Bushcare NewsAutumn 2016

If you would like more information about Waverley Bushcare or would like to make a contribution to this newsletter, please contact Sue Stevens, Bushcare Officer, p: 9083 8226 m: 0466 426 929 e: bushcare@waverley.nsw.gov.au

2016 Bushcare Calendar The 2016 Bushcare Calendar has now been published.

Printed calendars will be distributed at autumn Bushcare sessions. These can go on your fridge, or make a sturdy bookmark. You can also click here to see what’s in store for 2016.

At the first ‘Bushcare Guests and Exchange Program’ event of the year, twelve members of the award-winning Sydney Rockclimbers Mountain Goat Bushcare (CragCare) Group joined the Diamond Bay Bushcare group for their February session. The Mountain Goats helped to clear a huge amount of morning glory and other weeds from the edges of Rosa Gully, which delighted the Diamond Bay regulars.

Thanks go to Lulu from Diamond Bay Bushcare and Enmoore and Stu of the Mountain Goats who met and started planning this exchange at the 2015 Landcare Awards, where the Mountain Goats were winners of a NSW CoastCare Award.

The Mountain Goats also work at Barrenyjoey Headland and other select Bushcare sites along the Sydney coastline, and will be returning to Diamond Bay on Saturday 20 June. All existing and new Bushcarers are welcome to come along!

To see more photos from the Diamond Bay visit, click here and to read more about the Mountain Goats click here.

CragCare Mountain Goats visit Diamond Bay

May 7 - Save the date Make new friends and experience more of Sydney’s biodiversity! Come along and join in our 2016 Guest and Exchange Program.

Save the date Saturday 7 May for a visit to Auburn to meet and work with the Duck River Bushcare Group!

More details and dates are on page 4.

http://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/76484/Bushcare_Calendar_2016_V2_new.pdfhttps://fatyak.smugmug.com/Other/Diamond-bay-cragcare/https://fatyak.smugmug.com/Other/Diamond-bay-cragcare/https://thebigbitoubash.wordpress.com/2015/05/25/barrenjoey-crag-care-20th-june/%0D

From around the sites New Bushcare signs

Have you seen our new signs? Over summer, we developed A-frame signs that will help to raise the profile of Waverley’s Bushcare sites. These signs are now erected while Bushcare is in session at Tamarama, Diamond Bay Reserve, Bronte Waterfall and Eastern Reserve. These eyecatching signs have been already been instrumental in encouraging passers-by to start a conversation about Bushcare, and the Diamond Bay sign has already attracted new volunteers!

Photos of caterpillar and skink taken at Hugh Bamford Reserve by contractor supervisor Kelly Price.

Preparing for planting

If you’ve noticed dried areas of grass near our Bushcare sites, don’t be alarmed! These areas are currently being prepared for the planting of remnant buffers and vegetation connectivity, as outlined in the Biodiversity Action Plans – Remnant Sites 2014-2020. Once established, these plantings will improve the resilience of patches of vegetation remnants, increase the amount of habitat that is available and improve opportunities for fauna movement among disconnected remnant areas.

Tamarama above the remnant (Wolaroi Crescent).

Tubestock of thousands of indigenous plants with a local provenance have been ordered and are currently hardening off in the nursery to be ready for our autumn planting. This planting will be undertaken across fourteen sites by professional bush regeneration contractors. This Project is supported by the Sydney Coastal Councils Group through funding from the Australian Government.

Calga Reserve at the northern end of the boardwalk.

Move over Bush Tucker! Here comes Bushcare Cuisine! Every year, bush regenerators dig up and destroy 100s of kilograms of ‘weeds’. What is a weed anyway? Generally, weeds are plants that are not wanted in a particular bushland area, agricultural site or garden.Most of us buy food at a supermarket or fruit market, assuming it is fresh and clean, but the foods you source in this way may have been sprayed many times with a variety of toxic pesticides and stored in warehouses, possibly for considerable lengths of time, and are often low in nutrients. Fresh greens are particularly difficult to store, and are often in poor condition by the time they reach you, the consumer. So why not forage for some of your greens? Many of our bushland ‘weeds’ are in fact highly nutritious vegetables, and almost all are common vegetables in other countries. Here are just two to consider.

Cobblers Pegs Bidens pilosa

Also known as ‘Farmers Friend’, everyone who has the seeds of this plant attach to their clothes knows this plant! Debate continues on whether this plant is actually introduced or native. It has been reported to have been described and collected in Australia by Joseph Banks during Captain Cook’s Endeavour 1770 voyage up the Australian east coast. This is not a sure sign that the plant is native, as some seafaring people may have introduced it prior to Cook’s arrival. This plant is found on many Waverley Bushcare sites. Its leaves are highly nutritious and substances from these leaves have been found to be anti-inflammatory, anti-rheumatic, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal.

