Category: Activities

event host

Calling for event hosts for 2020

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Are you interested in becoming an event host in 2020?

For two hours at one or more of our events, our hosts are the go-to person. No experience necessary and we will give you all the details you need. And you won’t be alone as our committee members and experienced volunteers are there to help you.

The role of the event host

  • Greet volunteers;
  • Get volunteers to sign in (sign in book provided);
  • Ask them to highlight email address if they want to get on the mailing list;
  • Outline safety precautions which are: be careful with tools, wear gloves, take care on uneven ground, beware of snakes/spiders etc, sunscreen and sun hat;
  • Point out the first aid kit is available (in the FoEC trailer);
  • Mention donations are welcome via the platypus;
  • Give them an outline of plans for the day;
  • Pair them with an experienced volunteer if they need to be shown what to do; and
  • Get them started on a suitable job.

The hosts can also explain project aims and objectives based on general background information provided. They can also provide calendar of events, facebook and website details if desired.

If this is something you would like to do, please send Lisa an email at: [email protected].

A wrap up of the 2018 planting season

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Thanks to everyone who attended the final planting day for the year and then celebrated at the party afterwards. We planted 870 plants!

Our President, David Pavone outlined our achievements for 2018 and what’s ahead for 2019 and beyond. 

Here’s a wrap up of David’s speech.

Plantings

2018 was season 12 where we planted 7,000 indigenous trees, plants and shrubs. We are considering downsizing the number of plants we plant per planting activity. Rather than around 700-800 plants per activity, in order to allow more on-the-day maintenance, we are considering reducing that to around 400-500 plants.

Committee meetings

Committee meetings are open to all who are interested to attend, so please come along. 

It’s important for us to share the knowledge. For example, if you would like to learn how to write a grant submission, update the website, learn about plant names or anything else, we are more than happy to pass this knowledge on. And likewise, from our volunteers, you all have so much knowledge, so please share it with us! We would really appreciate it.

For 2019 you may also be interested in providing assistance in the following areas:

  • Become an event host – meet and greet volunteers (more information here).
  • Letterbox drops

The FoEC trailer needs a home

Our Works Manager Rob is moving house and unfortunately cannot accommodate the trailer anymore. If anyone has room in their backyard or commercial property or knows of anyone who may be able to store the trailer, please let us know.

Elizabeth Street Cafe

Thank you to the Elizabeth Street Cafe for providing delicious fruit and baked goods for our party. Their support is so valuable to us and we really appreciate it. Please drop in to the cafe and enjoy a coffee and / or delicious meal. 

Change of Treasurer

At the next AGM to be held early in 2019, Stephen Northey will be handing over the Treasurer role to our Website Manager, Lisa Davis

Donations

Please continue to donate as much and as often as you can as all proceeds are welcome and go towards catering and other operational items we use throughout the year. If you can make a direct deposit, please let us know or alternatively, make a donation at any of our planting days.

Thank you

Thank you to the many dedicated and passionate volunteers who help make FoEC so successful. We couldn’t do it without you!

 

David Pavone, FoEC President speaking to our 50 volunteers at the final planting for the year. David mentioned we planted 870 plants on that day and over 7,000 plants for 2018.

 

End of 2018 planting season celebrations.

 

Preparation of the planting site

 

 

Finished – 50 volunteers, 870 plants planted!

 

 

 

Bird Walk and Talk with Stuart Dashper

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On Sunday 15th October, Stuart Dashper, a committee member of Victorian Birdlife Australia led our group of 15 for a very informative Bird Walk and Talk.

We met at the Gooseneck site at midday with our cameras and binoculars and walked for over an hour up to the Sheoak Woodland area and back down the hill to enjoy afternoon tea and a recap of the walk.

We saw 31 species 

We saw an outstanding 31 species of birds in just over an hour. Some of the species included:

Bird Walk and Talk Group

Bird Walk and Talk Group

Tawny Frogmouth with two babies

Pacific Black Duck

About Stuart

Stuart has always been interested in wildlife, obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours from La Trobe University in 1981. He has been an active member of Birdlife Australia and its predecessor Birds Australia for over a quarter of a century and was the convenor of the Victorian regional group of Birds Australia for five years.

He lived near the Merri Creek in Brunswick East for 15 years where he was a leader for the Merri Creek bird surveys. Stuart has birded extensively in Australia and Asia and has had the pleasure of seeing such iconic Australian Summer birds as Rainbow Bee-eater, Dollarbird and Channel-billed Cuckoo in their wintering grounds of Indonesia. He is still looking forward to finding a really rare bird along the Merri Creek or its tributaries.

Stuart Dashper, Birdlife Australia

 

Annual “Christmas in September” planting

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Well, we have put another planting season behind us! Go FoEC!

Today we are hosted our annual “Christmas in September” with a planting and follow-up celebration of another great years work (though I hasten to add that we still have two maintenance activities scheduled for 2017).

