Reflections

The Friends gather to talk about the changes underway at Perce White Reserve and agree that 'the Friends - have been pretty loyal to this place' and its particular qualities.

Fenced off

Perce White Reserve is now fenced off while allowing access through the carpark and along the beach.

Perce White Reserve closed

From 19th May, Perce White Reserve was fenced off to allow work to begin on the boardwalk that will be the centrepiece of the Port of Melbourne's buffer plan for the expanded Webb Dock. 

The Reserve is scheduled to re-open in November. 

At this stage, no vegetation is to be removed. 

The carpark will remain open. Construction vehicles will access the site from Port of Melbourne land to the north. 

Blue wrens out today

A group of eleven superb blue wrens were sighted on the western lawn at Perce White Reserve today. Upon approach, the birds retreated into two clumps of vegetation identified for removal in the landscape plan for Perce White Reserve.

One of a group of wrens observed at Perce White Reserve 

Vegetation Removal

Vegetation on the north side of the carpark at Perce White Reserve has been removed as preparation begins for the construction of the noise wall.
Yesterday (5 05 14) the Government announced its intention to lease of the Port of Melbourne. The income would be used for the range of infrastructure projects proposed in the budget.

Entrance to Perce White Reserve

Zoysia macrantha

It is not always easy to identify Zoysia macrantha, especially when it is tangled up with Cynodon dactylon. Here it is recruiting at Perce White Reserve, Port Melbourne.

Zoysia macrantha

Rabbits baited at PWR

Fulton Hogan had employed a rabbit baiting provider and this work has been going on this past week or two. POMC may provide some rabbit proof fencing for the grass area.

Friends meet new management

Today we met with Kim Cope, Port of Melbourne, Team Leader Structures Land and Water Assets, Tim Ogun Supervisor with Fulton Hogan and Scott and Les also from Fulton Hogan. Anthony, the lanscape gardener for LSV HQ was also there.

We did a walk around Perc White and discussed our various roles. They all were very enthusiastic about working in the reserve and preserving it so a very postive beginning on a day that brought blue sky and sun

Port of Melbourne Corporation announce takeover of PWR management

POMC announced last month that they will be taking over day to day mangement of Perce White Reserve as of 1st July 2012. A role that had previously been done by COPP and funded by POMC.

What happens from here?

POMC will meet with COPP to discuss handover. POMC has said they will meet with FOPMF after this meeting to discuss their vision for PWR.

AGM Held Thursday Sep 1st at Sandridge Trugo Club

This meeting was attended by Malcolm, Ruth, Carol, Tradey, Pat, Janet, Bill and myself. Malcolm will continue as Treasurer. Anne stepped down from President and I from Secretary. I was elected President and Carol Secretary.
We agreed to ask council to remove the Noticeboard due to the impending arrival of interp signs. It had become a chore to keep it updated and the perspex window had become smudged due to a graffiti attack.

Rabbits Baited in 2011

This year POMC came to the party and allocated funds to rabbit baiting at PWR. This was carried out in July, a year since the previous baiting funded by COPP. We'll see how long it is before signs of their presence reappear

Fencing Update

The fencing installed in 2010 is still standing but has had to be repaired a number of times over the summer. Usually a few strands have been worked loose and sagging occuring due to being climbed over, however it was cut right through (top to bottom) in a couple of places and I would guess it has been breached by the beaters who are annoyed at the area being restricted. Most of the sex activity is now concentrated at the western end of the reserve next to the Webb Dock Fence.

Rabbits Return

Around March this year I noticed the signs of rabbits back in PWR. I spoke to Jenny Bygraves, PR for POMC, and was informed that the Port was going ahead with a rabbit control programme in PWR and surrounding lands during May-June this year. Michelle Ritchie at COPP was informed of this and she says that Fulton Hogan in going to be the likely contractor.

Cynadon Couch Grass in Zoysia Bed

The beginning of 2010 saw the Friends group tackle the the Cynadon invasion of the Zoysia Bed. The removal of this highly invasive weed will be our primary focus I hope for the forseeable future as we work to flank and hold back further incursions of this weed which spreads by runners and seeds.

