Our Compliments of the Season!
We wish all our Friends and your families a safe and happy holiday period – and all the best for 2024!
In this December edition of our Newsletter, we cover:
- A review of the year 2023 in our park – lots of little things going on…
- Council works in December including the track/crossing improvements at Pakenham Street.
- December seems to have been a good month for moths and butterflies.
- Our sightings for this month include another Buff-banded Rail. Its colourations are not so bright and the breast-band is hardly present. This means it’s a different bird (wahoo!), a juvenile – likely one of the little black chicks we saw in Russell’s quick shot taken in October. As usual, thanks to our fabulous photographers – heaps more going on…
- A little on happenings in the park’s corridor to protect our trees…
What happened in 2023 ?
As is usual for our December editions, we provide a quick round up of what’s happened around the park during the calendar year. One reason for that practice is that the “secret sauce”, or rather source, for our newsletter content is that it is actually a “user friendly” version of our BCAC Committee meeting minutes – plus photos from contributors. The problem for December’s newsletter is that there is no Committee meeting in December! On the other hand, our photographers have been prolific !
First up: the former Nunawading Council voted in May 1983 to purchase land to create the “linear park” we, and all our biodiversity, now enjoy. So, the park turned 40 this year! Happy Birthday park!
Return of the Buff-banded Rail
We first discovered that the Buff-banded Rail had returned to the park in September with Russell’s sightings of an adult and chicks. Breeding happening! There have been regular sightings since – including some this month.
The slider shows the adult bird and a juvenile. Notice that the orangey-brown “breastplate” is far more pronounced on the adult.
There is some evidence that Gang-gang Cockatoos have also been breeding locally in the Corridor for the past year or two.
It is indeed wonderful that our haven is providing resources for a species that has been added to the endangered list because of significant losses of habitat due to bushfires elsewhere in eastern Australia.
We are helping to preserve the species!
White-browed Woodswallows were sighted in the Creeklands for the first time since our records began in the 1970s – by Greg and Barb in Blacks Walk.
In another first for the Creeklands, this bird noticed circling over Blacks Walk in late November was identified as a Nankeen Kestrel.
We are rapt (sorry!) that raptors seem to have taken to surveilling our park. Last year, we saw a Black-shouldered Kite and a Wedge-tailed Eagle for the first time.
Bird Surveys
Our official Autumn and Spring Bird Walks were conducted on Saturdays, April 29th and October 21st – with good attendance from the community and plenty of bird species to see!
The Wednesday Bird Watchers group has been active throughout the year on a monthly basis and has proved an invaluable source of information and photographs for this newsletter and for our education. We thank its members for their excellent work and their willingness to share with the wider community…
Kalang Oval
Not a Dog-Off-Lead Facility
Following Council surveying residents and park users in February regarding making Kalang Oval and surrounds an off-lead dog reserve, Council took the decision in July not to change the current situation.
Much as many of us love dogs, we were not happy with the proposal because Kalang Oval is in the centre of what is otherwise an official bushland reserve. As everyone knows, unleashed dogs and wildlife just do not mix. We were especially concerned that the proposed area also included a new-ish wetland, created by Council, popular with ducks and other birdlife.
Our friends in the Laburnum Cricket Club and Auskick were also strongly opposed to the idea because of the adverse impacts on their activities – conflicting use, safety, hygiene etc.
Of course, Sparks Reserve is off-lead and very close-by (just over Middleborough Road from Blacks Walk) – so our dog exercisers are already well catered for.
Cricket Safety Nets
Following a safety audit, Council announced to local residents in February that the cricket ball barrier nets at Kalang Park would be significantly extended.
The project was later redesigned and is currently under discussion with the stakeholders.
The cricket pitch is being re-aligned to improve safety too.
We’ll be happy if there’s not too much damage to the important nesting trees on the western side of the oval.
Working Bees
Our maintenance team’s working bee events have run more-or-less continuously throughout the year on Thursday mornings. The team is composed of all sorts of people – the main commonality being a love of nature and the capacity to volunteer.
Strangely, the weather, on an uncanny number of Thursdays throughout 2023, was good enough to work comfortably.
You’ve possibly seen the trail of we-woz-here recruitment signs left behind by the group (at right) – whose members really do appreciate the many thanks the locals give them for their efforts.
They reckon they’ve just about caught up this year with the backlog of work caused by their not being able to work during the COVID lockdowns…
Recent work has been near the Middleborough Rd entrance and in Kalang Park along the main track.