This event was hosted by the FoEC, planting funded by Melbourne Water Community Grant and Christmas celebrations funded by the FoEC.

A big thank you to The Elizabeth Cafe (Coburg North) who kindly donated the delicious food. Thank you Hannah!

Be sure to visit The Elizabeth Cafe for great coffee and food – 130 Elizabeth Street, Coburg North. 

We planted 800 plants!

We planted 800 plants at the stream bank grassland restoration site around the remnant red gum at the Silurian cliff site.

We have some patches of boggy area that we planted very thick with Juncus (a rush, we plant it “rice paddy style” in some boggy patches).

Plant: Juncus

Thank you to the volunteers

A huge thanks to everyone who has helped in any way throughout 2017. It’s great see so many new faces too and a special thank you to the 1st Epping Scout Group who joined us today (and on previous occasions) as they work towards gaining their Environment Badge.

David Pavone (President) thanked all the volunteers who make Friends of Edgars Creek so successful. David also reminded us that this year we have planted 6,000+ plants. A great effort!

 

Sheoak woodland extension and consolidation

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Another successful planting with 50 volunteers and more than 800 plants planted at our August 2017 planting event. This sheoak area is starting to really take shape now.

Sheoak woodland

A breakdown of the plants we planted.

Scientific name Common name
Acacia acinacae Gold dust wattle
Acacia verticillata Prickly moses
Acacia implexa Lightwood
Acacia melanoxylon Blackwood
Acacia paradoxa Hedge wattle
Acaena novae-zelandiae Bidgee-widgee
Allocasuarina littoralis Black Sheoak
Allocasuarina verticillata Drooping sheoak
Austrodanthonia caespitosa Common wallaby-grass
Astrodanthonia racemosa Stiped wallaby-grass
Austrosipa  bigeniculata Kneed Spear-grass
Bursaria spinosa Sweet bursaria
Calocephalus lacteus Milky beauty-heads
Chloris truncata Windmill Grass
Correa glabra Rock correa
Dianella longifolia Pale-anther flax-lily
Dodonea viscosa Wedge-leaf hop bush
Einadia nutans Nodding saltbush
Enchylaena tomentosa Ruby saltbush
Eucalyptus camaldulensis River red-gum
Eucalyptus melliodora Yellow box
Eucalyptus leucoxlyn Yellow gum
Eucalyptus microcarpa Grey box
Goodenia ovata Hop goodenia
Grevillia rasmarinifolia Rosemary grevillea
Lomandra longifolia Spiny-headed mat-rush
Melicytus dentatus Tree violet
Rhagodia parabolica Fragrant saltbush
Rubus parvifolius Small-leaf Bramble
Themeda triandra Kangaroo grass
Poa labillardieri Common tussock grass
Wahlenbergia communis Tufted bluebell

 

World Environment Day 2017

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Today we celebrated World Environment Day at the new Edgars Creek parkland wetlands: an event with Moreland City Council and other local ‘Friends’ groups; Celebrating World Environment Day.

Connecting People to Nature

Each World Environment Day is organized around a theme that focuses attention on a particularly pressing environmental concern. The theme for 2017, ‘Connecting People to Nature’, urges us to get outdoors and into nature, to appreciate its beauty and to think about how we are part of nature and how intimately we depend on it. It challenges us to find fun and exciting ways to experience and cherish this vital relationship.

Billions of rural people around the world spend every working day ‘connected to nature’ and appreciate full well their dependence on natural water supplies and how nature provides their livelihoods in the form of fertile soil. They are among the first to suffer when ecosystems are threatened, whether by pollution, climate change or over-exploitation.

Nature’s gifts are often hard to value in monetary terms. Like clean air, they are often taken for granted, at least until they become scarce. However, economists are developing ways to measure the multi-trillion-dollar worth of many so-called ‘ecosystem services’, from insects pollinating fruit trees to the leisure, health and spiritual benefits of a hike up a valley.

Learn more about this year’s theme.

(extracted from the World Environment Day website).

 

 

First planting for 2017

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Almost 40 volunteers contributed to the planting of almost 600 native plants for the first planting of 2017.

Silurian Cliff site extension: Streambank Shrubland Revegetation at the Livingstone Street Escarpment area

The Silurian Cliff site extension encompasses an extension from the 2014/15 FoEC plantings (MWCG funded projects) at the northern fringe of the Silurian Cliff site (‘the Willows’) on the east bank of the creek, linking with the west bank of the creek. The planting area is within the area being targeted for woody weed removal through capital works expenditure by Melbourne Water. The woody weed removal also compliments previous removal of nine mature willows growing in this area.

The proposed projects will seek to re-establish an indigenous creek line with canopy cover and under-storey plantings of shrubs, grasses and reeds. Fast-growing indigenous riparian species will be planted to produce over-shading of the stream to reduce eutrophic effects on water quality; consequently reducing the impact of aquatic weeds in the stream and improving aquatic habitat.

