Winter 2020 | No 77 - hobartcity.com.au/bushcare - City of Hobart
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Winter 2020 | No 77 hobartcity.com.au/bushcare
Bushcare Roundup
Talia Sawers
Program Officer Bushcare
B ushcare is a huge part of my life
and has been for many years
– and not just because it’s my job.
I was introduced to the world of
Bushcare (or Dune Care to be
exact) in 1998 and it was love at
first working bee.
Being an environmental cause,
I naturally gravitated towards
the activity, although it was a
weird creatures that hop, fly, crawl, difference between local extinction
combination of other factors that
slither and buzz around us while and survival for many species.
gave me an incredible sense of
we work. Bushcare volunteers are a special
satisfaction – hard work, dirt-
encrusted hands, immersion in Bushcare is an accepting place, breed who are selfless with their
nature, exposure to the elements a melting pot of cultures, time and caring with their actions.
and spending time with other like- professions, ages and political They help raise community
minded individuals. I’m also a big persuasions. It provides an escape awareness about bushland
fan of morning tea! from life’s challenges and a cure for reserves and their environmental
anxiety, disease and loneliness. It’s values, mentor new volunteers,
It has been incredibly gratifying
to be involved in something with a place where everyone’s skills and champion environmental
such tangible environmental knowledge enhance the program. stewardship and make wonderful
outcomes. We’re literally removing As a coordinator of Bushcare friends.
tonnes of environmental weeds programs – and now coordinating Not only do they contribute
from the landscape! Hobart’s Bushcare program – I am hundreds of thousands of hours
And the longer we are involved constantly inspired by the level of towards bushland management
in Bushcare the more we are passion, dedication and expertise across Australia – worth tens of
rewarded. Over time we get to of the volunteers I have worked millions of dollars annually – but
see the diverse array of life that is with. Active members of the perhaps more importantly they
given the space and opportunity community, they form connections create a healthier, more robust
it needs to rejuvenate and restore and long-term partnerships with natural environment.
the health of our bushland and residents, other community Bushcare is so much bigger than
waterways – the native trees, groups, local schools, universities, the bushland areas volunteers are
shrubs and grasses, delicate corporations and all levels of restoring. It’s about community,
scramblers, threatened herbs, government. learning, mentoring, friendships
endemic orchids, and all the The actions undertaken by and making a difference in this
amazing, beautiful and sometimes Bushcare volunteers can mean the world, one weed at a time.
Contact Us P 03 6238 2884
16 Elizabeth Street E bushcare@hobartcity.com.au
GPO Box 503 W hobartcity.com.au/bushcare
Hobart 7001, TAS facebook.com/cityofhobartbushcare
COVER PHOTO: Masked owl, Michael Roberts.
Bandicoot Times 2 Winter 2020 | No 77
Bushcare volunteers Bryan Ly, Pei Fern and Robert Rands scope out Fantail Quarry with our Bushcare staff Bec Johnson and Talia Sawers.
Photo: Sam Adams
Bushcare is back in action!
O ur Bushcare and Trackcare
volunteers are set to return
to the field this month to once
Bushcare’s physical distancing rules
again tackle environmental weeds, • V
isit our Bushcare events • P
lease take your gloves and
page at hobartcity.com.au/ safety glasses home and bring
restore important wildlife habitat
bushcare to register for each them back to each working bee.
and create and maintain bushland working bee so we don’t exceed
tracks. • Follow hygiene and physical
permitted gathering numbers.
distancing tips recommended
Our 25-year-old Bushcare program • BYO morning tea – no sharing by the Tasmanian Government.
was forced to suspend all working for now but we hope to provide
bees on March 18 as part of coffee and bikkies again soon!
a nationwide clampdown on
gatherings of people to prevent physical distancing and hygiene on hold, you might be wondering
the spread of coronavirus. rules, and initial working bees will what some of our Bushcare
Since then our volunteers have be limited to 20 people. volunteers have been up to.
been chomping at the bit to return We’re all looking forward to You may have heard of iso-baking,
to their bushcare sites and tracks! seeing our volunteers again when iso-tech, iso-exercise, even iso-
Sandra Poth is a volunteer fails. How about iso-Bushcare?
