Friends of Glenfern Valley Bushlands
  • Home
  • The Latest
  • Our Reserve
  • Our Community
  • Projects
  • Feedback
  • Membership

Upcoming: Midweek Conservation & Conversation

31/7/2023

0 Comments

 
This coming Wednesday 2nd August we'll hold our shorter midweek working bee, 9-11am, followed by morning tea. 

Please note that we'll meet at the New Road car park, Melway 74 E9.  

If some of you are able to bring a whipper-snipper to tidy in that area, that would be very helpful. 

Please bring garden gloves, sturdy shoes, drinking water. We'll provide you with tools (no whippersnippers though) and morning tea.

In the photo below, crafted by Nicole, you can see the tunnel of a native Swamp Rat. Those parts of Glenfern that are covered with thick, moist grasses are ideal habitat for the Swamp Rats. They form "tunnels" in the vegetation through which they run from burrow to burrow.
Picture
Photo by Nicole
0 Comments

Photos: Night Walk & Picnic 2022

16/2/2022

0 Comments

 
Saturday was a lovely evening for a picnic and twilight walk. And as is customary for these evenings, we like to tally the fauna viewed. Before the sun went down, two black-tailed cockatoos and a magpie were spotted. And as a nice intermission before the sun dipped below the horizon, the kids present were shown some Victorian Christmas Bush, which they thought smelled like toothpaste. Then encouraging the use of other senses the group heard a tree creeper, kookaburras, rainbow lorikeets, crickets and a bat.

At nightfall we saw micro bats, six brush-tailed possums, nine ring-tail possums, numerous spiders and their webs, inchmen marching up a tree, and dragonflies that were up late at night. Unnnnless you were walking with the other group (me!) who saw just one bat, a few possums, and a beetle. Oh, and a rabbit! Now we know where all the animals were gathering, that night!

A unique sighting not yet mentioned was an eel seen in Ferny Creek! None of us had put eyes on one before, so do let us know if you’ve seen one at Glenfern and when.

Join us this Sunday 20 February at 9:30am to explore the flora and be part of our bush restoration mornings.

0 Comments

Trees Planted At Glenfern!

17/9/2021

0 Comments

 
It has not been an easy time for the Glenfern volunteers - we  have not been able to do volunteer work during the lockdown. However we have been waiting to plant some trees since the beginning of this current lockdown. Today contractors were able to come to Glenfern and plant the trees for us. They were planted on the western end of Area 3, on the eastern side of Manna Gum Track. Great job - thankyou Aaron and Nick from Weedsmart. 

While taking the photos of the new trees a kangaroo was spotted in Area 2 sitting in a small thicket. See the enlargement! 

We seek the cooperation of  all visitors so that we can keep our animals safe and undisturbed; please stick to the paths and keep your dogs on a lead. 

Enjoy the reserve.

Photos and words by David Moncrieff
0 Comments

The Furry Friends of Glenfern

31/5/2019

0 Comments

 
​Guess what prowls about within Glenfern. 
Yarra Ranges Council and the Friends of Glenfern Valley Bushlands have completed a two week campaign to record photos of the animals in Glenfern using wildlife cameras. Thank you Paul for all the work.
0 Comments

Olive-backed Oriole & Fan-tailed Cuckoo @ Glenfern

21/11/2018

0 Comments

 
Special Visitors to Glenfern...

Local twitchers are very excited over recent sightings of two special visitors, the Fan-tailed Cuckoo and especially the Olive-backed Oriole. This species is not listed on our bird list, which means it hasn’t been sighted at Glenfern since records have been kept from 2001.

To the trained ear, its call gives it away … orri oriole. To the un-trained ear, you may think it is a Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike.

The Fan-tailed Cuckoo is a regular seasonal visitor and no doubt takes advantage of our local birds that build and raise their young in dome shaped nets, such as the White-browed Scrub Wren and Superb Wren. Cuckoos are renown for laying their eggs in other species nests and where the hosts do all the parenting.

These cuckoos were often seen in the area above Echidna Track, pouncing from over hanging branches onto caterpillars that were amongst the long native grass.

We are not 100% sure, but these caterpillars may be the larvae of the Common Brown Butterfly.