The project seeks to help build and maintain volunteers engagement with this area of the creek and it’s amenity as it is currently significantly impacted upon by the density of boxthorn growth. A sense of custodianship will be enhanced in the short term as the project will be FoEC’s first planting in the newly reclaimed area and also over time as the project evolves into a mature planting site.

Plant List for the Silurian Cliff site extension: Streambank Shrubland Revegetation at the Livingstone Street Escarpment area – 2017 planting.

Scientific name Common name Quantity
Poa labillardierei Common Tussock Grass 162
Lomandra longifolia Spiny-headed Mat-rush 108
Goodenia ovata Hop Goodenia 18
Acacia melanoxylon Blackwood 12
Leptospermum lanigerum Woolly Tea Tree 12
Eucalyptus camaldulensis River Red Gum 12
Bursaria spinose Sweet bursaria 12
Callistemon sieberi River bottlebrush 18
Acacia verticillata Prickly moses 12
Melicytus dentatus Tree Violet 12
Dodonea viscosa Wedge-leaf Hop Bush 18
Acacia paradoxa Hedge Wattle 8
Eucalyptus viminalis ssp. viminalis Manna Gum 12
Acacia paradoxa Hedge Wattle 6
Acacia mearnsii Black Wattle 4
Juncus usitatus Common Rush 108
Einadia nutans Climbing Saltbush 18
Allocasuarina Verticillata Drooping Sheoak 12
  TOTAL 564

Stream bank grassland planting – “Christmas Party” 2016

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Sunday 18 September 2016, 1-3pm (“Christmas Party”)

Planting: Stream bank grassland restoration at the rock wall area east side of the Gooseneck Meander.

Hosted by the FoEC, Planting funded by Melbourne Water Community Grant, Christmas celebrations funded by the FoEC

Meet at the Gooseneck Meander, access via Danthonia St, North Coburg (Melways Map 18 A9).

Project description

This project aims to extend the revegetation of a regionally significant ‘Gooseneck’ meander. Since September 2007, the Friends of Edgars Creek (FoEC) have undertaken works to restore and maintain stream bank shrub land and tussock grassland along the Creek meander. Fast-growing indigenous riparian species have begun to over-shade the stream to reduce eutrophic effects on the water quality, consequentially reducing the impact of aquatic weeds in the stream and improving aquatic habitat. Selection of plant species and locations at this site will be made with consideration of easement restrictions that apply to this area (SPAusNet – overhead high voltage powerlines).

This project proposal is seeking an extension of the re-vegetated and maintained area of Creek line Tussock Grassland (EVC 654) to the currently barren east bank on the south side of the meander. This will help stabilise the Creek bank and extend on our significant previous re-vegetation work. This will improve the longer term maintainability of the site by extending on the fully contained inner bend of the meander with a re-vegetated strip downstream of the Gooseneck, including both the east and west sides of the creek.

Plant list

Scientific name Common name Sep 2016
Acacia acinacae Gold dust wattle 12
Acacia verticillata Prickly moses 6
Acacia paradoxa Hedge wattle 6
Acaena novae-zelandiae Bidgee-widgee 6
Allocasuarina verticillata Drooping sheoak 6
Austrodanthonia caespitosa Common wallaby-grass 36
Bursaria spinosa Sweet bursaria 3
Callistemon sieberi River bottlebrush 6
Dianella longifolia Pale-anther flax-lily 30
Dodonea viscosa Wedge-leaf hop bush 12
Einadia nutans Nodding saltbush 18
Eucalyptus camaldulensis River red-gum 12
Goodenia ovata Hop goodenia 6
Juncus usitatus Club rush 30
Leptospermum lanigerum Wooly tea-tree 6
Lomandra longifolia Spiny-headed mat-rush 108
Melicytus dentatus Tree violet 3
Rhagodia parabolica Fragrant saltbush 6
Rubus parvifolius Small-leaf Bramble 6
Poa labillardieri Common tussock grass 108
Wahlenbergia communis Tufted bluebell 24
Total 450

 

Birds of Prey

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FoEC would like to thank Full Flight for providing a magnificent birds of prey display at our July, National Tree Day planting day. Full Flight provide education programs about birds of prey and is one of Australia’s main suppliers and trainers of birds for the Film and Television industry.

In case you missed the display, here are some great photos.

birds-or-prey (11)

birds-or-prey (6)

birds-or-prey (9)

birds-or-prey (1)

birds-or-prey (2)

 

July 31st 2016 – National Tree Day – Sheoak Woodlands

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40+ volunteers enjoyed the glorious winter sunshine while planting 550 trees for National Tree Day.

Not only did we complete the planned planting along the fence line, but filled some gaps and expanded the existing sheaok woodlands planted area. Great effort from everyone involved!

Following the two-hour planting, everyone was treated to a hard-earned BBQ while being entertained by a magnificent birds of prey display.

Today’s event was hosted by Moreland City Council.

Birds of prey display

Birds of prey display