Citizen science – projects
It is important to us to be involved in projects that advance our knowledge of the natural world, from the perspective of Westgate Park and the Melbourne region.
Nest boxes for microbats and hollows nesting birds
This project, was funded in 2023 by DEECA and Melbourne Water to provide nest boxes (50) for microbats and hollows nesting birds, recognising that natural hollows in large trees are unlikely to form for some time. We monitor these boxes, recording what’s in them in the warmer months and track microbat echolocation calls after dusk. So far we have only recorded the Gould’s Wattled Bat but experience tells us it may be some time before the boxes are occupied. This project is ongoing and if you would like to join the microbat/bird box team let us know here.
Raising Rarity
Our team is working with Cranbourne Botanic Gardens to grow the critically endangered Xerochrysum palustre – Swamp Everlasting. Cuttings from this daisy will be collected from wetlands at Gisborne Racecourse and a site in Pakenham.
Leucochrysum albicans var. tricolor is also a paper daisy but it too has undergone a substantial decline in range and abundance. Populations are small, highly fragmented, and threatened by weed invasion. It grew in Westgate Park for some years before being overcome by weeds. This year we will take on the survival of this daisy too. Provenances will be held separately and cross-pollinated in the future.
Western Plains Grasslands
Grasslands in urban areas are now critically endangered. This project will establish an assisted (irrigated & maintained), drought-proof grassland in Westgate Park. Our aim is to conserve threatened and critically endangered grassland species. The project will involve a diverse range of people in the understanding and importance of ecosystems and the survival of species threatened by development.
The intended outcome is a functioning, endangered species seed orchard and living Ark. Successes are to be measured by natural species self-replication, the arrival of fauna using habitat created and the seed collected to be available to other interested bodies.
Mown pathways will meander through the grassland allowing close-up observation. Signage will assist visitors in identification. Future scope includes sculpture as habitat and an ephemeral pond for fauna. The grassland will be multifunctional with education and conservation our main focus.
The Heart Gardening project
We work closely with Emma Cutting, founder of the Melbourne Pollinator Corridor and Heart Gardening Project helping to create over 100 street gardens with ~10,000 plants mostly supplied by Bili Nursery. The MPC aims to have an 8km long wildlife corridor for native pollinating species. It envisages 200 gardens that connect green patches along the Birrarung to Westgate Park and the Royal Botanic Gardens. See here.
The Pollinator Project
The first of its kind in an urban park – this two-year project began in 2017 – a collaboration with Dr Luis Mata at RMIT to research the interactions between plants and their insect pollinators. The RMIT research was assisted by the observations of citizen scientists – some of whom spotted interactions that surprised the researchers! The methodology developed by this project has since been used in several other park settings. It was funded by the City of Melbourne.
Westgate Park Project in iNaturalist
For many years we have been loading our observations onto iNaturalist – birds, plants, fungi, insects, reptiles and possums. We now have our own iNaturalist Project and if any observation is recorded in Westgate Park it automatically goes into out iNaturalist project.
Recording observations is an important method of understanding the natural environment and the changes taking place. So please, register with iNaturalist and take pictures of what you see in Westgate Park. Even if you don’t know the identity, iNaturalist identifiers can usually assist. Here’s where you start.