We also ran a number of very successful Community Working Bees on Sundays starting in the planting season which included:
- a new patch in Kalang Park to the east of the Laurel Grove footbridge on the northern side – more work is needed there next year
- planting up along the eastern side of the creek-line in Blacks Walk (in from Garie Street)
- replacement planting in the top northwest bed in Furness Park for a National Tree Day planting
- a Weeding and Wattle (education) event at Kalang Park adjacent the carpark near the Bowls Club.
Our Climate
The Bureau of Meteorology declared that two major climate drivers linked to hot, dry conditions are officially underway in Australia: El Niño and a “positive” Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). The combination of these two events tends to increase the severity of rainfall deficiencies and the risk of extremely hot days for us.
Despite all that, parts of south-eastern Australia have experienced wetter than normal conditions! This could be due to the influence of other climate phenomena, local weather patterns, and the inherent variability of the climate system.
One specific reason is that there have been higher-than-normal sea surface temperatures to the south and southeast of Australia, which can drive more moisture into the air – which triggers more rain in the region. El Niño hasn’t fizzled out and it’s still expected to be quite strong and continue into 2024. In short, we can still expect hotter weather than normal over summer. Our climate systems are quite complex. It’s not as simple as El Niño = dry+hot, La Niña = wet+cool – the events reflect the overall balance/trend – also the ranges of temperature and rainfall which tend to be more extreme.
Ominously, this 2023 El Niño follows three years of La Niña – it follows that Australia has had more rain and hence more vigorous vegetation growth. This leads to an increased risk of more dangerous bushfires due to the presence of more “fuel”. We’ve already seen extreme fire conditions in Queensland (particularly west of Brisbane) in a very early start to Australia’s “fire season”.
Garie Street Playground
After a pause, the Garie Street Playground update in Blacks Walk has been completed.
A drinking fountain, pathway improvements and two bike racks have augmented the playground area.
60 Main Street Development
Work on the three large units bordering the park at 60 Main Street continued in fits and starts – right through 2023. The units have an imposing presence on the adjacent parts of the park – exacerbated by the narrowness of the park at that point. The “yellow signs” announcing a redevelopment first went up in 2013 – making it now more than a decade since the various proposals for units on the site began.
Readers may remember the popular and well-supported BRAG (Bellbird Residents’ Action Group) campaign to have the then vacant block of land added to the park in 2019. The campaign culminated in Whitehorse Council’s rejection of a plea by petition to purchase the property. An incredible opportunity lost forever…
Under new management
For the first time in 5 years, Council advertising for new members of Park Committees (including the Blackburn Creeklands) and for working bee volunteers commenced in April and concluded in June. We were fortunate to gain some excellent new recruits to our Committee – though our numbers are down 2 or 3 on our normal level as several members have retired over the past couple of years.
Council invited all our registered Committee and working bee volunteers to its 2023 Volunteer Celebration held early in December. Four of our Creeklands Committee received certificates in recognition of long service – two for ten years’ service, and two for more than 30 years’ service!
Council worked with us to develop our Annual Maintenance Plan for our work in the park in February/March. It was reviewed in late September and will continue mostly unchanged into 2024. This plan governs what areas of the park we work in and which are managed by Council and its contractors.
Although there is some overlap, the three different groups do different types of work. Our team conducts hand-weeding, mulching, planting, rubbish collection and Community Working Bees. Council and its contractor do chemical spraying, mechanical brush cutting and more limited hand weeding and planting. We all have different strengths – and different parts of the park need different treatments.
Our new flyer
We released a new flyer in July to encourage those in our park’s corridor to plant compatible plant species in their gardens – for wildlife habitat.
The brochure was based on a similar concept to one produced by our friends at Yarran Dheran in Mitcham. Lisa, one of our Friends, took the lead role in coordinating our side of the project suggesting suitable artwork and content.
Some photos were provided by Council’s Ian Moodie who is one of the regular leaders for our Autumn and Spring bird walks.
We trust you would have received a copy if you live in the vicinity of the park. Thanks too to our delivery team.
Please click here if you are a new resident or somehow missed out.
Laburnum Primary School Expansion
A new development at Laburnum Primary School commenced in November – a significant new building expected to be overlooking Blacks Walk on the northern side of the school is under construction. The school’s Blacks Walk gate has been indefinitely closed.
