planting
advanced stock.
On 22 October 2013
09:52, Denis Wilson <>
wrote:
Further to Martin
and Rosemary's excellent suggestions, can I point out that there are many
alternatives to planting rows of Eucalypts (the "landscape architects' boring
weapon of choice").
For
example, Blackthorn, or Bursaria spinosa makes a very successful alternative to
Hawthorns. Yes, it is smaller, but grows vigorously, and self-seeds after a
while.
And shrubby Acacias
(not Cootamundra Wattle) are also very successful plantings (there are examples
at FSP from memory)
Also local species
of Kangaroo Apple (Solanum sp) are incredibly popular with birds as a food
source, and so the seeds get spread.
And what's wrong
with the occasional Kurrajong?
Give
them a couple of years start, and then commence removal of the introduced
trees.
On Tue, Oct 22,
2013 at 7:43 AM, Martin Butterfield <>
wrote:
Rosemary
You are of course
correct that it is a good idea to remove the invasive species.
However they are,
as you note, very popular with birds. That isn't restricted to the
berry-eating/distributing starlings of Fyshwick. Out my way the dense
thickets of hawthorn are used as nesting sites for many small species
(especially finches), the berries are very popular with parrots and cockatoos,
and a number of larger species (eg Brown Falcon, Barn Owl) use them as
roosts.
To avoid
dislocation to these uses of the undesirable trees it would be highly preferable
to put in the replacement trees so that they have established before the
invasive ones are removed. That might make life a bit more difficult for
the tree removal contractors, but then life wasn't meant to be
easy.
On 22 October 2013
07:30, Rosemary Blemings <>
wrote:
In April I mentioned to Michael McConachie that the avenue
of trees between Dairy Flat Road and the Fyshwick Sewerage Treatment complex
contained many invasive species. These introduced trees contained large numbers
of berries which birds eat and transfer to nature reserves.
The
ACT Parks and Conservation Service (PCS), with countless volunteers from
Landcaring and Parkcaring groups, have spent decades of energy and time removing
these invasive plants which deny space, nutrients and water to native
species.
Removing these Fyshwick trees and
combining this process with a thorough and state-of-the-art revegetation of the
Treatment Works would bring significant benefits for wildlife and especially the
birds which already have the area ingrained in their genetic makeup. Having
complimentary, healthy habitat beside the Jerrabomberra Wetlands can only
enhance the work of the Friends of Jerrabomberra and PCS.
It is
vital that as much land as possible be retained for and managed as
connectivity-corridor in our region. Open, natural spaces also bring enormous
benefits to humans though this positive factor is rarely included in budgetary
allocations for 'the environment'.
Rosemary
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