Mount Evelyn Environment Protection & Progress Association Meeppa | Community organisation

Mount Evelyn Environment Protection & Progress Association Meeppa

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24.01.2022 Looking out through my hollow yeah. What do I see? Children playing in the park, With their families. Riding bikes and flying kites,... And throwing frisbees, Having picnics on the grass, And walking their doggies. Looking out from my hollow yeah. It’s so good to see. So much fun and laughter there, The way that should be. Sun goes down, it’s getting dark, And all the families leave. Now it’s time for us to sleep, Deep in our hollow trees. Peace and Quiet everywhere, Good night, sleep tight until the morning light.. Photo's taken along the Olinda Creek Wildlife Corridor at the Mount Evelyn Recreation and Conservation Reserve.

23.01.2022 We’re learning to fly We’re testing our wings. We stretch them out and then close them again. Enjoy this video of our young owls learning to fly in the Mount Evelyn Recreation and Conservation Reserve.

21.01.2022 Happy New Year from all of us here at MEEPPA. 2020 has been a year of hardship for many as COVID-19 swept into disrupt our lives. We were extremely lucky that throughout the strictest of lockdown some of our local members could still go down to areas of bushland and inspect the wildlife as they did their exercise. Our zoology student soon to be zoologist Thomas has been crucial to our new wildlife monitoring programs; Bandicoot Watch and its successor the Mount Evelyn Wildli...Continue reading

21.01.2022 Yellow-bellied Gliders enjoying their bushland home in Glider Grove at the Mount Evelyn Recreation Reserve and Olinda Creek wildlife corridor. Endangered Yell...ow-bellied Gliders were rediscovered here two years ago after a fifty year absence. Photo's & Videos taken at the Mount Evelyn Recreation and Conservation Reserve.

20.01.2022 We’re learning to fly We’re testing our wings. We stretch them out and then close them again. We follow our mum as she flies through the trees.... She makes it look easy as she lands gracefully. But for us little owls, It’s not quite so easy The branches they move and it’s really quite scary. To stop us from falling, We stretch out our wings and grip with our beaks and our tails, and our feet At last mum returns, With dinner for three., and we squeak and we squawk as we wait for our feed. With food in our tummies, we feel quite sleepy. So we return to our roost tree, And we sleep there, quite peacefully. 2020 has been a special year for our endangered Powerful Owls. For the first time in 5 years we have 3 baby Powerful Owls in the Mount Evelyn Recreation and Conservation Reserve. Possibly one of the few benefits of the restrictions of Covid 19. Photo's taken along the Olinda Creek Wildlife Corridor at the Mount Evelyn Recreation and Conservation Reserve.

19.01.2022 Did you know that the Shire of Yarra Ranges Council are planning to spend $5,000,000.00 on a new sports pavilion in this reserve. MEEPPA is concerned that the a...mount of vegetation that is proposed to be removed, will seriously affect the habitat of our Yellow-bellied Glider family and the habitat of the recently rediscovered Long-nosed Bandicoots, and destroy the hard work of our Community members and School Children, who have helped us to rehabilitate and revegetate this area and protect the Olinda Creek below. If you would like to see what they have planned, you can view the plans on the 1st link below. https://eplanning.yarraranges.vic.gov.au//DataworksAccess. If you want to make a submission go to - https://eplanning.yarraranges.vic.gov.au//SearchApplicatio Photo's taken along the Olinda Creek Wildlife Corridor at the Mount Evelyn Recreation and Conservation Reserve. For more information visit the Mount Evelyn Environment Protection and Progress Association Page - https://www.facebook.com/meeppa

18.01.2022 WILDLIFE WATCH UPDATE: Its been over two months since the Mount Evelyn Wildlife Watch was launched. Through this new intiative members of wildlife watch have been undertaking spotlights once a fortnight in Mount Evelyn Recreation Reserve (and adjacent bushland). Coordinated by our head fauna researcher Thomas we have obtained numerous records of Powerful Owls, Yellow Bellied Gliders, Sugar Gliders, Boobook Owls and other species. All these records are submitted to the council... through their bushland management team and onwards to the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas (the main database for floda and fauna records in the state). Our membership consists of environmental scientists, zoology/ecology students and local residents. Below are some photos taken by members of Mount Evelyn Wildlife Watch, all specimens were found at the Recreation Reserve. If you wish to join the Mount Evelyn Wildlife Watch please contact us via the MEEPPA facebook page.

17.01.2022 After a dark and stormy night, I thought you might like to meet some of the locals. These photos and videos were recently captured along the Olinda Creek wild...life corridor, surrounding the Mount Evelyn Recreation Reserve. Swamp Wallabies, Bats, Wombats and foxes all come out to play, feed and enjoy their surroundings.