We had noticed the presence of Cynadon a few years back but did little about it. It wasn't until we had a workshop with Biosis research consultant Jeff Yugovic in Nov 2010 that we turned our focus to the weed invasion. One of his main points was that we need to assist the vegetation that is already in situ rather trying to plant new veg of the top of it and around it.

Weed Management Workshop

Anne organised a weed management workshop facilitated by Jeff Yugovic of Biosis. 12 people attended on this wet morning and we went through some weeds and their management.

It was a very informative session and may well shape how we approach our working bees. Will we get new weed management tools? eg a weed burner. And will we cut back on the annual planting so we can address the weeds in a more systematic manner? Jeff recommends facilitating natural regeneration over planting. Will discuss amongst ourselves and with COPP staff.

Working Bee Sunday Nov 7th

Today was Lily's 17th birthday. It's been a while since she joined us at PWR. We weeded on the dune and the weeds were prolific due to the amount of rain. Melbourne's rainfall stands at 680mm for the year, the first above average rainfall for over 10 years I'm guessing. In attendence were Malcolm & Ruth, Carol, Anne, Janet and Annette with Ben arriving a little later. I departed early to check in with the Melbourne chapter of the Surfrider Foundation who were conducting a litter pick up along the foreshore in front of Sandridge SLC. I had lent them some pick up sticks.

Second round of Fencing

This is the North-East corner of the second section of fencing. The notice board has been relocated as has the remnant vegetation sign from their original location about 75m to the west.



The second lot of fencing was installed in late October. It encompasses the grasses beds and forms the northern boundary of the new east-west alligned path which disects the reserve, see middle picture. In the foreground is the exposed plastic matting put down as a weed suppressor, propably in the 80's. It is impossible to remove and must hinder all plant growth.

The second picture above shows the northern side of this new fencing as it runs the length of the car park as far as the western grassed section.

Working Bee Saturday 2nd October

It will be interesting to watch this section of fenced foredune in the coming years. It has little spinifex to speak of. The next fenced section to the west has a degraded spinifex dune due to foot traffic and the furthest west, next to Webb Dock, is the best established as it has been somewhat protected by a 3 strand star picket fence for a few years.

The walk into the Reserve presented the newly cleared area immediately behind SLV HQ and the pruned Casuarinas along the carpark. David Hahir told me this was going to happen and that stage 2 of the fencing is imminent.

A small but efficient group attended today, myself, Carol, Jack, Janet, Tracey & Chris. Tracey is doing an anthropology PHD on Port Melbourne and attended as a study of local groups in Port and Chris picked us at random from the Landcare website. He travelled from Blackburn.

Anne was involved in setting up Pat Grainger's 80th at the Trugo Club where we all ended up in the afternoon. The day was the first real warm spring day and was also the replay of the drawn Grand Final.

The weeds are prolific this season. We set upon the vetch in the grass beds and Jack and I did a stint in the foreshore dunes. Weeds are everywhere and I will ask Michelle Ritchie on Monday if she can throw more resources at them next week because they will be seeding very soon. It was a pleasant warm morning. Janet and Anne are going to do some more again Sunday morning.

Working Bee Sunday 5th September

I will add pics later. They got wiped before I could add them. We weeded today, mainly vetch, near the noticeboard and the large "Remnant Vegetation" sign, itself a remnant of previous installations.

In attendance were myself, Carol, Yvonne, Ruth, Malcolm and Damien. It was a mild morning after a wild night, there was no apparent tree damage in the reserve. Damien and I checked the fences and gates, they were still all intact. Still no sign of rabbits.

I took a couple of pics of the recently fenced foredune. I wish to use this as a before and after representation of how the dune can regenerate if it is given protection from pedestrian traffic.

FOPMF Ordinary Meeting August 28th 2010

We held our quarterly meeting at the usual venue, Sandridge Trugo Club Garden City Reserve, at 7.30pm. In attendence were myself, Annette Stewart, Janet Bolitho, Carol & Yvonne Goudie, Anne Callaghan and Pat Grainger. Ben Piper turned up at 9pm having worked late but the meeting had just wrapped up.

Malcolm Cook who along with Ruth having recently joined our group, has agreed to take on the Treasurer's role. Michael Hutchinson our long standing reliable Treasurer has handed on the job.