Bushcare Hewitts Creek

Quite a Lot Happening Easter Monday, Public Holiday rule applies......take a better offer if you have one.  Targets tomorrow are  Woodlands Creek  &  McKellar Glade Next week, 13/4, we're on a Planting Morning with Alycia at the Flanagans site, Hope to see reforming chocaholics at the bridge......at 9.00 am, our April - October start time  2025 Coping with Flame Release sea junk from foreshore plants - a solid rake/pitchfork/hoe would be useful Attack flowering Cassia along the Stony Rd. Cut flowers, bag pods, cut & paint trunks. Need secateurs and loppers Cut temporary track west of Bridge of Doom to allow access to Manifest Destiny Need loppers and choppers Clean out regrowth weeds from our recently planted area up the dirt track, mainly passionfruit & Morning Glory. 2024 Easter Monday - Wildlife sighting Eastern Water Dragon, Physignathus lesueurii This species is protected in Australia.   2023 Walk in the Woods There's a fair bit of Mo...

Damp, salty, high tide and green grass  The large swell and the bit of rain has made the Hewitts Creek lowest areas no fun to play with. So we will concentrate our efforts at the following places: Back of the beach, sorting through flotsam, looking for plastic. Bag rubbish separately Along the cycleway, both sides, removing weeds especially those with seeds, and Woodlands Creek corner, a follow up the the concerted effort earlier in the month.    2025 Should we trust The BoM It will be wet under foot so that means Stony Rd, Western Front and the back of the Blady Grass will be the most comfortable spots to work.  If there are few people about we might even do some edge of the cycleway work on Morning Glory & some anti- Passionfruit efforts up the Dirt track.  

Bushcare and Weight Loss   Focus on  Manifest Destiny  with weeds in seed esp.  Fleabane  and the emergence of the winter weed Lambs tongue . Bag the seeds and roots. Places have been identified to lay down cardboard in that area. So bring any big sheets you have. McKellar Glade has bidens , bag the seeds and flower heads, knock the soil from the roots and leave these stems in the tracks you make through the area. The forecast is suggesting a small chance of rain in the morning so work may need to be restricted to the highest ground. 2025 Could Be Soggy A Chinese Elm has been sprouting in our midst & needs deconstruction. A dead tree has come down in Manifest Destiny & should be cut up. Bad things are growing along the east edge of Lisa's Site, including Noogoora , Cassia & Madeira & our track is disappearing. Inspection & seed collection of Turkey by Weed Aware Random Citizens may occur around Condons Corner . The "Western Front" t...

Flan again  Coop 3 Meet at the surf club carpark, again (8:30am). Rubbish is to be collected into separate bags. Make piles of it, then someone will bag it and take it to the street bins. Restrict the use of the white woven plastic bags to vegetable matter. The main job is  Asparagus Fern.  There is a lot on this site, but don't touch any growing on the top of the sand cliffs. Reading the Wollongong Environment and Conservation Volunteer News (2026 Autumn) we hear about the nearby Wombarra Bushcare group "crowning asparagus" by just removing the woody growing point or corm. This action limits the soil disturbance while also reducing the amount needed to be bagged to just that corm. The other bits can go into any open areas.  The crowing tool is a Jab Saw  or the cheaper one above is a Craftright 150mm wallboard saw .  They are both made for poking holes through plaster board walls. They are priced below $10, a good idea considering that the saw will quickly...

Try, Try, Try Woodlands Crk  By focusing on a particular spot we should have something to show for our efforts, a difficult thing to do at this time of year. East of  Woodlands Ck  has  Honey suckle : ..and Cassia , Lilies , Bidens , Solanum,   Purpletop and grass seeds, esp.  Paspalum.   Bag all seeds and roots. Pluck grass seeds and bag most of them. Remove vines from the bushes and trees.  If there is need for more work ask about working on the west side of the creek.  2025 Cloudy but dry, showers & thunderstorm Tasks: Cassia is blooming everywhere so Pull/Cut & Paint (if dry) will be needed at Manifest Destiny , Woodlands Ck & along Stony Rd. Madeira ,  morning glory , Honeysuckle are resurgent along Hewitts Ck in  Manifest Destiny . Noogoora outbreak at lower edge of Lisa's site & there is a need to re-establish some tracks. The mound & ditch are being invaded around the Bridge of Doom. Much morning glor...

2026 Woodlands Crk plan fail Plans for this week had to be moved to the second week. Slight problem of a council contractor spraying upwind of the place where we all planned to work. Clean up Australia happened first and then we did some bushcare, mostly along the cycleway.   2025 Clean up Australia A photo opportunity for the next Flame edition, some bushcare & then some Clean Up Australia, so quite a busy session. Should the rain hold off, flowering Lilies are the first priority. Flowering Cassias at Woodlands Ck can be removed so long as we can suitably relocate the shaduf & then it's over to the back of the Blady Grass for a weed salad or over to Manifest Destiny for attack on various regrowths. Correct PPE or you could find yourself hidden at the back among the Talls. Thanks to Ian & Ross for the day's activities.  2024 Open area weeding Cool, grey & 21 degrees means we can attack Morning Glory on Steve's Beach , Turkey Rhubarb at Condons Corner ,...

Destiny's offspring  Manifest Destiny  will be the main focus mostly  Fleabane and  Nightshade. In the Blady grass  there are  Bidens ,  Fleabane , Purpletop  and  Nightshade   Finally there are lots of grass seeds everywhere, especially  paspalum , pluck them and bag them.  2025 Some leftovers from last week If it is dry there is quite a lot of regrowth of African olive and Privet in Manifest Destiny, cut and paint. Lilies will continue to show themselves for a few weeks. Dig them out and bag the bulbs and the flowers. In the Blady grass   Bidens , Cottonbush, Fleabane , Purpletop , Nightshade and Crofton are all sprouting. Cassias are set to flower, bag seed pods from previous flowering. The other Morning glory is getting away up the Dirt track around the mound and ditch. 2024 Options work in the sun  work in tall scratchy natives  repelling the invaders at Woodlands Ck   a new Lantana Project, an...