Bemboka River Reserve Field Day – 23 October

It’s three years since the CMN visited Bemboka River Reserve, one of the best remnants of endangered Lowland Grassy Woodland in the Bega Valley. So we’d like to return this Spring on Friday 23 October from 9.30am-12.30pm for a field day with botanist Jackie Miles.

You’re invited to come and see what’s flowering, identify the plants that make up this community, hear about what makes it so special and find out the history of the reserve and how it is being managed. Bemboka Landcare and Bega Valley Shire Council who look after the reserve will be there to share information and answer questions to help us look after the grassy woodland remnants on our own places.

The field day is free. If you’d like to attend or need more information, please contact Ali Rodway by emailing info@fsccmn.com or calling 0417 246 896. Bookings are essential to ensure we can run a COVID safe event.

Photo: Bemboka River Reserve, Ali Rodway

Supporting Woodland Birds

In his article “Bush for Birds, Everyone Can Help”, Andy Taylor from Local Land Services looks at the plight of our small woodland birds, many of which have become threatened with extinction, and offers a range of things we can do to help these amazing and precious birds to survive and flourish on farms and in regional areas of south eastern NSW. As he says “What we know is that protecting and better managing the habitat of these birds is crucial to their survival. While these birds have declined in recent decades and are at risk of extinction in the future, we know that their survival is entirely within our reach if we choose to act now. So where to start?” Read the article here.

Photo: Scarlet Robin, Dean Ingwerson

Ten Ways to Improve the Natural Assets on a Farm

Sustainable Farms has developed a new booklet to help support land managers improve the natural assets on their farms. There is some great content in there on protecting paddock trees, looking after rivers, creeks and wetlands, improving farm dams, protecting native pastures and more. See the booklet here.

Visit the Sustainable Farms website to see a range of other useful resources and to join their mailing list.

Photo: B. Vanzella

Aboriginal Cultural Burning News

Click here to read more about an upcoming webinar series and two recent stories on Aboriginal Cultural Burning:

‘djamanj djamaga ganj’ is a series of free webinars on Aboriginal Cultural Burning and Wild Fire recovery; "Traditional fire management conducted in Bega Valley, Eurobodalla" is from ABC South East NSW story with a short video by Vanessa Milton; and the Threatened Species Recovery Hub has published "Cultural fire: Listening to and caring for Country with fire" an article by Oliver Costello.

Aussie Backyard Bird Count 2020

The 2020 Aussie Backyard Bird Count will be held from Monday 19 – Sunday 25 October. This is one of Australia’s biggest annual citizen science events, with more than 88,000 people participating last year and nearly 3.4 million birds counted. It’s a great way to connect with the birds in your area and to contribute to BirdLife Australia’s knowledge of Australian Birds.

All you need to take part is 20 minutes and your favourite outdoor space, whether it’s a suburban backyard, a local park, a patch of forest, a farm, down by the beach, or the main street of town.

By participating in the Aussie Backyard Bird Count you’ll be helping BirdLife Australia find out about the common species that live where people live, providing a snapshot of Australian birds at the same time each year and allowing them to look at the trends in our bird communities from year to year. This is important because it’s these more common species that give us the best indication of the health of the environment.

Head to the website for information on how to participate and register for the Bird Count today.