Friends of Jirdarup Bushland
This event is sponsored by the Swan Canning River Recovery Stage Three (SCRR3) and supported by the Perth NRM, through funding from the Australian Government.
Our Containers for Change ID is C10408106. Thank you.
The Friends of Jirdarup Bushland
The Friends of Jirdarup Bushland is a community group based around Victoria Park. We are dedicated to the preservation of Jirdarup Bushland Precinct which includes Kensington Bushland, George St Reserve and Kent St Sandpit. We organize community events as well as planting and weeding days each year.
Our aim is to help the community connect with nature through protecting, regenerating and revegetating the Jirdarup Bushland Precinct.
Follow us on Facebook or Instagram to get the latest news and get involved in our activities!
The Bushland
Jirdarup Bushland Precinct, with ‘Bush Forever’ site Kensington Bushland at its heart, is a rare slice of remnant banksia-jarrah woodlands tucked away in Victoria Park. A hidden natural treasure and biodiversity hot spot, Jirdarup means ‘Place of Birds’ in the Nyoongar language. It is home to 62 species of birds, as well as 14 species of reptiles and over 200 plant species. Get creative and immerse yourself in photographing the wealth of Jirdarup’s flora, fauna, and landscapes.
The Bushland entry points are from Etwell Street, George Street and Baron Hay Court. There is free parking, wide pathways, and dog walking is permitted. Disabled access is via Baron-Hay Court entrance. You can take photos from the public access areas in Jirdarup Bushland, but please don’t jump the fences.
‘Images of Jirdarup 2021’ Photography Competition
Competition Winners Announced
1st Place Flora: Ain't Life Grand(is) - Alison Higgins
2nd Place Flora: The Herd - Mark de Cruz
1st Place Fauna: Teaching the Young One - Christine Chester
2nd Place Fauna: The Sentinel - Emma Jones
1st Place Landscape: Birth in the dying acres - Xinyang Zhao
2nd Place Landscape: Winter Morning - Jon Young
1st Place Junior: Foney Fungi - Sav Noble
2nd Place Junior: Yellow Joy - Ching Yi Lu
1st Place People's Choice: Winter Morning - Jon Young
2nd Place People's Choice: Afternoon Yawn - Kerry Whitworth
The Camera Electronic $100 gift voucher was won by Flora Johnston. Congratulations!
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Kaya! 😃🙌 Last Saturday (29th May) a large group of Friends and supporters celebrated National Reconciliation Week (https://www.reconciliation.org.au/national-reconciliation-week) with a fascinating talk by Indigenous Elders Professor Simon Forrest and Roni Forrest from Wildfire Indigenous Education and Cultural consultants (https://www.facebook.com/wildfireeducation/).
We learned about the Noongar Six Seasons 🌸 and the knowledge system developed by the Noongar people over 40,000 years ago! 👌
In Noongar culture native plants were (and still are) used for food, medicine, clothing, fire and shelter, and for making hunting and digging tools. 🌿 Many plants have spiritual and cultural relevance, embedded in a complex system of lore and customs that works with nature to protect animals and the environment. 🙏 Professor Forrest also spoke about the Gondwana Link project, ‘connecting nature and people’ in the south west (https://gondwanalink.org).
Thanks also to the Friends event crew, and our valued sponsors: the @townofvicpark (https://www.victoriapark.wa.gov.au/Home) and Perth NRM (https://www.perthnrm.com/about) through the Swan Canning River Recovery Stage Three Project and the Australian Government.
Here are a few photos from the event. Did you take any photos on the day and want to share them? 📸🤩 Please email them to us at admin@friendsofjirdarupbushland.org.au. 🙌
Ever wondered where the tube stock plants for the Jirdarup Bushland planting days come from? 🤔
The seeds get collected from Kensington Bushland and are stored and propagated at the @cityofsouthperth Nursery. 🌱🌿💕
Our Friends of Jirdarup Landcare Group, who manage the planting, weeding and watering activities in the bushland, had the pleasure to get a guided tour through the nursery this month. 🤩👌
The group learned a lot about the tricky business of propagating native plants. 😮
They also learnt that the trend is towards natives, and especially cockatoo food sources, which is one of the Friends of Jirdarup's passions. ❤️
The sneak peek of the seedlings destined for the Town of Victoria Park was a special treat, and we look forward to caring for some of them in future. 🌱🙏
Special thanks go to Jennifer and John from the City of South Perth Nursery for sharing their time and expert knowledge with us. 💝🌿🙌 The photos were taken during the visit.
Hello bushcare team! 🥰
Exciting news! The Friends have been talking with the Town about ‘adopting’ an area in Jirdarup where we can lavish our efforts on planting, hand weeding and watering for the coming 12 months. 👏The sites we are looking at are along the Sandpit embankment, but still within the Bush Forever zone. These areas are perfect for planting lots of cockatoo food trees - such as jarrah, marri, and banksia - and have easy access to the car park and other facilities.
With a good soaking rain yesterday, this weekend we will focus on hand weeding along the Etwell St verge, which is right next door to our planned ‘adoption’ site.
Please join us this Sunday anytime between 7.15am - 9am, somewhere between the Kent St roundabout and the bushland entrance.
REMINDER 👉 Don’t forget our special visit to the City of South Perth Nursery, from 10am next Wednesday 5th May. If you haven’t signed up, please RSVP and we’ll send you the details.
