Thanks to all who joined us on Saturday in Area 7. Formerly “pitto paradise”, Area 7 is now an open grassy hill, spotted with eucalypts and dead chickens – the local fox had been hunting and chose Area 7 to dine. But apart from those surprises, and we moved through the area quickly (not too many weeds this time around!) and into the adjacent bushlands.

Upcoming: Our Friends group will have a stall at the GrassRoots market in Upwey on Sunday 31st of March. So be sure to drop in and say hi, ask any questions, or get any tips on how to have a great beard like our President, David.

Photos by Daniel Jackson

A brilliant day greeted a lovely large group of volunteers on Sunday. And it was great to welcome some new faces to the group for 2019. We made our way through the grassy Area 9, pushing out to the neighbouring areas, too. It’s still amazing what we find in the reserve after years of working in it, as you’ll see in the photos.

A tasty morning tea accompanied talks from Mike about a professional owl tracking project underway in Glenfern, and from Andrew about a species of flora in the reserve that I have memorised perfectly – word for word. It was really great to be in the reserve among old friends and new, after months away.

Feel free to join us next month on Saturday 16th of March. We can’t guarantee great weather, but morning tea is a promise we can make. Thanks to everyone who joined us (in person and in spirit) on Sunday.

After a run of cancellations due to much welcome rain, we had a stunning day on Saturday for our last bush restoration of the year. And the only thing more exciting that spotting a snake in the grass was the morning tea.
Thanks to all who showed up to lend a hand. A lovely time was had.

Photos by Daniel Jackson

Photos by Daniel Jackson & Linda Fullagar

Sunday was a warm and sunny day, and our first bushland restoration morning for 2018. We spent it in Area 9, where only years ago it was covered in pittos. But thanks to the chopping and chipping of those Pittos – and the subsequent plantings – it has been returned to a wonderful grassy slope.

At morning tea Linda spoke about the native (non-psychedlic) hemp plant, pictured below.

Thanks to everyone who came along to help, and welcome to some new faces. 
Please check our yearly planner (the pinned post on this page) to see when you can come along and join us for a morning in the bushlands.

Saturday was a warm and humid day and saw us working below the quarry (areas 10 & 11), and later, along the creek. 
At morning tea, Andrew gave a talk about how to identify the beautiful Yellow Box Eucalyptus. And Mike shared with us his experience of making a rare sighting of a Scarlet Honeyeater; the last reported sighting of this stunning small bird in our reserve was in 2010. More details of this story will be shared in our next newsletter, along with some photos. 
This was our last working bee for the year. Thanks to everyone who joined us for one or more of our bush restoration mornings! The reserve is looking all the more better for it.

​Glenfern volunteers at our Bushlands Restoration on Saturday. We worked on the "old quarry" area - now transformed to a beautiful and peaceful spot in the middle of our bushlands. Photos of volunteers busy with activities during the morning.

Photos by Daniel Jackson

Photos by Daniel Jackson & Team

Today was spent in the lovely long grasses, removing pitto, boneseed and blackberry seedlings. Then we put our new inspection camera into practice and viewed some nesting boxes... No-one home – yet. 

Photos by Daniel Jackson

Today we were more busy working on area 7 than taking photos of the work being done. Hence, only a couple of photos being taken – this time around, a fascinating formation in the rough shape of a mushroom.

Area 7 has recently had a thicket of pittos removed by contractors, revealing solitary gumtrees and opportunistic weeds. Regrowth from some of the pitto tree stumps was also attended to. 

This panorama taken from about half way along the top of the area 7, looking downhill. (Area 7 is at the eastern end of the reserve.) It looks a little raw just now but we have saved many trees! So much promise. Supplementary planing will be organised in the autumn. This area will be transformed in 12 months. This is a fantastic project to get 2017 underway. Thanks for your support.

(Click to enlarge panorama)

Five man crew attacking pittos in area 6.

Photos by David Moncrieff