Alexandra Cubs Nest Box Project

We recently had night with the Alexandra Cub-Scouts building nest boxes for small native mammals including Sugar Gliders, Brush-tailed Phascogales and Agile Antechinus.

Alexandra Cubs with Cub leader Jude.

The Cubs did a great job and built 12 nest boxes which we will install on trees in the nearby McKenzie Reserve in Spring.

Alexandra Cubs showing good carpentry skills.

The boxes will provide much needed nesting sites for our small arboreal mammals.
This important activity also helps the Cubs to earn their Landcare award.

Alexandra Cubs with Kinglake Venturer Sam

Thank you to Cub leaders Jude and Beck for their assistance and also the Kinglake and Alexandra Venturers who helped the Cubs with their carpentry skills.

National Tree Day

UGLN and the Kinglake Landcare Group hosted two National Tree Day activities at the Koala Browse Reserve in Kinglake.
On Friday 26th July 50 students and teachers helped to plant almost 400 plants in only a few short hours and on Sunday 28th July a small band of dedicated volunteers in windy and cold conditions helped plant a further 240 plants.

Kinglake Scouts Hayley and Tristan on National Tree Day

This site was important because it is an area that was devastated by the 2009 fires.
The aim was to revegetate the area to increase biodiversity and provide habitat for wildlife including the Greater Glider and Long-nosed Bandicoot that live in the adjacent Number Two Creek Reserve.

Kinglake Primary School students.

Kinglake PS students on National Schools Tree Day

We would like to thank 15Trees for helping to provide the trees for this important project.

Lorax Project starts back for 2013

On the 3oth May, Corporate volunteers from JBWere and National Australia Bank descended on the property of Rick and Claire Clark, Wildlfe carers and members of the King Parrot Creek Environment Group. Other members of the group; David, Laurie, Steve and Heather also assisted on the day.

JBWere and NAB volunteers 

We planted 480 native trees, shrubs and ground covers into a narrow gully to provide good cover for local fauna using the gully as a link to the remnant vegetation along the top of the ridge.

Revegetated gully at the Clark property

On 31st May we had a return by one of our ANZ teams for the 4th consecutive year. This year the dedicated bunch helped plant 350 trees and shrubs on a hillside at Paul and Denise Webster's property in Murrindindi. The Webster's treated us all to a great lunch of roast beef rolls and salad which everyone appreciated.

ANZ volunteers at Murrindindi

And just over the hills at Limestone on 26th May another NAB team put in a great effort to plant out a fenced off gully at the property of Judy Brookes with 320 indigenous plants. These plants will help to halt the erosion in the gully and also eventually provide a wildlife corridor linking the remnant vegetation on the Brookes farm with the Black Ranges in the east and the Yea River in the west.


Planting site at the Brookes property

NAB volunteers at Limestone

Long-nosed Bandicoot update - Glenburn

Long-nosed Bandicoot (LNB) numbers seem to have increased since the 2009 fires along the Stony Creek at Kinglake West, along the King Parrot Creek down to Hazeldene and at Toolangi.
The thick regrowth of native vegetation has probably favoured the bandicoots and provided protection from predators such as foxes and cats.
Our fauna monitoring with remote sensor cameras in these areas has turned up many photographs of the usually secretive creatures.

Long-nosed Bandicoot at Glenburn

Long-nosed Bandicoot at Glenburn

 




Recently after noticing diggings and other possible signs on a property in Glenburn we set up our cameras and were rewarded by these photographs of Long-nosed Bandicoots.

This site is on private land along a tributry of Katy's Creek in an area of native riparian vegetation. The area has been fenced off by the landowner to protect it from their cattle and to encourage natural regeneration. This has certainly paid off because as well as the bandicoot's we also photographed Swamp Wallabies, Bush Rats, Wombats, Brush-tail Possums and birds including the shy Bassian Thrush.
 
This map shows the locations where we have recorded LNB's throughout the Kinglake Ranges over the last two years.

Map showing locations of Long-nosed Bandicoots observations by UGLN

If you see a bandicoot or possible evidence please let us know by phoning 5736 0104 or email ugrecovery@gbcma.vic.gov.au

Greater Glider recovery project

Thanks to funding provided by Landcare Australia the Upper Goulburn Landcare Network has been able to provide alternative nesting sites for the Greater Gliders living along the Number Two and Number One Creeks at Kinglake.

Kinglake Rover Sam helping to install the nest boxes.



The Greater Glider Petauroides volans

Twelve specially built nest boxes were purchased from Latrobe Wildlife Sanctuary and installed in the creek reserves amongst the tall Mountain Ash forest.

Greater Glider habitat along the Number Two Creek.

These areas were burnt in the 2009 fires, and while they are regenerating very well many of the large old habitat trees containing hollows that the Greater Gliders used were destroyed.
During spotlighting as part of a fauna survey along the Number Two Creek in November 2011 members of the Kinglake Landcare Group were lucky to observe a Greater Glider gliding from tree to tree. Since then more have also been observed at the nearby Kinglake East Flora Reserve.

Kinglake Rover Karly with two of the nest boxes.

The project has been well assisted by Rover Scouts from the Kinglake Scouts Junior Landcare Group who helped with the installation of the boxes.

Chris Cobern