Picture: Laura Jung
Hello,
if you have been down to the Jirdarup Bushland I am sure you will have seen lots of activity on the ever so popular bird waterers. 🥳🤩
We've now entered the Noongar season Djeran, known as the 'season of adulthood'. 🤓
The season changes when the nights turn cool, bringing a morning dew. Red flowers, like banksias, are in bloom, rain starts to fall and flying ants cruise on the light south westerly winds.
Make sure you take a stroll through the bushland, as the Banksia menziesii, commonly known as firewood banksia, are now flowering. They are a gnarled tree that gets up to 10 m tall.
They are often two-coloured red or pink and yellow, and their colour has earnt them some unusual common names such as port wine banksia and strawberry banksia. Yellow blooms are rarely seen.
Both pictures were taken by Georgina Wilson on 10/04/2021. Thanks, Georgina.
Enjoy Djeran, the autumn in our bushland.
Kind regards,
Klaus - Friends of Jirdarup Bushland
Hello everyone,
here's a belated 'Easter Egg' from Jirdarup Bushland. 🙂
The amazing pictures were taken by Mark Molinari on 04/04/2021.
Thank you very much for sharing your wonderful pictures with us, Mark.
Enjoy your next visit to the bushland, our magic little place in suburbia.
Kind regards,
Klaus - Friends of Jirdarup Bushland
Geoff Groom kindly sent through his photo of a very special bird! 👌
“In 2019 I photographed this bird in Kensington Bushland. I believe that it is a hybrid between a White-cheeked Honeyeater and a New Holland Honeyeater. I wrote an article, which appeared in Australian Field Ornithology (Volume 36 - 2019).
Currently I am trying to see as many Western Australian birds as I can, in one calendar year. Alan Collins currently holds the record, having seen 419 birds. Currently I have seen or heard 326 different species. Two of these birds were seen for the first time this year in the Jirdarup Bushland - the Western Wattlebird and the White-cheeked Honeyeater.
If you would like to follow my progress, check out my Facebook Page WA Big Birding Year - 2021 .”
You can see more shots of the hybrid and Geoff's paper (with many more pictures of the hybrid) on BirdLife Western Australia's website: https://www.birdlife.org.au/afo/index.php/afo/article/view/2170
Fiona
These stunning photos were taken in Jirdarup Bushland yesterday morning by Georgina Wilson; aren’t we lucky to have these wonderful birds as part of our lives?! ❤️
Enjoy your local Bushland! 🌿🙌
Want to join us making a difference by watering and weeding in the Bushland? We do Saturday and Sunday - 7am for the earlybirds (so ~7.30 for most folks) to 8.30 on both days. Whether you give 40 minutes or more of your time, it all adds up! Beginners are very welcome too.
We suggest wearing long trousers, a hat, sunscreen, closed shoes, and gloves. We’ve got buckets and weeding tools. Any questions please contact us, Fiona (0404 069997) and Vicki (0416 049 550) or email us on admin@friendsofjirdarupbushland.org.au - or just rock up to the Christmas Tree crossroads in Kensington Bushland. Thanks!
Post by Fiona
Photos by Georgina Wilson - thanks for sharing these with us!
(if you want to share photos with us then email them to us admin@friendsofjirdarupbushland.org.au
Thanks!
Do you remember our post just over a week ago where we asked for help as we were “wondering what our cockatoos are doing”? (Up to 20 Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos had been seen on the ground or on rocks near the Etwell Street entrance to the Kent St Sandpit, appearing to be eating small stones, sand, and chewing the surface of large rocks.)
Presumably it’s important as the birds are at risk when they are at ground level (the Sandpit is currently fenced off and locked so they are safe from off-lead dogs). We wondered if the rocks were rich in some minerals that the birds need in their diet? 🤔
Steven Spragg makes the “general observations of the same behaviour in most species of Cockatoo in Australia. Reading up on it they require additional minerals not usually present in seeds such as Iodine, Calcium and other salts like magnesium, Iron etc so grit is an important source for such minerals.”
NB Some birds, like poultry, needed shell grit because they cannot chew. Poultry are in the large category of Passerines, which includes more than half of all bird species; these birds have three toes pointing forward and one back to facilitate perching. Passerines need grit to aid their digestion processes and Psittacines (parrots) generally do not.
Here’s another great selection of interesting Black-cockatoo photos taken in Jirdarup very recently. These highlight the variety of important food source plants for Black-cockatoos that occur within Jirdarup, including:
Prickleybark Eucalyptus todtiana (https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/5790)
Dwarf sheoak Allocasuarina humilis ((https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/1732)
Balga Xanthorrhoea preissii (https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/1256)
There are many nut-laden Prickleybarks at the moment, particularly in the George Street Reserve plantings.
Photos by Georgina Wilson - thanks so much for sharing these photos and observations Georgina!
Post by Stephen and Fiona
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Acknowledgements
All photographs featured here were taken in Jirdarup Bushland by Robert Audcent (FoJB member and one of the judges).
Benefactor
James Audcent - Web Design & Digital Marketing Agency
By providing business development consultation and services such as website development & design, online & digital marketing, and technological implementation & support, to small businesses and not-for-profits, I aim to level the playing ground. Services once only available to large corporations are now yours to enjoy at a price that accounts for your demands as a business owner.
Contact Us
Vicki
0416 049 550
Robert
0418 448 887
