20 August Newsletter Friends of Eaglemont Village
Yep - we took a week off from publishing.
King Parrots at Eaglemont today
Recently we relayed to excited readers that a pair of King Parrots were sighted at Wilsons Reserve.
Then came a sighting reported by Pippa at Hopetoun Avenue.
Today a male King Parrot cheeped at me from above the Alandale Road 90° carpark while I was cleaning up prunings on Sherwood Road.
I am confident a female flew into a neighbouring tree.
It is encouraging to those of us doing green corridor rehabilitation work along the rail line to see transient birds like King Parrots and Gang Gangs resident here, even if temporary.
At a social event today a Studley Road resident excitedly showed me photos he had taken of Gang Gangs "eating those red berries at the station entrance". Others in the community are noticing.
I saw a poignant thing last Wednesday morning at Eaglemont Station.
Just before 9 a.m. two juvenile Gang Gang cockatoos alighted in separate trees overlooking the station.
They called back and forth in what I feel was an excited, agitated manner for about 30 seconds.
Then both flew off towards Ivanhoe simultaneously.
I can only conclude they arrived at the station to discover their cotoneaster trees covered in berries were no more, and breakfast needed to be sought further afield. Sorry guys.
Oh dear. Let's get those large fruited eucalypts growing as a replacement food source asap.
The removal of the cotoneasters overshadowing the station underpass has revealed an archaeological collection of litter - bottles, cans, wrappers.
Some careful planning is needed as to how to safely remove this debris, then add some plants to soften the look of the bluestone batters.
Origin story of the bluestone beds
Speaking of bluestone.
I am reliably informed that the bluestone edged garden beds formed off Sherwood Road by the outbound platform at the station were an unemployment relief project in the late eighties or early nineties.
This explains the very good condition of the blocks and the mortar, being of relatively recent origin.
Up to now I had assumed the bluestone beds resulted from left-over bluestone from when line duplication led to "the station" ticket office shifting to the south of the lines.
At that time the ramp entrance down off Sherwood Road was demolished, and replaced with the current ramp (which slopes the opposite direction).
Bluestone blocks around the garden bed near the outbound waiting room are the only use of bluestone in the whole station.
Biodiversity workshop ILCH
11 community volunteers fronted up for a 2 hour session at the Ivanhoe library last Saturday.
Participants were asked to give input to 4 questions posed to elicit community views as part of developing a new Biodiversity Plan.
There have been 3 previous plans - the most recent covered the covid era........
Of all the "community engagement" sponsored by Banyule Council this year Saturday's effort is felt to be the most genuine attempt to get community views.
The others had appeared coloured by perceived attempts to have pre-conceived plans validated.
Reminders
Sewing group meets first Thursday each month at 2 p.m. at Eaglemont Dish - next gathering is September 7th
Mothers & Babies network meets first and third Monday each month at 10:30 a.m. at Eaglemont Dish - next meeting is September 4th.
Ryder-Cheshire garden maintenance team attends 10 Donaldson Street Ivanhoe 9:30 a.m. on the last Wednesday monthly - next attendance is 30th August.
Workshops for environmental volunteers
Liz L alerts me to a series of events on offer through Banyule Council for people interested in tackling our environmental issues.
Posts from the past week
Member discussion