Bushcare resumes and don’t
convenor with the Bushcare group expect these new distancing Friends of Knocklofty volunteer
Waterworks Valley Landcare. measures will have a significant Greg Summers made a large
“We are so looking forward to impact on our working bees. COVID-19 sculpture out of marine
meeting up again and planning Bushcare naturally lends itself to a debris, now on display outside
our next Bushcare project,” she healthy level of physical distancing his house. Some of our hardy
said. with volunteers enjoying, and Working Alone Volunteers have
often preferring, some space in been plugging away at weeds in
“We are all so proud to be part of the interim, and the Wakefield
one of Hobart’s oldest Bushcare the great outdoors.
boys up at Ridgeway have been
groups and can’t wait to get back We hope to see you at a working out and about identifying native
to it!” bee soon! fungi and studying leaves through
Volunteers will have to follow While working bees have been a magnifying glass.
Bandicoot Times 3 Winter 2020 | No 77
Boobook owls are often heard calling in Hobart. Photo: © Eric Woehler, BirdLife Tasmania
Who gives a hoot for
Hobart’s owls?
N ot all Hobart residents
embrace the light. Some only
make their way out at night.
owl was seen perching in a tree
out the front of the Tasmanian
Museum and Art Gallery.
Nicole Gill
Owls belong to this secret Team Leader Bushcare
nocturnal society, flitting silently Boobook, mo-poke
through our forests, striking fear
as feathery satellite dishes, or ru-ru?
into the hearts of small furry
channelling even the faintest The more common Tasmanian
animals while the rest of us are
snuggled up under our doonas. whisper of a bandicoot’s sneeze boobooks are often heard calling
into their offset ears. in Hobart – their distinctive two-
Hobart is home to two true owls
Masked owls eat birds and note has given rise to a number of
– the Tasmanian masked owl (Tyto
insects, but can also take quite onomatopoeic common names:
novaehollandiae castanops) and
large prey, including rabbits and boo-book! mo-poke! ru-ru! more-
the Tasmanian boobook (Ninox
leucopsis). pademelons. Their astonishing pork!
The Tasmanian masked owl is an hearing allows them to catch A small owl with piercing yellow
endangered species – there are moving prey even in complete eyes and mottled cream and
thought to be as few as 1000 in darkness. brown plumage, boobooks prey
the entire world. Rarely seen, you Most sightings of masked owls largely on smaller creatures –
may sometimes hear them in the come from our bushland reserves mammals, birds and invertebrates
bush, cackling like kookaburras on – they’re known at Knocklofty, – and like the masked owl, they
helium, or screeching like avian Wellington Park, Waterworks and move silently through the night on
banshees. Mount Nelson – but in 2014 an delicately fringed wings.
Their heart-shaped faces act inexperienced young masked Scientists looking for owls in forest
Bandicoot Times 4 Winter 2020 | No 77
environments sometimes use call
playback, playing owl calls through
a speaker to lure them within
sight, or at least hearing distance.
Unfortunately, this method is often
unsuccessful – the owls may be
out foraging in a different area,
or simply wary and unwilling to
be drawn out of the darkness.
It can also be intrusive – call
playback can cause unnecessary
stress for owls, who may believe
their territory is under threat – so
should only be done by qualified
ecologists.
Fortunately, owl habitat can
be identified another way – by
locating the pellets, or castings,
that owls throw up after digesting
their meals.
While owls sometimes eat their
prey by tearing chunks out of it,
they can swallow smaller animals
whole, relying on powerful
enzymes in their proventriculus
(first stomach bag), and the might
of their gizzard (second stomach)
to grind and crush their prey’s
body into easily digestible mush.
