Endangered Tussock Skink
This week, for Threatened Species Day, we are celebrating the discovery in our 2nd heath of the beautiful Southern Grass Tussock Skink, Pseudemoia pagenstecheri, which is listed as Endangered under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act, near threatened in SA and Endangered in Tas.
The Tussock Skink grows to 62mm in length, is a carnivore, and an opportunistic arthropod feeder including spiders, crickets, larvae and adult moths and beetles .
Daniel Gilmore, a herpetologist from Biosis kindly provided us with these photos, taken under the lovely pea-flower Bossiaea cinerea. He has been keeping an eye on these beautiful lizards and says they have been in the park for some time.
Notes on the natural history of the Tussock Skink say they are active in all months of the year when conditions are favorable and they use stones and grass tussocks as refuges and basking sites. Males develop a red stripe down the side of the body.
They tend to occur singly, both when active and sheltering. They bear live young – a clutch of up to 11 – in December and January, are preyed upon by snakes and tend to be shy and elusive.
The Tussock Skink is more common in the basalt plains grasslands of the north and west of Melbourne so we are very fortunate to have it in Westgate Park.
Peas, fabulous peas
August and September are the best times to see peas in the Park. Dillwynia, Aotus, Eutaxia, Davesia and Bossiaea species put on a dazzling show of yellow and red pea flowers. You will find them in our heathy areas of the Park.
These medium to small shrubs are great habitat for birds.
Aotus ericoides – Common Aotus 
Aotus ericoides – Common Aotus 
Dillwynia sericea – Showy Parrot-pea 
Davesia ulicifolia ssp. ulicifolia 
Eutaxia microphylla var. diffusa – Spreading Eutaxia 
Eutaxia microphylla var. diffusa – Spreading Eutaxia 
Bossiaea cinerea – Showy Bossiaea 
Bossiaea cinerea – Showy Bossiaea
The seed pods of Bossiaea cinerea are almost as decorative as the flowers and once the seeds are expelled, make good homes for the tiny Orb Weaving Spider.
Melbourne Pollinator Corridor
Native Alkaline or Sweat Bee 
Amegilla sp. – Blue-banded Bee, photo Luis Mata
Westgate Park is set to play a key part in an ambitious new project to boost indigenous insect life and pollination.
Emma Cutting is a self-described “amateur plantswoman” who has recently launched an exciting community-led initiative to establish the Melbourne Pollinator Corridor.
The idea is to create a connected 8km-long wildlife corridor to encourage native bees and other native pollinators. The route will start at Westgate Park and end at the Royal Botanic Gardens.
Emma recently told the ABC’s Blueprint for Living program: “The way it’s going to happen is 200 gardens on the street, so nature strips, created at most 50 metres apart.” The short gaps will still allow cross pollination along the entire route.
Westgate Bioversity: Bili Nursery Landcare has already helped another of Emma’s brainwaves, The Heart Gardening Project, with advice from Westgate Bioversity manager Nic Brinkley and plants from the Bili Nursery.
To hear more about Emma’s Melbourne Pollinator Corridor, take a listen to a recent chat with director of the Royal Botanic Gardens of Victoria Tim Entwisle.
Port of Melbourne on board
Bili Nursery recently grew and supplied 8000 plants for the Port of Melbourne to fill in gaps in the Todd Rd linear landscape.
Port of Melbourne has now planted, mulched and weeded, and the landscape is looking much better for the tlc.
Here’s their tweet announcing 6000 plants already in the ground.
Muehlenbeckia florenta – Tangled Lignum
This important community asset was created as part of the Port Capacity Project and is a vital biodiversity link between Westgate Park, the Webb Dock east path and the Sandridge foreshore.
We hope to keep working with the Port of Melbourne to improve their use of indigenous species.
1000 new plants at Lagoon Reserve
Huge thanks to the Citywide organisation for helping rescue an indigenous-plant project in Port Melbourne’s Lagoon Reserve.
Plans for an annual day of community planting had been cancelled for a second time this year due to Covid restrictions, when Citywide, which manages City of Port Phillip’s parks and open spaces, stepped in to get 1000 plants in the ground.
All the plants came from our own Bili Nursery, which means they are not only locally sourced but also locally appropriate indigenous species.
Monday 16th August saw grasses and tougher species planted next to paths. A diverse selection, including goodenia ovata and kennedia prostrata, infilled on either side of the reserve’s north-eastern Liardet Street entrance.
As warmer and dryer weather arrives, completing the project was particularly timely.
Citywide has undertaken to maintain water for the plants during the establishment phase.
Citywide workers get to work 
Tough grasses elected for plant edges 
All species planted are indigenous and appropriate to this coastal environment Goodenia ovata 
Goodenia ovata 
Kennedia prostrata
Bird Survey 2 Aug
The park has had good rain, and water levels have risen in the lakes and wetlands.
The day of the survey was windy, which partly explains the modest tally of 40 species. Moreover raptors are rare these days, and water levels generally too high for the larger waders.
Eastern Spinebills have been with us for 4 to 5 months, to our great pleasure. They appreciate banksias and dense ground cover. Sighting an immature golden whistler further underlined the park’s value for smaller passerines.
Although noisy miners frequent the boundaries of the park, it is very rare to see them within, probably due to the dense and layered habitat we have created over the last two decades. In other words, because noisy miners like open, more or less savannah conditions, they do not enter more complex vegetation types.
Volunteers are back in force. We especially pay tribute to David Lamb, our indefatigable anti-litter specialist.
Vote for our nest box project
Exciting news!!!
Our nest box project proposal, Hollows for Habitat at Westgate Park, has made it to the public voting stage of the Parks Victoria Volunteering Innovation Fund!
If funded, our project will see volunteers building, installing and monitoring up to 50 newly designed nest boxes at the park, targeting boobook and powerful owls, two species of microbats, kingfishers and spotted pardalotes.
We will partner with Bayside Intrepid Landcare, Port Phillip Men’s Shed and Gio Fitzpatrick to bring this idea to life, but we need your vote to make it all happen!
To participate, follow the easy steps below:
Step 1: Go to https://engage.vic.gov.au/volunteeringinnovationfund
Step 2: Read about the projects that consider new ways of volunteering in and for the environment.
Step 3: Vote for your 3 favourite projects including our project, Hollows for Habitat!
Step 4: Get behind our project – share this page and encourage Victorian friends and family to vote.
Voting should take 5 minutes. Many thanks and stay safe over this lockdown!
Bird survey July
The park looks good, thanks to a reasonably wet June. Waters level are high in the two main lakes and the dam, but all other freshwater bodies are dry including the wetlands near the FoWP Compound.
Volunteers are back at work, with their recent plantings taking off quickly. Visitor numbers are rising and the riparian vegetation must please many ferry passengers.
An Eastern Spinebill was again sighted, indicating this species is becoming a resident in the park. It was [photographed for the first time in June this year.
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, photo Ursula Dutkiewicz 
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, photo Andrew McCutcheon
Bird Survey 31 May/1 Jun
48 species were observed including and a pair of Dusky Woodswallows seen flying overhead – the first record of this species in the Park. Recorders noted that as areas of vegetation mature and become more established, new bird species are appearing, some of which are staying for longer periods. The Eastern Spinebills are good examples.
To great excitement, a Powerful Owl – also a first – was photographed on two occasions in mid-May.
Photo by Ursula Dutkiewicz