Turn up the volume, to enjoy the oriole.
-
Words & Video by Mike Sverns
0 Comments

Nesting Box Installations

20/10/2018

0 Comments

 
Nest boxes for sugar gliders and kookaburras installed in Glenfern.
At the end of September the Glenfern nest box team installed two kookaburra and six sugar glider boxes. We also reinstalled one parrot boxes that had housed a feral bee colony. We now have 20 boxes installed throughout the reserve. Glenfern has already supplied data and photos to the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research (DELWP) regarding feral bee occupation of nest boxes. Many thanks to our great team, particularly Rob, Doug and Lincoln for the tree work.
0 Comments

Gang-gang Cockatoos Visit Glenfern

13/6/2018

0 Comments

 
​Glenfern's resident birder, Mike Sverns, shares with us his recent experience with some special visitors to the reserve, via prose and video...

"It was so exciting to have these small and pretty grey cockatoos resort to our reserve, to feed, drink and roost back in March to April. This is a great reward and a testament to everyone, who have committed so much effort to the reserve over many years.

It became apparent over so many hours of observation, how important the riparian vegetation along Ferny Creek, including the tall mature eucalyptus species were to the Gang-gang Cockatoos.

Many small flocks would form into large ones routinely, flying from different directions, late afternoon after a big day feasting on the introduced Hawthorn Bush. Their favoured seed from the red berry was plentiful in bushes several kilometres away at the southern end of Lysterfield valley.

It must have been a good breeding season too, as most adult pairs had in tow, either a single or two young. The two young would vary from twins of the same sex, or one of each.

This obviously kept both adults busy, disgorging their full crop of seed to top up their young after a well deserved drink from our creek. They then would fly to the high tops of the manna, swamp and messmate that was fruiting at the time, before they would roost and retire, after an affectionate preening and bonding session."
0 Comments

Winged Visitor: Painted Button Quail

6/4/2018

0 Comments

 
​Well what a surprise! On Wednesday morning our hardy volunteers were hard at work on pitto regrowth when they discovered a painted button quail, well camouflaged in the undergrowth. A new find for Glenfern. Great photos by Anne Comer.
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Spotted: Nesting Kookaburras

28/10/2017

0 Comments

 
Birds love Glenfern. The older trees along Ferny Creek have many natural hollows that are great nest sites. A family of Kookaburras have a nesting hollow next to Ferny Creek - about opposite Forest Park Reserve. The family is busy today feeding young. The adults come and go every 5 to 15 minutes.
Photos by David Moncrieff
0 Comments

Midweek Conservation & Conversation, Sept 2016

7/9/2016

0 Comments

 
​The New Road car park end of the Reserve received a great tidy up by the Glenfern team this morning. Whipper-snippering, weeding, picking up rubbish and removing bags and stakes makes the area look more friendly and loved. We thought of our friends and long-standing members, Gill and Paul Derezycky who always helped keep this end neat. 
The Ist Upwey Scouts will be assisting us with mulching and planting here at the next working bee. Thanks everyone.
Photos by Linda Fullagar
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Categories

    All
    Agm
    Area 1
    Area 10
    Area 11
    Area 12
    Area 13
    Area 14
    Area 15
    Area 2
    Area 3
    Area 4
    Area 5
    Area 6
    Area 7
    Area 8
    Area 9
    Area Forest Park Reserve
    Birds
    Bushwalk
    Butterflies
    Discovery Day
    Fauna
    Flora
    Forest Park Reserve
    Frog Pond
    Insects
    In The Media
    Market Stalls
    Member's Day
    Midweek Conservation & Conversation
    Newsletter
    Official Business
    Pitto Removal
    President's Christmas Message
    Reserve Works
    Surveys & Studies
    Tree Planting Day
    Twilight Picnic
    Visiting Groups
    Working Bee Calendars
    Working Bee Flyer
    Working Bee Photos

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    June 2010
    February 2010
    October 2009
    September 2009
    June 2009
    December 2008
    September 2008
    December 2007
    September 2007
    February 2007
    September 2006
    June 2006
    February 2006
    November 2005
    September 2005
    June 2005
    February 2005
    September 2004
    June 2004
    February 2004
    September 2003
    June 2003
    February 2003
    November 2002
    September 2002
    June 2002
    March 2002

    RSS Feed

Friends of Glenfern Valley Bushlands Inc.
ABN 68 756 528 698

P.O. Box 1283, Upwey, VIC, 3158
Header images: Birds - Mike Sverns, Flora & Fantail - Daniel Jackson