Once they’ve extracted the
juicy bits out of their meal,
they spew up the remains in a
pellet – essentially a giant, bone-
enhanced fur-ball. These pellets
often pile up around areas of Forest Practices Authority Raptor Specialist Jason Wiersma examines a Tasmanian
important owl habitat, like nesting masked owl with ANU PhD candidate Adam Cisterne.
hollows or roost sites. By finding
piles of pellets, you can be fairly of Hobart manages its bushland catch and eat these poisoned
confident you’ve found an area reserves to protect these old trees rodents, they experience
important to owls! and other areas of conservation secondary poisoning, which can
significance. either kill them outright, or make
Threats to Hobart’s them sick enough to impact their
Closer to home, and perhaps an
owls even more serious threat to owls, ability to hunt or fly successfully.
Both species of owls are obligate is the use of rat poisons.
hollow breeders – this means they What can you do for
Adam Cisterne, who’s studying
need hollows to successfully raise
Tasmanian masked owls for Hobart’s owls?
chicks. The old, sometimes dead
his PhD, recently analysed the
or dying trees in our reserves are Avoid using single dose
critically important for owls and corpses of 20 owls found by
rat poisons
other hollow breeders – without members of the public. He
discovered traces of rat poison in Sometimes called second
them, they have nowhere to raise
all but one of them. generation poisons, it’s best to
their feathery families.
avoid them if you want to help
The loss of hollows at a landscape Although no rat poisons are good
keep our owls safe. Instead use
scale has been identified as for owls, the worst are the “single
multiple dose baits, or better still,
one of the major threats to the dose” poisons that kill rodents
Tasmanian masked owl. The City with only one feed. When owls continued next page ...
Bandicoot Times 5 Winter 2020 | No 77
A sniffer dog
called Zorro
Zorro is a border collie cross
springer spaniel who belongs
to Bushcare team leader Nicole
Gill. He’s been training since
he was a puppy to sniff out
Tasmanian masked owl pellets.
Like Adam and Nicole, Zorro’s
a member of the ANU Diffi-
cult Birds Research Group. His
mission? To uncover Tasmanian
masked owl habitat, and chase
as many balls as possible while
doing so.
Zorro is on a mission to uncover Tasmanian masked owl habitat, and chase balls.
He’s already helped our bush-
land teams identify a boobook
old-fashioned snap traps to catch vulnerable to being hit by cars
roost at Ridgeway – who knows
your rats. Rats won’t hang around when they are busy chasing
what he’ll sniff out next?
if they don’t have anything to eat insects – slow down when
– secure your compost bins and driving, and save them from
chook runs and you won’t need to themselves.
When is an owl trap so many rats.
Seen an owl recently? Let
not an owl? Leave the old trees standing Adam know!
Owlet nightjars: Australia’s Lucky enough to have an old, Adam is doing his PhD right now
tiniest nocturnal bird, rarely hollow bearing tree on your on Tasmanian owls, and is always
spotted, and despite property? Consider leaving it as keen to hear from people who’ve
appearances, not an owl. habitat for owls and other hollow recently encountered these
Tawny frogmouth: Masters of dwellers. mysterious birds.
camouflage, often found hiding Contact Adam by emaling him
in plain sight. Also not an owl. Slow down at night
at: adam.cisterne@anu.edu.au
Boobooks in particular are
Owlet nightjar. Photo: JJ Harrison Tawny frogmouth. Photo: Sylvia | Pixabay
Bandicoot Times 6 Winter 2020 | No 77
Exploring the wonders of
nature during lockdown
V olunteering with Bushcare is
a great way to learn about
Hobart’s bushland reserves and
how to protect the native plants
and animals that call them home,
but it’s not the only way.
The coronavirus clampdown
forced many of us to come up
with ways of caring for nature
from our own homes, starting in
backyards.
Many of the weedy plants
threatening Hobart’s bushlands
originally came from gardens.