Purslane Yoghurt Dip Recipe from the Weed Forager’s Handbook

1 tightly packed cup of washed purslane, stems mostly removed½ cup chopped flat leaf parsley½ cup good quality plain yogurt (yoghurt also neutralises this plant’s oxalic acid)2 cloves garlic, minced⅛ teaspoon salt1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

In a bowl, mix together the youghurt, olive oil, garlic and salt, then fold through the chopped purslane and parsley. Refrigerate to chill.

Purslane in Portugal photo by Júlio Reis

Common Purslane Portulaca oleraceaAlso known as Pigweed, Little Hogweed or Pusley, this plant found in several Waverley Bushcare sites is an annual succulent which can reach 40cm in height fom in the family Portulacaceae. Stems and leaves have more omega-3 fatty acids than any other leafy green ever tested and are also high in vitamin C.

Purslane colonises bare earth over the warmer months. It has a crisp, tart flavour, and is valued in cuisines in both the Middle East and Mexico.

Young leaves and flowers of Cobblers Pegs can be eaten raw as a salad green and also make a pleasant tea to treat muscle aches and pains. The seeds and leaves are said to be an effective treatment for toothache, much like cloves.

Has this information whet your appetite? Have a look in these books and websites for more edible ‘weeds’.BooksTim Low Wild Herbs of Australia and New Zealand Adam Grubb and Annie Raser-Rowland The Weed Forager’s HandbookWebsiteshttp://www.weedyconnection.comhttp://www.ntshealth.com.au/wellness/blog/war-on-weeds.htmlhttp://www.eatthatweed.com/edible-weeds/http://www.gocampingaustralia.com.au/bushcraft/eat-your-weeds/

Cobblers Pegs photo by Wibowo Djatmiko CC BY-SA 3.0 Wikimedia Commons

Rules for wild plant foraging• Make sure you know your plant ID! Some plants

that look similar may be very different chemically.• Be sure not to collect in or near any areas that

have been weed sprayed.• Remember to do your research first. Not all parts

of a plant can be eaten. Some can be toxic at various stages of growth.

• Choose plants that are young and healthy looking.• Pick greens before flowering. • You are responsible for your use of wild plants.

You cannot seek any compensation from anyone if you have any adverse reactions following consumption.

http://www.weedyconnection.comhttp://www.ntshealth.com.au/wellness/blog/war-on-weeds.htmlhttp://www.ntshealth.com.au/wellness/blog/war-on-weeds.htmlhttp://www.gocampingaustralia.com.au/bushcraft/eat-your-weeds/http://www.gocampingaustralia.com.au/bushcraft/eat-your-weeds/

For Bushcare working bee dates and meeting points, please visit waverley.nsw.gov.au/bushcare

Dates and times are subject to change. If in doubt, please contact the Bushcare Officer on 9083 8226 your site supervisor to confirm.

Bushcare sites and times TAMARAMAFirst Sunday of the month 9am to 12noon

HUGH BAMFORD RESERVESecond Saturday of the month 9am to 12noon

BRONTE GULLY Every second Sunday 10am to 1pm

BRONTE WATERFALLSecond Wednesday of the month 9am to 12noon

DIAMOND BAY RESERVE (ROSA GULLY) Third Saturday of the month 9am to 12noon

EASTERN RESERVEThird Saturday of the month 9am to 12noon

fox scan

Record and view fox activity in southern Sydney.

www.foxscan.org.au/sydneysouth

This project is supported by the SCCG through funding from the Australian Government.

Help is still needed to find out where foxes are in our local area.

Go to foxscan.org.au/sydneysouth to report any fox sightings. This website also shows the locations where others have reported seeing foxes so you can see a picture forming of their locations across the city.

You can also download the Fox Scan app to enable you to report fox sightings when you are out and about.

The Southern Sydney Feral Foxes project is supported by Sydney Coastal Councils Group through funding from the Australian Government.

This year, Waverley Bushcarers will be able to make new friends and experience more of Sydney’s biodiversity by participating in our Bushcare Guest and Exchange Program.

In February we successfully hosted the Mountain Goats CragCare group at Diamond Bay, and will do this again in June.

Next up is an excursion for Waverley Bushcarers to Auburn to help out the Duck River Bushcare Group. The Duck River corridor incorporates three NSW State listed Endangered Ecological Communities (EECs): Cumberland River Flat Forest, Cumberland Swamp Oak Riparian Forest, and Coastal Freshwater Reedland, and the Bushcare site is right next door to the very picturesque Auburn Botanic Gardens.

Waverley Bushcare’s visit to Duck River will be on Saturday 7 May 2016.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP to bushcare@waverley.nsw.gov.au by Friday 29 April 2016.

To travel to Duck River, volunteers are encouraged to catch public transport (909 bus from Auburn station to Cumberland Road) or car pool.

Bushcare Guests and Exchange Program 2016 Duck River volunteers will reciprocate by visiting Eastern Reserve on 23 July.

Waverley Bushcare volunteers are also encouraged to drop in and lend a hand to our neighbouring Bushcare groups in Woollahra and Randwick. It all helps to foster a strong Bushcare community and improve our plant knowledge and identificaton skills!

Help Find the Foxes!

www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/bushcare