KooyongKoot Alliance (KKA)
The Blackburn Creeklands remains an active member of the KKA. The KKA has developed rapidly this year – it participated in producing the Gardiners Creek (KooyongKoot) Regional Collaboration (GCRC) prospectus (launched in April), launched its own web-site in July and has participated in several significant revegetation projects along Gardiners Creek and its tributaries throughout the year.
Down the track, we expect our dear Creeklands will be covered by the KKA’s Strategic Plan for the entire KooyongKoot Catchment.
Council Works in December
Quite some time ago, Council provided additional crossing points across Pakenham Street to assist the likes of parents or grandparents with strollers etc. The problem was that these points were not well aligned with the then existing tracks. Works on both sides of the crossing have recently been undertaken to correct that – which included relocating the Kalang Park sign slightly northwards and expanding planting beds to match the revised layout. We hope to be planting up the new beds next year.
Our reporter was on the scene to catch the moment the sign was re-attached after its supports were moved northwards.
Moths and Butterflies
Common Brown butterflies are definitely living up to their name this year – they are very common indeed at present!
Wendy, our “go-to” friend for advice on invertebrates including moths and butterflies, thinks the latter may have had a good season this year due to the substantial rain we have had recently which would have promoted the growth of the caterpillar’s food sources. She adds that “there are many moths I have seen for the first time or some others – more than I have seen for many years“.
One found in a nearby garden:
Wendy confirmed that the moth is known as Sparshall’s moth, sometimes known as the Long-tailed Bombyx (Trichiocercus sparshalli). It is a stout bodied, hairy, mostly white moth with a dark patch behind the head. It is widespread in Australia and tends to prefer eucalypt parklands (like ours) and eucalypt forests.
In some Western cultures, seeing a white moth has positive symbology – the moths are thought to symbolize a human soul. The sighting may be interpreted as a message from a loved one indicating protection and hope for the future. On the other hand, in some Eastern cultures, white is symbolic of sadness, mourning or bad luck.
In any event, our photo came from a park neighbour who was more concerned that the moth was devouring his Cos lettuce plant – for which there seemed to be circumstantial evidence! However, Wendy explained that “adult moths don’t eat. Some may drink nectar, but most don’t eat anything – just find a mate, procreate and die“. The moth was more likely resting before getting on with life. There were no eggs on the leaf.
Please send us a photo if you see something unusual. If you are in the park and find something interesting, our current Noticeboard may help:
Other Sightings
We’ve got some great photos this month including some amazing close-ups of our too-often-overlooked invertebrates, some night shots and even one from a new “photographer” called DALL-E 3 Model chatbot. See if you can guess which “photo” came from the Gen-AI…
Recent rains have caused a resurgence in fungi in the park – we present some examples. We also have some interesting spiders – Greg’s shot of an Enamelled Spider – one of the Orb Weavers (Plebs bradleyi) and a female Net Casting Spider (Deinopis subrufa/Asianopis subrufa). Wendy tells us:
The male looks quite different. Wonderful spiders with huge eyes for hunting. They spin a blue stretchy web that they hold in their 4 front legs while looking down for prey to move. When a creature walks underneath, the spider throws the web over it. Like the net caster gladiators in roman times!
Regarding the close-up shots of invertebrates taken by one of our regular contributors Ken (our first six shots), he noted:
It was sharp eyed Wendy [who helped out with our moths and butterflies] that alerted the presence of these critters roosting in the long grass. They are new to me and maybe the Park (?). There are actually 2 species that are in the photos; one is a wasp and the other a native bee. The wasp [first two pictures] is a Sand Wasp Genus Austrogorytes. The bees are variously known as Leafcutter, Mortar and Resin bees and readily identified by the tips of their antennae and the orange hair on the tail [pictures 3 to 6].
Please click to enlarge
In the Corridor
New Council road signage has recently gone up in parts of the “Bellbird Area”. Some of the National Trust classified streets in the area have trees quite close to the road and also have significant low overhanging branches. Large trucks therefore run the risk of damage to the trees and to themselves.
Also, some of the intersections have sharp corners that make turns by long vehicles impossible. It is important that canopy trees are retained wherever practicable, given their contributions towards biodiversity, providing habitat and mitigating the effects of climate change.
See you in the park next year!
Blackburn Creeklands 
Pingback: Park News, January 2024 | The Blackburn Creeklands