BURKE RD. BILLABONG RESERVE NEWS - AUGUST 2010

WE STILL HAVE A MICROBAT!

I was starting to worry about our first microbat, which had not moved from the Bat tube it moved into in May. However on checking in late July, it had shifted to a different tube. Robert Bender of Wilson Reserve and the Australasian Bat Society checked and declared him to be a male Gould's Wattled Bat. He stayed in torpor while being photographed and replaced in the tube.


Robert expects that when the microbats wake up properly in spring, he will tell his friends about the tubes. He has written an article for the Bat Society newsletter to report on the tubes and to maybe start a monitoring project.

PUBLICITY

I listed our workdays on the events section of the Landcare website (http://portphillipwesternport.landcarevic.net.au/) and this led to enquiries from staff of Bayer Pharmaceuticals.


I was joined by 3 ladies from Bayer Pharmaceuticals last Friday and we weeded around the picnic area and most of it is now free of onion weed and other weeds.
Thanks to Sue, Arty, Oula and Bayer.
'REVEG' PROGRESS

The 2008 'reveg' area has been weeded, and the picnic area kept 'tidy'.
The trad is still proving persistent in the 2009 area. Plantings in this area are still doing well, and most of the plants are more advanced than those planted in 2008. Cuttings from the several patches of Einardia nutens (ruby saltbush) have been taken and should be ready to plant out in September.
Work has continued on the 2010 reveg area. All the area of Wandering Dew (Tradescantia spp.) has been slashed and sprayed. Lots of Madeira winter cherry, pittosporum, prunus, tobacco tree and moth vine has been despatched. The large area of inkweed south east of the Billabong has been cleared.
950 tree guards have been purchased, and 1000 plants ordered for this year's planting which will take place over the next couple of months.
One of the Muttonwood trees lopped by MW contractors last year has coppiced.

CITY OF BOROONDARA.

City of Boroondara has provided a variety of tools to assist on work days. Tools include 'Hamilton' planters, mini mattocks, gloves, hoes and forks. THANKS BOROONDARA
We have also featured in Boroondara's 'Backyard Biodiversity' booklet in the "We encourage you to get involved" section.

THE NEXT COMMUNITY WORKDAY IS
FRIDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2010
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Plans for the September work day are to plant 250 trees into the woodland south of the billabong and to clear weeds in the 2008 & 2009 planting areas.

Stanley Barker,
Burke Rd. Billabong Committee of Management.
www.vicnet.net.au/~fobrb