15.01.2022 Wallabies Christmas It’s getting near Christmas and It’s time to have some fun. These two young wallabies will show us how it’s done.... He’s so tall and handsome, How could she resist. She’s so sweet and pretty, He’d like to steal a kiss. They leap and jump and hop about. these games they love to play, They stretch up tall on their hind legs, As tall as they can be. Their tails act like anchors, So their balance, they can keep. And now the game is over, They are thinking of a feed. Of fruit trees, of Veggies, Grasses or small native trees. There is so much to choose from. We’ll just have some of each. And then we will lay down in the shade and have a little sleep. It’s getting near to Christmas So let us all enjoy A song or dance, a game or toy Under the Christmas Tree Merry Christmas Everyone Photo's taken along the Olinda Creek Wildlife Corridor at the Mount Evelyn Recreation and Conservation Reserve. For more information visit the Mount Evelyn Environment Protection and Progress Association Page - https://www.facebook.com/meeppa

13.01.2022 Meet the Parents Now that the young Powerful Owls have left their hollow, Mr and Mrs Owl take their roles of protecting their offspring very seriously. Sitting either side of their young, you can see Mrs Owl enjoying the fresh air after spending the last three months inside their hollow tending to her young. Mr Owl will now take on the duel roles of food provider and protector of his young family. Over the next five months the parents will teach their young the lessons of fl...ight, staying protected from predators, the weather and by watching their parents, what to eat and how to catch their food. Here we see Mrs Owl, close to her young, ever watchful and enjoying the spring sunshine. Mr Owl also close by, is warding off the Currawongs and Cockatoos who are swooping his family. Mr Owl takes his role as protector very seriously. Baby Owls will stay close to their parents until the end of February when they will leave the parental territory to find mates and their own home range. Photo's 27 september 2020 at the Mount Evelyn Recreation and Conservation Reserve.

09.01.2022 OLINDA CREEK PART 1 OUR GREATEST ENVIRONMENTAL ASSET? Olinda Creek remains one, if not the most important, Environmental Asset Mount Evelyn has. ... This creek corridor from its rise in the Olinda State Forest to Lilydale Lake remains the single most important wildlife and botanical asset harbouring a complex biodiversity which sustains a host of upper order indigenous species as well as an array of lower order invertebrates, some of which are endemic to our area and found nowhere else in the natural world. Olinda Creek provides the back bone of all the species which inhabit this remarkable and rich region from its confluence with Lyrebird Creek below the Silvan Dam, past the YMCA camp, through the Mount Evelyn Recreation and Conservation Picnic Reserve, skirting Quinn’s Reserve to the West and sustaining Lilydale Lake. Simply put, without the present viability of this viable waterway, very few of the animals and plants would not exist. MEEPPA’s Wildlife Watch over the past year, in combination with their 16 years of revegetation would not have had the success without the ongoing potability of the sustainingk waters which flow through this area and that is why it is vitally important to preserve the entire structure of the creek, as it exists today, without any further development or interference. Biodiversity is critical to the food chains and is interdependent from the roots and legumes which sustain the Wombats and Wallabies, from the Yabbies and water bound invertebrates which sustain Platypus, to the spiders and other invertebrates which sustain the smaller mammals such as Antechinus and Gliders etc, to the possums who sustain the Powerful Owls and occasional Eagles. Simply put! No Creek - No trees - No Animals!

08.01.2022 Superb Lyrebirds in Mount Evelyn. Our camera trap program being coordinated by zoology student Thomas has captured footage of a female Superb Lyrebird making its way through bushland in Mount Evelyn Recreation Reserve. Superb Lyrebirds are occasionally sighted in Mount Evelyn and it's fantastic to have photographic evidence of their presence here. Often stated to be the most musical songbird, these lyrebirds must have emigrated down from the higher slopes of the Dandenong Ran...ges, following the Olinda Creek Wildlife Corridor. This in turn highlights the importance to protect this area the Superb Lyrebird is the latest record in a number of iconic species (many threatened) to have come to Mount Evelyn via this route, species such as: Yellow-Bellied Glider Sooty Owl Long-nosed Bandicoot Broad-toothed Rat. A fantastic find and while not under great threat like their contemporaries it is crucial to note the Superb Lyrebird's presence and show the importance of wildlife corridors in peri-urban settings. See more

02.01.2022 MORE BANDICOOTS FOUND New footage of Long-nosed Bandicoots has been found by the camera trap program coordinated by MEEPPA, Mt Evelyn Recreation Camp and our zoology student Thomas. This find is truly exciting as this new footage has been captured 1km up the Olinda Creek Course in a new area of bushland on private property. This can mean big things for Mount Evelyn's Bandicoots, it can now be said with reasonable confidence the species is distributed along the Olinda Creek at more than one site. This highlights the importance of our wildlife corridors and how they can assist species to colonise new areas of bushland and habitat. A very exciting find.

01.01.2022 MOUNT EVELYN WILDLIFE WATCH OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED Last Thursday night was a very exciting night for MEEPPA, it was the premiere night for our new biodiversity monitoring program. The idea for Mount Evelyn Wildlife Watch (MEWW) was concieved by our head bandicoot researcher Thomas Hennessy earlier this year. With cooperation from MEEPPA, YMCA Recreation Camp and the local shire, it officially commenced last week. A coalition of local residents, small business owners, environment...al scientists and environmental science students split into four groups and ventured into allocated sections of the bushland within and surrounding Mount Evelyn Recreation Reserve. For the first night a fantastic haul came in: Juvenile Powerful Owls Yellow Bellied Gliders Common Brushtail Possum These species were all seen by members while out spotlighting. Some fantastic photos came in of the owls as well as they had put on a bit of a show for us. All species records will be submitted to council and from there on into the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas. Overall we are super pleased here at MEEPPA for this program and we'd like to give thanks to our member Thomas for devoting so much time to setting up wildlife watch and coordinating it abd to everyone who came to help out on the first night. See more

01.01.2022 Tip toe through the forest and look what I found. Baby Owls, just emerging from their hollow, high above the ground. Mum and Dad on either side to protect them and keep them safe and sound. Watching closely as they take their first look around. Newly emerged baby Powerful Owls in the Olinda Creek Wildlife Corridor... at the Mount Evelyn Recreation and Conservation Reserve today. See more