What seems like a harmless plant
on a visit to the nursery can turn
into an environmental invader if
it jumps your fence and escapes
into nearby bushland.
Ridgeway Bushcare regulars Ewan and Pippin discover a crop of Armillaria fungus while
But by responsibly disposing exploring nearby bushland. Photo: Bronwyn Kimber
of garden waste and removing
environmental weeds from your Citizen science
garden you can help protect Handy websites You don’t need a science degree
Hobart’s bushland reserves.
• L
inks to all of the sources listed to be a citizen scientist, just a
in this story can be found at
Where to start hobartcity.com.au/carefornature.
curious nature and an enthusiasm
for the natural world around us.
The Weeds of Southern Tasmania • The NRM South website is a
booklet can help you with the task great resource: nrmsouth.org.au By contributing your observations
of identifying these nasties. on nature to apps like iNaturalist,
Fungimap and FrogID you can
If you live in Fern Tree The Fern list that will help you find the right make a valuable contribution to
Tree Weed Booklet is for you. native plants for your garden. our understanding of Hobart’s
If you want to dig deeper They have also created a fantastic bushland reserves and the wildlife
into weed control methods Native Gardens guide. that rely on them for survival.
and management strategies, Here are just a few programs you
take a look at the Tasmanian Rock gardens, nest boxes, bird
baths, frog ponds and native can get involved with:
Government’s website and NRM
South’s priority weed brochures. bee hotels are also great ways • Wild Pollinator Count
of attracting native wildlife into • Butterflies Australia
Habitat gardens your garden, and provide natural
• Fungimap
stepping stones between our
Using plants native to your region • Aussie Backyard Bird Count
is a great way to turn your garden bushland reserves.
into a habitat sanctuary, providing Discover how to create a wildlife • Fairywren Project
food and shelter for birds and garden and encourage bush • FrogID
other wildlife as well as butterflies. birds into your garden with NRM A more comprehensive list has
NRM South has created an South’s wonderful Bush Birds been compiled by the Australian
excellent native plants of Hobart brochure. Citizen Science Association.
Bandicoot Times 7 Winter 2020 | No 77
Bush tracks
online
T he City of Hobart has launched
a series of interactive online
maps that will help locals and
visitors explore walking and
mountain bike tracks throughout
Hobart’s bushland reserves.
The maps, which are found at away? This will help avoid large come in all shapes and sizes, some
hobartcity.com.au/bushlandmaps, groups of people gathering in are lovely little strolls, others can
include the City’s 115 km fire trail more popular areas like The be steep and challenging. Make
network and use colour coding to Springs and other main car parks. sure you pick tracks that suit your
rate tracks from very easy through level of physical fitness. Our online
to very difficult. Explore our fire trails map has a handy guide that rates
In releasing the maps the City also Fire trails have been built to allow tracks from easy to moderate and
provided tips for staying safe on access into our bushland reserves difficult.
Hobart’s tracks and trails during for firefighting crews and their
vehicles. They are wider than Lead on, little doggy
physical distancing.
normal walking tracks – facilitating If you’re taking your pooch for a
Take the path less travelled physical distancing – and often bushwalk please remember that
Some of our bushland tracks are take you through beautiful forest. dogs need to be on a lead and
proving more popular than ever, on track at all times, unless on-site
so now is a good time to explore
Keep your distance signage allows them to be off lead
routes that are a bit off the beaten Some of our bushland tracks and under effective control. Our
track. Our online walking tracks can be quite narrow in areas, so new bush tracks for dogs online
map will help you find new tracks please give each other plenty map marks out where dogs are
to explore. of room when passing, and permitted off lead within bushland
abide by current government areas.
Go local recommendations on physical
If you can walk to a bushland distancing. Change your schedule
reserve from your house why not If you’re finding the tracks in your
get the exercise and explore your Move to the beat of local bushland reserve are hectic
local bushland reserve instead of your own drum at certain times, try changing when
driving your car to a spot further Tracks and fire trails in Hobart you visit them.
