Friends of Pt Richards Flora & Fauna Reserve | Community group

Friends of Pt Richards Flora & Fauna Reserve

Phone: +61 3 5254 4010

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23.01.2022 Yesterday volunteers worked in the glorious winter sunshine removing by hand the prolific and invasive coast tea tree from a section of the Reserve. We were delighted to find the indigenous plant pimelea growing amongst the grasses and tea tree and even surprised some quails!

22.01.2022 In light of Government directives, and in the interest of community health, Bellarine Bayside has made the decision to cancel the Friends’ working bees until further notice. We will keep you updated as time goes by and wish everyone the best of health.

16.01.2022 This week was the volunteers’ first day back after the summer break. They were greeted by fantastic growth in the areas planted by the community on National Tree Day last year. The most impressive plant was the beautiful Kangaroo Apple, or Koon-yang or Gunyang in Indigenous culture. It is one of the first plants to inhabit a cleared area after good rains. Volunteers weeded around the plants and removed the protective guards. The weeds were as healthy as the plants and the area active with insects!

16.01.2022 Today saw the volunteers planting Kangaroo Grass, Dianella and Lightwoods around the picnic ground area. As the sun came out and the sky became blue, we all got an extra spring in our step, enjoying the reds and greens of Native Geranium and the chatter of Willie Wagtails!

15.01.2022 Despite the chilly start to Tuesday morning, volunteers worked hard at removing invasive Coast Tea Tree and Broom from the Reserve! It’s always rewarding to discover something unexpected whilst weeding, such as the beautiful Coast Beard Heath (Leucopogan Parviflorus) or Native Currant. This plant grows to between 1.2 to 5 metres and it’s white flowers occur throughout the year.

15.01.2022 Today Bellarine Bayside staff introduced the volunteers to a new and invasive weed - one that has only recently been discovered in the Reserve. The South African Weed Orchid has become naturalized in Australia, being first recorded in the 1940’s in WA and in Victoria in 1994. We scoured a section of the Reserve and found and removed several clusters, including its deep and bulbous root system.

13.01.2022 GUIDED WALK AND BEE HOTEL WORKSHOP IN THE RESERVE!! This Tuesday, January 12th, 6:30-8:30pm! Participants must register for this free event as numbers are limited - details on how to do this are below. There are other great events on this month that you and your family can also register for!

13.01.2022 Birds galore! The warm Spring morning saw not only the volunteers enjoying the sunshine, as we weeded out various invasive plants, but also many species of birds. Red-rumped parrots were seen feasting on native geranium (solanderi). See if you can spot the parrot camouflaged in the vegetation in the photo?!! Also spotted, or heard, were Eastern Rosellas, a White-faced Heron, lots of Red Wattle Birds, Currawongs, Magpies, a Black Shouldered Kite, Yellow Rumped Thornbills, Silver-Eyes and Golden-Headed Cisticola. The Reserve allows these beautiful and diverse species of birds to live and flourish.

13.01.2022 HOTELS FOR POLLINATORS! This morning volunteers from the Friends group and Bellarine Bayside staff were provided with instructions and materials to build ‘Bee Hotels’! We were fortunate to have two people from Conservation Volunteers Australia to inspire and guide us. Using recycled materials - bamboo stakes, wood and plant guards - we constructed dwellings with various sized holes to accommodate the many different sized pollinators who may shelter in them. We learnt that the...re are thousands of native pollinators in Australia, including many native (solitary) bees such as the exquisite Blue-Banded Bee, flies, ants, wasps and butterflies. These native pollinators are just as good at pollinating plants as the introduced European Honey Bee. It was an immensely enjoyable and worthwhile exercise! One volunteer even had a spider move into her Hotel as soon as she had finished!! See more

11.01.2022 WE’RE BACK! Volunteering in the Point Richards Flora and Fauna Reserve will resume next Tuesday, March 16th from 10am- 12noon. New volunteers are always welcome! Please contact Jane Shearer at Bellarine Bayside on 03 5254 4010 for further information.

