Westgate Park cleanup 2 March

ACF Community Macnamara is teaming up with Westgate Biodiversity and Tangaroa Blue Foundation for a big clean-up event at the beautiful Westgate Park, Port Melbourne – 10.45 am Sunday 2nd March.

We are holding this event along the narrow strip of Westgate Park which runs alongside the Birrarung (Yarra River). Revegetated and maintained over decades by volunteers, the park is an inspiring example of how a healthy ecosystem can be recreated within an urban environment.  However, this location is a real magnet for litter!

Bring your family and friends if you wish or just come along to chat with other like-minded people!

At our clean-up event, we will document the marine debris and litter removed from the park in the Australian Marine Debris Initiative database which is a repository for data which (after quality review) is then used to identify litter and marine debris type and items, potential release sources, improve awareness and understanding of the impacts of litter and marine debris and to develop source reduction plans and interventions to stop litter at the source.

Here’s the program:

10:45 – 11:00 am (sharp) Registration  

11:00 am-11:15 pm             Introduction to the volunteer activities & safety briefing

11:15 am-12:45 pm             Clean up

12:45 pm – 1:00 pm             Celebrate our impact, and pack down.

Address: Westgate Park, Corner Lorimer Street & Sardine Street, Port Melbourne

Google Maps GPS coordinates: 37°49’49.0″S 144°54’00.5″E

What to Bring
A hat, sunscreen, jacket, reusable water bottle, enclosed shoes, gloves (extra gloves will be available). Some fruit and water refills will be available.  Feel free to bring some snacks to get you through the event.

We look forward to seeing you!

ACF Community Macnamara, Westgate Biodiversity and Tangaroa Blue Foundation. 

ACF Community Macnamara is part of a network of independently organised, volunteer-run groups in the ACF community. ACF will pass on your contact details to the host for the purpose of running the event.

Celebrating Wetlands Day

One third of Westgate Park’s area is in freshwater and saltwater lakes, lagoons, ponds and soaks. Without them the Park would be much less lovely and we would not have the lake views and the many birds and other animals that depend on water.

Wetlands provide so much. They filter nutrients and sediments, reduce impacts of flooding by slowing down floodwater, provide good habitat for plants and animals and often refuge when water bodies dry up to the north. The food chain would be restricted without the insects that breed in water such as dragonflies.

Apart from the salt lake our wetlands are shallow and often dry up over summer.

Sadly the Park does not have a handy creek to top up the lakes but we do receive stormwater from Wharf Road and from the bridge when fire testing is done. We can also use the windmill to direct water from one water body to another, very slowly!

The salt lake is becoming a muddy pink colour which is interesting but it is a sign that the water has become hyper saline.

Please do not walk around the salt lake edge. Saltmarsh plants are succulent and slow growing and they do not tolerate trampling. Like other plants in the Park these were planted and tended by volunteers.

Mistletoe

It’s been a joy to watch the two species of mistletoe grow, produce strange and beautiful flowers and now finally the berries have ripened for Amyema quandang var quandang – Grey Mistletoe. We are now waiting for the mistletoe birds!

Amyema quandang var. Quandang – Wiry Mistletoe

Fires in the Park

Several small fires and two quite large ones were lit in the last few months. It is likely to be deliberate but we don’t know for sure. Some areas appear to have been very hot burns and others smouldered in peaty soil. The fire brigades were on hand quickly and water bombing was used to extinguish flames.

We will watch recovery over time and already some of the sedges are sprouting but there will clearly be the need for more planting. Parks Vic had to scrape some areas and remedial work will be needed.

We will also be keen to see what if any post fire seed germination takes place.

13 Jan bird survey

Evaporation accompanying recent hot weather lowered the levels of both lakes, especially the saline one. Indeed, before the rain on Sunday 12 January, this water body, viewed from the bridge, appeared to be starting to turn pink.

We are very concerned that, during late November and throughout December, vandals lit several fires in the park. Although quickly controlled by Fire Rescue Victoria, these fires caused considerable local damage to habitat and understory vegetation nurtured over the years by our volunteers.

