The wind is here and the shearwater chicks are ready to go! Time to turn off our lights to help them safely on their migration. Info on the three things we can do to support these amazing birds during their migration here: www.penguins.org.au/about/our-community/community-news/the-short-tailed-shearwater-great-migration
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When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it, or it's been deleted.Today April 22 is Earth Day. The theme for this year is "Planet Vs Plastics". The aim is to reduce plastic manufacture by 60% by 2040. If we can all work to achieve this in our own lives starting right now, the world will be a safer place, especially for marine creatures. Even shearwater chicks now have plastic in their tummies, and a term for plastic that's causing fibrosis tissue inside seabirds, especially in their digestive tracts, is now called: 'Plasticosis. If plastic was just in big bits we could easily see and remove from the environment, it would not be so bad. But tiny microplastics and nanoplastics cannot be seen, but easily lodge inside living things where the body does not recognise them, so parks them and coats over them. The irritation however does not go away, resulting in build up of fibrosis tissue and scarring. There's much to know about this important topic.
Photos taken on Phillip Island Millowl, a wonderful part of Planet Earth, show Lapwing eggs, echidna, Sun Orchid flower (photos John Eddy) and Peregrine Falcon (Lisa Schonberg).
Thank you all for honoring our Earth this Earth Day and every day.
Eastern Curlews are incredible migratory waders, and they deserve a celebratory day to themselves!
Love the curlews! 🥰
A perfect morning for a nature walk through Scenic Estate Conservation Reserve by a group of naturalists guided by FOSER member John Eddy with support from FOSER committee member Carmen Bush. This weekend Phillip Island Millowl is hosting about 100 members of the South East Australian Field Naturalists Association. Their members are visiting lots of different locations here, following their individual interests such as geology - the Nobbies, Kitty Miller Bay, Pyramid Rock, the Colonades; birds - Oswin Roberts Reserve, Swan Lake, Rhyll Walking trail; heritage land use - Churchill Island; microscopy - pretty much anywhere! And many other interests. SECR is rich in native vegetation, but there was also geology, management issues, climate change and even some insects to investigate. One knowledgeable Field Naturalist found a Common Brown Butterfly, and told the group that at this time of the year they are all female, the males having died. The females have been dormant for a while awaiting rain, and now emerging to lay their eggs in the green grass. With permission, a small sample of fine buckshot gravel was taken from the beach for sampling, and proved to be highly magnetic. A leaf was taken from a mangrove to investigate whether the white spots on upper and lower sides of the leaf are actually from salt glands - which are natural - or some sort of exudate from a scale insect. Pictured are some photos by Carmen of the group, and a Common Brown Butterfly photographed at SECR last week by local Phillip Island Camera Club member Ken Anderson.
Great walk. John’s knowledge and understanding is amazing. 👍
Anyone know where I can find the kingfishers?
If you would like to contribute to PICS ‘hands on’ projects at Red Rocks – Saltwater Creek Coast Care area in Ventnor, or at Scenic Estate Conservation Reserve down the other end of the island opposite Forrest Caves, Surf Beach, with Friends of Scenic Estate Reserve (FOSER), then the working bee dates for the year are now set. Lots of different jobs for volunteers, good supervision, tools supplied, wonderful environments in which to volunteer and a yummy morning tea and good yack to follow all of our hard work. If you wish to attend, please contact the PICS volunteer coordinator Meg Anderson Ph: 0401 370 406 Email: meganderson213@gmail.com
Here's the dates for your calendars.
Following.
Short-tailed shearwaters are getting ready to depart Phillip Island (Millowl) soon and they need our help! 👀
Yes, coming up to that time of the year! Watch out for similar signs to these on the sides of the roads.
Thanks to PICS working bee coordinator Meg Anderson; Friends of Scenic Estate Reserve Coordinator Jan Fleming; PICS life member and former FOSER coordinator John Eddy; and PICS / Barb Martin Bush Bank volunteer Karen Eddy, who all gave up time last weekend to tackle the urgent stinkwort and thistle weed situation at Scenic Estate Reserve. These weeds were in flower, so had to be removed by hand and bagged before they set seed. However, the stinkwort is much sparser now. About 7 years ago one part of the reserve was so badly infested the FOSER volunteers christened it “Stinkwort Flats”! And in case you're wondering - yes stinkwort DOES STINK!
Here’s some photos of the vols on the weekend: Meg holding a thistle; John, Jan and Karen with bags of pulled stinkwort.
While not directly a PI related issue, you have all probably heard of the Toondah Harbor controversy. There are major implications for Western Port, which is one of 67 Ramsar sites in Australia, 12 of which are in Victoria. Ramsar is the city in Iran where a major international agreement called the International Convention on Wetlands, was signed in 1971 by which the signatory countries would protect wetlands. The large area of Western Port was added as a Ramsar site in 1982, due mainly to the many important roosting and feeding sites for migratory waders. One of the Queensland Ramsar sites is at Moreton Bay and is currently the subject of a proposed huge $1.4 billion Toondah Harbour development, comprising mixed-use residential, commercial and tourism precinct, including 3,000 apartments (high rise), a 400-berth marina, hotel, and retail outlets. This would involve a huge amount of dredging on what is now mangrove mudflats and beach, with the dredged material being used for what is actually “land claim”, being dumped onto the coastline. Many species such as migratory waders currently use the area, including increasingly threatened species such as the Eastern Curlew and grey-tailed Tattler, along with marine species such as green turtles, dugongs and dolphins.
While Federal Environment Minister Tania Plebersek has made an initial decision to knock back the development proposal, finding that: "These wetlands are rare, unique and important to prevent the extinction of animals like the eastern curlew and loggerhead turtle”, and the development would have an “unacceptable impact", this is an interim decision. The Minister needs to know that all around Australia we are no longer prepared to accept these sorts of profit-driven coastal developments that not only ignore the values of the environment in which they wish to locate, but also ignores climate change and sea level rise. Overall, a really bad proposal. You are welcome to add your voice to others who are drawing a line in the sand on these sorts of radical slashes into Ramsar wetlands. Contact Minister Plebersek’s office and let her know how much we value our own Western Port Ramsar site, and do not want to see any Australian Ramsar sites interfered with. Email the Minister at:
Minister.Plibersek@dcceew.gov.au
Image of Toondah Harbor from the Toondah Friends FB page.
Hands off our wetlands, they are too precious to lose!
This lovely calm autumn weather is perfect for walking in our nature reserves. Here a few photos of Scenic Estate Conservation Reserve taken this week on an overcast but calm day. The reserve is very rich in indigenous plant species, and the walking is level and easy going. Dogs fine on a lead, but not on the beach please. The reserve is located opposite Forrest Caves, on the Newhaven side of Surf Beach. There's a car park with bins for doggie doo bags, walking paths, raised walkways, picnic shelters and a viewing stand overlooking the coast towards Rhyll, French Island and Churchill Island. Toilets are opposite at Forrest Caves. PICS auspices the Friends of Scenic Estate Reserve, who have done great work there since 2015. If you haven't been there, it's a wonderful little reserve.
Many thanks to Gary Morton, local beekeeper and educator who gave us a wonderful talk about bees and beekeeping at our General Meeting last Sunday. We learnt so much and now have even more respect for these pollinators. And for all pollinators really! Here is a video Gary put up on YouTube as a basic beekeeping intro. There's a lot involved in keeping bees, but this video will give you a good idea of the basics. We also have a number of native bee species on the island, but none make actual hives. Thanks again Gary.
Field Phillip Island. We loved presenting to PICS. We also acknowledge the incredible environmental understanding at PICS.