11.01.2022 WE’RE BACK! As of this Tuesday, June 2nd, volunteers will be back at the Reserve to help maintain this precious and beautiful environment. Two creatures who share this space were spotted recently - an Orb Weaver Spider and a Gum Leaf Katydid. We can’t wait to put on our gloves, pull out some weeds and enjoy our time in the Reserve! If you’d like to join us on a Tuesday, from 10am-12 noon, please call Jane at Bellarine Bayside for further information.

10.01.2022 WE ARE BACK!! The volunteers returned to their weekly activities in the Reserve today - removing Gorse and Broom from the western side. Good rains have resulted in abundant growth throughout, including some flooded areas on the eastern side and much frog activity and song! A Brown Falcon circled above us as we arrived and we learnt that a family of five has been recently spotted in the Reserve.

08.01.2022 BROOM AND BOWER SPINACH! This morning volunteers and Bellarine Bayside staff worked on removing Broom from the Plantation Area - so called due to the abundant growth of trees and smaller plants over the last few years! Healthy and widespread Bower Spinach was also found, replete with bright red berries. Bower Spinach is an indigenous trailing succulent with thickish, edible leaves. It is a relative of the well-known Warrigal Greens. It’s a plant that likes to establish itself under trees and shrubs, hence its name. We collected some of the ripe red berries for future propagation.

07.01.2022 AUTUMN IN THE RESERVE! Glorious weather and moist soil made today’s weeding and maintenance an even greater pleasure! To see the growth of Manna gums, Yellow gums, Kangaroo apples and native grasses to name a few, is inspiring! We were fortunate too to find a cluster of Emperor Gum Moth caterpillars. These striking-looking, large caterpillars are native to Australia but scarce in southern states. They begin life as black and change colour each time they shed their skin - five... times! The ones pictured are in their final stage. We placed them on a larger eucalypt where they will spin strong, silken cocoons on a branch and pupate for up to five years! When they eventually cut their way out, they will only live for two weeks, during which they will mate, lay eggs and then die. As a moth they are very large, with a wing span of up to 12-15 centimetres. See more

04.01.2022 RESERVE WALK AND BEE HOTELS! Yesterday people came from far and wide to discover and experience the rich diversity of life in our beautiful Flora and Fauna Reserve. From hundreds of Jewel Spiders and their webs, glistening in the reeds over the wetlands, to nesting boxes for micro bats, the many qualities and traditional uses of the Manna Gum., to the haunting cries of the Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo., we were once again enthralled by what the Reserve has to offer. After our walk everyone had the opportunity to make and decorate a Bee Hotel - a place for the many different types of pollinators to rest and breed. Everyone could take one home to put in their own gardens. Many thanks to volunteers Dave and Bill for all the time they put in to making these exquisite little houses!

04.01.2022 BROOM! Today’s work focused on removing Broom from the Reserve. This yellow flowering plant is native to Europe, Africa and parts of Asia and Africa. It tolerates and does well in poor soils and conditions and has aggressive seed dispersal. It has become a prolific and invasive weed in the Reserve. While removing the Broom we found a Pimelea growing and flowering, along with an indigenous ground cover commonly called the Common Flat Pea. This beautiful little plant produces its red and yellow pea flowers in Spring and is endemic to Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

04.01.2022 MANNA GUMS! This morning we planted 105 healthy young Manna Gum seedlings in the Reserve! The ongoing rain meant the soil was damp and easy to work with. We were very pleased to be guarding them with Green-Pod enviro seedling guards which are made from 100% recycled natural fibres. We were joined by some Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos and found some orange fungi. Can anyone identify it?

02.01.2022 https://www.aussiebee.com.au/bee-hotel-building-tips.html There was a great deal of interest in how to build ‘Bee Hotels’ after our last post. This website has been recommended to us as a comprehensive guide to building them.

01.01.2022 We found this naturally formed ‘teepee’ on the Growling Grass Frog walk in the Reserve last week! Has anyone else spotted it? Do you know which creeper this might be? The Reserve is alive with plant-life, birds and frogs after all the rain! Such a rich and beautiful place to exercise and refresh during this time.

01.01.2022 PLANTING! Yesterday eight volunteers worked with our wonderful Bellarine Bayside staff to plant 100 indigenous trees, plants and grasses! Manna gums, Yellow Gums, Acacia Lightwoods, Lamandra, Pig Face and Running Postman. We were accompanied by a Whistling Kite circling overhead and an unidentified frog!