You don’t have to be wild at heart to join a Bush Adventure, but it helps.
From discovery walks, to nest box making and nocturnal wildlife tours,
our program has something for all ages.
Bandicoot Times 8 Winter 2020 | No 77
Book your next adventure at hobartcity.com.au/bushadventures
Sculpture sends powerful
message to the world
W hen five-year-old Lily
Neyland ventured out with
the Cornelian Bay Bushcare Group
a decade ago she ended the day
by taking home some bunches
of plastic flowers that had blown
down from the nearby cemetery.
To the eyes of a little girl they
must have been mesmerising, a
real catch, and they ended up as
a prized possession in her cubby
house.
Fast forward ten years and those
plastic flowers, symbols of grief,
blown by the wind on to the
Cornelian Bay foreshore, have
proved the inspiration behind an
incredible and confronting new Lily with her artwork Floral Grief. Photo: Courtesy of The Friends’ School
artwork called Floral Grief.
To create the sculpture 15-year- Lily worked with Sue Gillespie, Ken
old Lily drew inspiration from the Mackay, Roz Sargeant and Judy
childhood keepsake to make a Boon from Cornelian Bay Bushcare
statement about the growth in to learn about the impacts
plastic pollution, and to call on the plastic flowers blown down from
rest of us to think more about how the cemetery have had on the
we treat the Earth. foreshore’s environmental values,
and the work the Bushcare group
“Through this sculpture, I wanted
has put into cleaning them up.
to raise awareness about how the
Earth is becoming more and more Lily’s connection and commitment
polluted as a result of plastics like to Bushcare can be linked to her
these flowers,” she says. mum, Gabrielle Balon, who has
worked for a number of years as A much younger Lily with her mother
“For this reason, I decided to
a casual Bushcare team leader. Gabrielle at a Cornelian Bay Bushcare
make a coffin, a symbol of death,
Gabrielle was able to help Lily event.
and place a model of the Earth
connect with members of the
inside.” • L
ily’s sculpture is on display
Cornelian Bay Bushcare group and
Floral Grief is part of a self- also staff at the City of Hobart, until 15 June 2020 at the start
directed inquiry project at The who arranged the permit for the of the dog walking track to
Friends’ School in Hobart. The sculpture. Cornelian Bay Point.
Year 10 student used windblown
artificial flowers, vases and other
plastic rubbish, collected from the Why not get involved?
2.5 km cemetery boundary, as the Cornelian Bay Bushcare protects of the River Derwent and kunanyi/
main materials for the sculpture. Hobart’s coastal vegetation around Mount Wellington.
These were complemented by Cornelian Bay. The area is rich in
Cornelian Bay Bushcare meets on
chicken wire, garden stakes, cultural heritage and extends into
the fourth Sunday of the month,
the open grassy woodland of the
garden tool handles and beach 10 am – 12.30 pm.
Queens Domain and has great views
washed rope.
Bandicoot Times 9 Winter 2020 | No 77
Weed Watch
When is a weed a weed?
S weet pittosporum was virtually
unknown as an environmental
weed in Tasmania 15 years ago, Bec Johnson
but today it is visible in almost Team Leader Bushcare
every street in Hobart and many
bushland areas. It’s an unusual Most ‘native’ plant sections
example of a native Australian in nurseries include species
plant with a small natural range that hail from as far away as
but enormous invasive potential. Western Australia, including
Sweet pittosporum – its scientific mainland grevilleas, acacias and
name is Pittosporum undulatum eucalypts. Many of them, like
– is native to rainforests of the sweet pittosporum, can turn
eastern mainland states – but not into invasive weeds if planted in
Tasmania. In its natural habitat Tasmania, and can even hybridise
it was kept in check by regular with local species.
grassland fires, limiting it to wet Because mainland native plants
areas. But it has now naturalised are similar to Tasmanian native
across much of Australia, and the plants, they can draw native you’ll find a little (or not so little)
globe, especially on sub-tropical pollinators from their important sweet pittosporum.
