Biorch plantations blog - Biorich plantations – mimicking nature to integrate conservation & production

A record 46 species seen on the 2020 spring bird survey

4/11/2020

Hopes were always high for a very productive spring bird survey at the ImLal Biorich site following the wet winter and pleasant survey conditions on the day, and the small group of birdos were not disappointed – a huge tally of 46 species was recorded along our usual 90-minute circuit! This is an impressive number of species for a single survey – for context, our previous visits in spring and winter 2019, yielded 28 and 22 species respectively.

Firsts for the spring bird survey included a Sacred Kingfisher and a Musk Duck on the dam. We watched a pair of swamp harriers hunting without him among the Lal Lal Wind Farm turbines. For a full report of the spring bird survey by leader Grant Palmer, visit the menu for the Bird Survey.

Wattle and gorse out for spring 2019 bird survey – windy and only 28 species

8/10/2019

Boobook seen on roost in plantation

12/9/2017

The boobook owl was seen flying out from a roost on a young swamp gum within the biorich plantation on the winter bird survey. That was a first! Phil has previously photographed it in the pines on the edge of the plantation (see below). That's where we've seen it a couple of times in the past.

Gary Featherston, who came on the winter bird survey, is going to lend us a camera to monitor the boobook's roosting site within the biorich plantation. That way we can see if we can claim it as a regular visitor.

Tanya revisits ImLal South and is impressed

26/6/2017

Prickly moses seven years on.

Acacia paradoxa and Tanya.

After three years since she last visited, Tanya and I had a pleasant walk through what have become the avenues of trees and shrubs on ImLal South. She was impressed by the growth rate. The trees and shrubs are really ameliorating the wind, creating calm pockets. It was a cold, windy day, so not a lot of birds around – just the usual suspects of wrens, thornbills, white-eared honeyeaters, wattle birds and a grey shrike thrush.

Early summer bird survey

16/12/2015

Only Phil and I ventured forth on the early sumner season bird survey. Swamp harrier and two cormorants were the birds of note for the day. Lots of LBB amongst the shrubs in ImLal South.

Cassinia out in force – even witnessed three impressive clumps in ImLal North (pictured). Also pictured below are the poa grass clumps in ImLal North.

Not much going on in winter on the bird front

31/7/2015

Down to a hard core for the mid-winter bird survey on a bitterly cold (there was flurry of snow!) and windy day. Migrants are all away so only the usuals except for a golden whistler. Magpies are supposedly becoming less common but we sighted 21 of them. Four noisy miners but all in ImLal North, not the centre remnant.

We're at last getting some serious dumps of rain over July. It was soggy around the foot of the hill and in dips on the proposed biolink. Some of the spotted gum on top of the biolink has escaped the ravages of frost (pictured below) as was hoped when we planted 20 or so up there last spring.

Mixed flocks flit about for autumn bird survey

17/4/2015

Mixed flocks of blue wrens and fantails were seen flitting around in dense cover in ImLal South: "As you would expect for autumn," said bird survey leader Grant Palmer. One new first – a New Holland honeyeater. Numbers were down overall. Again, to be expected, said Grant: "The migratory species have all flown south."

We spotted a few 'invaders' like rose hip and the pampas grass (on left below). ImLal North is full of thistles (on right below) and the only birds seen are the large woodland varieties like the eastern and crimson rosellas. On the bright side, only one noisy miner was spotted. None were seen in the summer bird survey. What's going on? Maybe it has something to do with the removal of cattle – the only noisy miner seen was on the boundary where cattle are still grazing. It's only a thought bubble...

ID tagging of plants in plots

18/3/2015

ID tagging of plants within sample plots for monitoring of growth began last week. There are 16 plots for monitoring plant growth rates and mortality on ImLal South. With Singarayer Florentine and Tim Simpson from the landscape restoration course at Federation University, we adapted plastic cattle tags, tieing them to every tree and shrub within eight of the 16 plots.

Each tag includes, written in texta, the plot and plant number as originally mapped four years ago. Also, a code that identifies the plant species. To avoid confusion between plots, different coloured tags were used for each plot.

While one of the plots had 100% of plants still present, a number of plots had been severely affected by frost and by the neigbour's cavalier inter-row slashing. Moreover, all plots now have 'volunteers' present – such as silver wattles, blackwoods and the manna gums spreading from the shelterbelt.

New leader for bird surveys

13/8/2014

Grant Palmer from Federation University has taken over leading our bimonthly bird surveys. Tanya is pictured with Grant as she showed him the ropes and the transect we follow at our bird survey in August.

Grant's involvement will further cement our partnership with Federation University. He is a research fellow in the Centre for Environmental Management.

Tanya's last hurrah – after 20 bird surveys since October 2010

7/4/2014

Tanya (on right) briefing the group at the start of her final survey.

Ornothologist Tanya Loos is hanging up her binoculars after leading bi-monthly bird surveys on the ImLal site since the first planting in spring 2010.

Her sharp eyes and professionalism will be missed. She is retiring because of neck strain, which is being exacerbated by peering upwards through binoculars. Something of a tragedy for her and a great loss to us.

The bird surveys are an essential part of monitoring the site's contribution to biodiversity, as well as introducing visitors to the site. For BRT members and ImLal project partners it's become an important vector for on-site inspection and discussion about what silvicultural management is required. We are looking for a knowledgeable survey leader to replace Tanya. Any ideas?

Species resilience in the south and north sites is a case in point on the importance of regularly getting feet on the ground talking a walk through the plantation. Spotted gum and sugar gum plots that last year appeared well and truly dead have both put forward new shoots since the autumn break. Wilting native hempbush has recovered. Direct seeding that we thought had failed is increasingly poking up above the long grass - particularly the Acacia. Bare patches in the north are showing encouraging signs of recovery. The redwood (about 20-30% of the 50 planted) in the north site struggle on despite a very dry summer and kangaroo predation.

Volunteer plants are invading the site in increasing numbers, such as swamp gum, manna gum and blackwood. One problem we have created is planting silver wattle between the forestry plots in the south site. They are suckering and competing with the forestry plots. We can't spray them so they will need some form of labour-intensive management.

One moment of excitement on this last bird survey was spotting two Boobook owls in a mature radiata pine fringing the ImLal South forestry plots. It's only the second time we've seen them.

Visitors on this survey included science student Tarquin Netherway (on right) and Geoff Rootes (left) and Linda Zibell from Friends of Canadian Forest Park. Geoff and Linda are looking at introducing the biorich concept into their proposal for the proposed 300ha multi-use forest park.

Our youngest partipant was Oscar Haywood, the son of Imerys Environment Manager Brad Haywood. He is pictured on left with his father. He had a good long look at the Boobook.

Visitors are always welcome on the two hour long bird surveys, which are held on a Sunday morning. If you are interested, contact Gib Wettenhall via the Contact Us page – click here