Tilligerry Newsletter November 2014

Dear Members

Well I am back and the holiday seems like a dream as usually happens. After Alaska we stayed on the ship from Vancouver to Florida through the Panama Canal so that was lovely and environmentally educational.

I write to let you know that the barbecue this Sunday will be the first of the summer times: at 4pm.

Please let everyone know that you think might attend. This will work well for the next barbecue on 14th December when Tilligerry Lions have their annual lunch here finishing at 4.00 pm. There may be a friendly changeover as we arrive and Lions depart. We may have to have a drink on the lawn while we wait but hey!!!

We are catering the Lions Christmas lunch and all the usual suspects are away so I, Fran, am putting together a cooking and serving party. If anyone is available to help please let us know.

Thanks also to Robyn and Yvonne from Sunset Park who donated us another shed for the Nursery and Ian Barnett for the metal sheeting for the new garden bed.

Sam one of our volunteers who keeps the place open is on the sick list with a wrist operation and Bay Marshall one of the committee is also under the doctor. Wishing them a fast recovery.

Worimi elder John Ridgeway and Lemon Ukelypts (Ukulele band from Lemon Tree Passage)

President Report Fran Corner

Apparently it was a very successful Hoedown on Saturday 7th Sept. Thanks .to all who helped on the day This may be a model for the Tilligerry Habitat’s 20th Birthday on 6th July 2016. This date is in the

middle of the school holidays so some discussion is going to be needed about where, when and how the date is celebrated. Please keep it in mind.

While Tilligerry Habitat is 20 in 2 years Landcare is 25 this year. We are a Landcare group in fact I would like to set the place up as a Landcare Demonstration Site showing Landcare processes. We have applied for a 25th Anniversary of Landcare grant to do some extra bush regeneration and to develop displays for the building for 2016.

We also applied for the 20 Million Trees Grant to remove weeds and replant koala habitat in the patch of weeds behind the old Lemon Tree Passage Waste Transfer Station

The crown lands grant is being completed with the photovoltaics, security camera and skylights in place. Most days the room is light enough to work without artificial lighting. We are now planning to fix the lights with a motion sensor light over the car park. Hurray!!

We are writing to the school to invite them to be involved with joint projects. Tanilba Bay Public School is ideally situated to be a community school for our town and environmental education should be enhanced by a closer relationship between us as has existed in the past.

We have developed a tourism brochure with the remaining guides which we have printed and it is on the desk. The plan was “stopping points”. If you have any interest please pick up a leaflet and give us some input. We will be running guide training in December if anyone is interested.

Site Report Fran Corner

Envirotrust bush regenerators are working on the east of the site, the Japanese honeysuckle, tibouchina etc.

The volunteers have worked hard weeding Bushland Amble (wheelbarrow of shivery grass), west of sailing club, fire access track. We are about to go down to the Landcom boardwalk and weed shivery grass and come back up the fire access to the corner of fire access and Birdsong Loop and weed the shivery grass and dandelion patch there. We have planted some shrubs on the west of the fire trail and sailing club and watering those is a weekly exercise.

The progress in developing weed free bushland along paths is evidenced by the number of tiny plants now appearing like blue bells and a yet unnamed yellow flower.

The interest in natives is growing. Both Sam and Sharon independently rushed to tell us about the bearded orchid growing on the traffic island outside the bakery near Coles and Sam rescued it. We took the volunteers down to Birdsong and started an exercise naming all the plants we could on the swamp mahogany, paperbark endangered ecological community in preparation for making a definitive list based on the standard MU and we have gone back to the cards and preserved samples. This will continue into the other plant communities.

The Baptist Church has given us permission to rescue some heath plants and orchids for recovery and replanting on site from their mown area. Flying ducks and another new orchid are 2 of the targets.

Nursery report – Charlie Bell

Sibelco have placed orders for 5,000 tubestock for next year, and planting of seed has begun.

The Nursery volunteers have spent a fair bit of time collecting seed over the last two months and we are hoping to have a wider range of local natives soon. The hot dry period of the last weeks has put stress on some plants and has shown up a pressure weakness in the watering for the covered area just inside the nursery gates. Temporary repairs have been done, but we may have to dig up the supply hose from the pump and repair or replace.

Two new garden beds have been completed and a third just needs to be filled with soil.

We continue to build stock for the Envirotrust project plantings – and some have been planted out.

Tourism – a brief summary – calendar year to date – Charlie Bell

During this calendar year so far we have had seven bus tours of between 18 and 50 visitors and made a tour group profit of $2,570. Shop sales have made a further $1,900.