islands. job of cross-pollinating native
If you decide to replace it, there
It is an attractive, medium-sized herbs, shrubs and trees, resulting
in reduced biodiversity in our are many lovely Tasmanian native
shady tree with prolific marble-
natural grasslands and woodlands plants to choose from. Pick up a
like fruit that are the colour of an
orange and carry a sweet scent. in the future. free plant at one of our annual
Its spread has been aided by If you live in an urban area, have plant giveaways, and get some
nurseries and gardeners, as well a peek in the corners of your tips on gardening with Tasmanian
as a wide range of fruit-eating garden or look around your street. native plants from:
birds, including introduced birds. There’s a pretty good chance hobartcity.com.au/careforenature
Pittosporum translates
as ‘sticky seed’. Have
you ever noticed
how our Tasmanian
native cheesewood,
Pittosporum bicolour,
often starts life in the
fork of a tree where a
bird has scraped the
sticky seeds off its rear
end?
Photo: John Tann | Flickr | CC BY 2.0
Bandicoot Times 10 Winter 2020 | No 77More than 500 people have responded to the City of Hobart’s draft mountain bike network plan. Photo: Flow Mountain Bike
A blueprint for better riding
T he City of Hobart’s blueprint
for an expanded mountain
bike network on kunanyi / Mount
Yellow Hippo here we come!
The City of Hobart’s Trackcare teams to bring this descent track up
Wellington has received an
volunteers are about to turn their to international mountain bike track
overwhelming response. attention to the Yellow Hippo standards.
Released for public comment in mountain bike track at the back of
This will be tight, focused work, with
April the City’s Draft Mountain Knocklofty Reserve.
plenty of scope for volunteers to
Bike Network Plan identifies Volunteers will be working in small ramp up their track building skills.
and prioritises proposed future
tracks through the foothills of conflict between different user of tracks that are specifically for
the mountain. It received 586 groups. They would provide safe, mountain bike use.
submissions – 423 from mountain high-quality riding, with a mix of A recent survey of track users
bikers, 105 from walkers and 58 distances, technical challenges
from runners. revealed that 83 per cent of
and different styles of riding. respondents supported the
“We’ve worked closely with The design is also sensitive to provision of new mountain bike
leading mountain bike trail the mountain’s environmental, tracks on the mountain; and 72 per
consultants Dirt Art and regular historical and cultural values and is cent preferred separated tracks
mountain users to design tracks
considerate of other user groups. – that is, tracks built specifically
to meet the future needs of locals,
At least three of the 15 new tracks for either mountain bike riding or
and also attract visitors to our
are proposed for shared use as walking and running.
city,” said Hobart Lord Mayor
Anna Reynolds. they also provide key links for
A $387,000 grant through
walkers and runners.
“We expect mountain biking and the Tasmanian Government’s
other eco-tourism activities to play Council officers will now review Cycle Tourism Fund has been
an enormous role in the economic and consider the submissions committed toward the first stage
recovery of our city and region.” before finalising the draft plan. of implementation. The timing of
Up to 47 km of proposed tracks Currently, kunanyi / Mount future works will be dependent on
have been designed to meet the Wellington has almost 80 km the City securing further external
needs of riders without causing of walking tracks, but just 3 km funding.
Bandicoot Times 11 Winter 2020 | No 77Native plant
giveaway
To celebrate National Tree Day,
the Bushcare team will host
another of our popular native
plant giveaways and speak with
the community about the
importance of planting trees for
our environment and health.
When
Sunday 2 August 2020
8.30 am – 1 pm
Where
Farm Gate Market, Bathurst
Street (between Murray and
Elizabeth streets), Hobart
More Information
Visit hobartcity.com.au/events
Bandicoot Times 12 Winter
National Tree Day is organised by 2020
Planet Ark | No 77
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