It rained for the first time in a long time but it was good weather to give newly sown native seed a drink so five members of Bowning-Bookham Landcare worked in a horse shed rather than the nursery at the latest sowing of native seed at our Fairyhole Rd Landcare nursery. 

900 pots of under-storey plants were sown including Old Man Saltbush, Creeping Saltbush, Hakea Ericifolia, Wooly Wattle and Hickory Wattle.  We look forward to planting them into our Landcare member paddocks after it rains again in Autumn 2019.

A workshop on native seeds and plant identification was held in Bookham in September.

Over twenty Landcare members from Sutton, Murrumbateman, Yass and Bowning-Bookham came together at the Bookham Memorial Hall to hear Stephen Bruce from Greening Australia speak about native seed collection, cleaning, storage and sowing techniques.  This workshop was made possible from funding secured from a Yass Council Community Grant “Seed for the future - Collecting, cleaning, sowing and storing local seed for the future”.  Comprehensive plant identification resources were provided by Stephen Bruce thus enabling participants to take such resources into their paddocks when they next attempt to collect native seed grown on their property.  Morning tea and lunch were provided by the Bookham Hall and Red Cross ladies which was generously funded from the Yass Habitat Linkages project.

After lunch the group drove to the Bookham Cemetery and saw an extensive range of understory plants and unique sub-species of Eucalyptus trees which exist in that site.

Plant Selection and Sourcing for Future Climate — an action planning workshop for landcare growers and nurseries — was held on 5 October 2018 at Tootsie Fine Art & Design, Yass. The workshop was hosted by Bowning-Bookham Landcare and sponsored by the NSW Environmental Trust.

The purpose of this workshop was to bring landcare nurseries, growers and scientists together to develop action plan/s for sourcing seed and plants for habitat hops and linkages that will survive and thrive long into the future.
 
While the climate-ready revegetation guide gives natural resource managers tools to understand the uncertainties of climate, we need to turn these ideas into reality so that the seed and plants we grow for our habitat hops and linkages have a good chance of surviving into the future where the weather will be hotter, more variable and less predictable.  

The purpose of working together is to help us support the local environment to adapt to the changes in climate, which needs a larger network, resources and projects to achieve it than each individual or group can implement.

To do this we need seeds and people to collect, grow, plant, and advise as well as sites and resources to make it happen.

Our landcare nurseries need an action plan to decide not just what seed or plants will suit the climate, but also how to source and grow these species.

Stay tuned for updates about how you and your group can be involved in this exciting project.

Hancock, N., Harris, R., Broadhurst, L. and Hughes, L. 2018. Climate-ready revegetation. A guide for natural resource managers. Version 2. Macquarie University, Sydney.
http://anpc.asn.au/resources/climate_ready_revegetation

At the end of September the Canberra Ornithical Group (COG) visited the McGuirk property at Kangiara on Lachlan Valley Way.  Fourteen keen birders arrived at 8am and started listening to the sounds of resident and migrating birds.  Over the 4 hour visit 49 bird species were identified plus their specific numbers across the property.  Some of the more interesting bird sightings included:

• Australian Wood Ducks: 15
• Superb Parrots: 3 only sighted at the end of the day near the homestead
• Superb Fairywren: 10
• Red Wattlebird: 5
• Australian Reed Warble: 12
• Grey Fantail: 25
• WedgeTailed Eagle: family of 4 where the pair of eagles had a nest of two young.

The complete listing of birds sighted at this event plus a prior scouting day is provided in the table below.  This bird count information will be entered into the Atlas of Living Australia so that bird numbers over time can be monitored to determine if the significant native plantings undertaken by the McGuirks on their property at Kangiara are having an impact on resident or migratory bird numbers.