A high number of species were recorded today, but almost all typically occur in the park at this time of the year. The only unusual sighting ‘bird of the day’ was a single Great Crested Grebe on the Yarra River.

Over the past few weeks, the most notable observation was a pair of Buff-banded Rails with one chick. A high number of other species have been breeding and have young at various stages of growth including Dusky Moorhens, Pied Stilts (two breeding pairs), Chestnut Teal, Pied Currawongs, Grey Butcherbirds and Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes. Two pairs of Hoary-headed Grebes are attempting to construct nests in the large freshwater lake, but so far with little apparent success.

No raptors were recorded today, nor during the six weeks following the December survey.

24 Dec bird survey

This survey did not obtain the high number of species compared to recent counts, however it was still very satisfactory. Water levels have risen due to recent rain, for example the Saltwater Lake level was 0.75 m on 4 Nov – now it is 0.79 m. The Freshwater Lake level was not recorded.

Rarely seen species continue to visit the park including the single Great Crested Grebe seen today and on 18 November. Other notable sightings include a Pink-eared Duck, Eastern Spinebill, Sacred Kingfisher seen recently and a Buff-banded Rail in earlier in November.

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Saltmarsh

The saltwater lake was once a deep sand quarry and is possibly connected to the sea at Port Melbourne, less than a kilometer away. The indigenous plants that surround the lake are succulents, grasses and sedges – all salt tolerant and surviving in ground that in some places is hyper saline. These plants grow slowly and are easily damaged so please avoid trampling them.

About 30% of saltmarsh along the Victorian coastline has been permanently cleared for development so we are fortunate to have saltmarsh plants at our doorstep. This area was once habitat for the highly endangered Orange Bellied Parrot which feeds almost exclusively on the seeds of saltmarsh plants. It migrates in winter from Tasmania to Victoria but we have yet to see one!

Other interesting birds birds come and sometimes nest on the lake edges. We have seen many Dotterels, Swans, ducks and Black-winged Stilts on the salt lake.

Yes – the salt lake has turned pink on several occasions – always when water levels are low, temperatures are high and the water is hyper saline – so salty that birds generally stay clear.

Sampling by wetland ecologist, Joan Powling, shows that the explosion of colour in the Salt Lake is made by a purple sulphur bacteria, probably Chromatium species, the cells of which are packed with sulphur granules.
And it may be improving the environment!

More information on saltmarsh here.

4 Nov bird survey

The park is becoming very dry after little or no rain over the last 2-3 weeks, but the water in all the main water bodies – large freshwater lake, saltwater lakes, dam and Horseshoe Lake remain at a high level.

Although the Rufous Whistler was the only unusual sighting today, there were a lot more seen during October including a Great Crested Grebe in the freshwater lake, covey of of elusive Brown Quail which were seen with 8 chicks crossing the walking track alongside the container terminal, a Common Sandpiper along the Yarra River, a Sacred Kingfisher reported twice during the month and a White-necked Heron.

Ursula Dutkiewicz observed on an earlier visit a large mob of Noisy Miners by the Large Freshwater Lake. Hopefully this does not happen frequently as smaller birds could be driven off by too much Noisy Miner intrusion and activity.

On the night of Sunday 3 November vandals lit a fire alongside the entry track. Apparently, it was quickly extinguished, as there were no hotspots the next morning when the survey team arrived.

Animals that made their way to the Park

25 years ago Westgate Park had little vegetation and few animals but the work by volunteers in growing and planting ~300 species and hundreds of thousands of indigenous plants over this time has created an extraordinarily diverse habitat for animals.

To date 175 species of birds have been recorded in our monthly bird surveys. Some birds, like the little Superb Fairy Wren and the Black Swan, are resident and breed in the Park, others are frequent or occasional visitors and some migrate annually to northern climes.

We have also observed many skinks, lizards, turtles, yabbies, snakes, frogs, possums, microbats, flying foxes and ~100 species of insects and spiders – all part of what is now a very biodiverse habitat. Here’s a sample: