Blog Posts

Photos: Phillip Island Nature

By Lisa Gilbert

PHILLIP Island’s little penguin population has survived a strong El Nino event, with a higher than expected number of fledgling chicks this breeding season.

Phillip Island Nature Parks researchers say the longer breeding season, which ran from July 2023 until the end of March 2024, was marked by a strong El Nino event that impacted global weather, with ocean temperatures surging to unprecedented levels.

But despite predictions that penguin populations would suffer in the warming world and the ocean temperatures around Phillip Island registering record highs, our little penguins flourished, with two successful clutches in one season.

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Parrot puzzle

15/5/2024

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The injured Eastern Ground Parrot in care at the Bunurong Wildlife Care centre.

By Dallas Wyatt

An injured parrot found at Inverloch has created excitement and interest amongst local birdwatchers and field naturalists.

The parrot was identified as an Eastern Ground Parrot (Pezoporus wallicus) and its occurrence is the first recorded for many years in the Bass Coast region.

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Greg Johnson Q&A

18/4/2024

The newly elected president of the Phillip Island Conservation Society
learned activism from some of the best.

Greg and his late wife, Marg, who was PICS secretary for 20 years.

Post: How did you become involved with PICS? Was it a particular issue?

Greg Johnson: While searching the coast for an affordable holiday shack in the days when that was feasible, we found one at Ventnor, not so far away from home [in Eltham]. It was a bit of a wreck, but I was keen for somewhere accessible to enjoy my sailing dinghy. I’ll never forget celebrating our first day as holiday-home owners with a long beach walk and seeing our first Sea Eagle gliding parallel with the coast in the on-shore wind.

We were bird enthusiasts; my partner Marg had done a bushwalking course; I’d become a native plant gardener in Eltham, and we had often enjoyed the wildly beautiful Wilsons Prom with our children. We loved nature and that day we breathed in the coastal beauty of our new Island ‘home’. We were sure we’d find a local conservation group we could join.

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Rick and the beanstalk

15/4/2024

Rick Coleman introduces a new generation to the magic of gardening
at the Wonthaggi Community Garden. Photos: Sharon Willcox

By Catherine Watson

THERE’S a fairy tale quality to Rick Coleman’s introduction to gardening. Aged 12, he planted a packet of beans in the back yard of his Caulfield family home. He can’t remember why because no one in his working class family was a gardener.

But he watched enchanted as they first sprouted through the soil, then grew a stalk, and produced first flowers and then pods filled with beans.

And that’s the magic of gardening.

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Cemetery clearing backlash

15/4/2024

The Tarwin Lower Cemetery is noted as a site of botanical significance.

By Catherine Watson

THE Tarwin Lower Cemetery is renowned for its wildflowers and orchids so locals were concerned in late February when they heard an excavator within the hallowed grounds.

Several tracks were cleared through the vegetation at the direction of the Tarwin Lower Cemetery Trust, apparently to create firebreaks and to access and remove patches of sallow wattles.

The clearing is the latest incident in a long-running disagreement between the trust and local naturalists about the values that should be preserved at the cemetery, one of the oldest in South Gippsland.

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Lights out for shearwaters

12/4/2024

Roadside rescue by a Nature Parks ranger

By Lisa Gilbert

PHILLIP Island Nature Parks is enlisting the help of local businesses and communities to protect short-tailed shearwater chicks on their first migration north.

This year, the annual campaign, Dark Sky So Shearwaters Fly, will run from 19 April to 10 May, and will ask residents and businesses in the bird flight path to switch off their lights for up to 10 nights to minimise risks to the seabirds and to motorists.

Each year, shearwater chicks make their 14,000km first flight to Alaska in late April or early May.

Bright manmade light sources can be a fatal attraction for the young seabirds as they learn to fly. They are drawn to street lighting and land on roads, becoming a hazard to themselves and to motorists, particularly on the San Remo bridge.

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Silver lining for little old penguin

3/4/2024

Silver was found severely malnourished.

By Lisa Gilbert

A LITTLE penguin found malnourished on the beach has been identified as one of the oldest penguins ever seen at the Phillip Island mega-colony.

Silver is 22 years old, more than three times the average life expectancy of a little penguin.
The oldest documented penguin at Phillip Island was 25, and last seen in 2001.

Silver was found wandering, in front of the Penguin Parade stands, at risk of being killed by a bird of prey. When rangers rescued her, they found she had a silver band around her flipper, an identification method that ceased in 2004. Since then, penguins have been microchipped.

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The thin green line

22/3/2024

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The Corinella foreshore walk ... a wide, shaded, wind-protected microclimate created by the low trees and shrubs. Photos: Geoff Ellis

By Ed Thexton

I VISITED the Corinella Foreshore recently and it was a revelation. In the harsh clifftop environment, directly exposed to the prevailing south westerlies, the path west of the boat ramp wound through a wide, shaded, wind-protected microclimate created by the continuity of diverse, indigenous low trees and shrubs. Elevated vantage points provided views to Western Port.

I couldn’t help but contrast it with the foreshore path in my home town of Inverloch, which looks more like a municipal utility than a natural experience.

I drove to the northern section of the Corinella path, where the abundant birdlife on the bay spoke of the richness of the near shore marine environment.

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A family affair

22/3/2024

Judy Morcom's garden

By Kate Anderson

GARDEN lovers are in for a treat on Saturday, April 6 with the chance to visit two delightful Inverloch gardens, owned by mother and daughter Judy Morcom and Sue Jarvis.

Set just oﬀ the Bass Highway as you enter Inverloch from the Wonthaggi end, Judy’s garden is an inspiring owner-designed garden set on one acre.

When Judy and Allan Morcom bought the property 16 years ago, it was little more than a farm paddock with a stand of mature trees at the rear of the property and the headwater of Ayr Creek running at the front in an open drain.

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Relief for Ruttle Estate residents

22/3/2024

Residents have been fighting since 2017 to preserve the wetland reserve.

By Peter Ghys

BASS Coast Shire Council this week refused an application by an Albert Ruttle Estate landowner to clear vegetation and build a house on a portion of the wetland reserve set aside as communal open space for residents of the estate.

It’s a second victory this year for Ruttle Estate residents who have been fighting since 2017 to preserve the wetland reserve.

The development of the wetlands featured in marketing of the estate and was a condition of the original planning agreement for the Albert Ruttle subdivision back in 1993.

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The power trip continues

22/3/2024

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Werner and Ursula Theinert accepted Saul Griffiths' challenge
to Electrify Everything. And the lights stayed on during our recent prolonged power outage.

By Werner Theinert

THE Nissan Leaf e+ discussed in my previous articles (The power trip, October 1, 2020) is still going strong with nearly 60,000 kilometres on the clock. It’s still only been charged away from home twice, at a cost of $8 each time at the fast chargers at the Moe Folk Museum. We also sold the van recently and we are now waiting for delivery of the new BYD Seal … Hopefully soon! This will mean that we have electrified everything.

In July/August last year we got sick of waiting (three years) for regulators in Canberra to regulate on bidirectional charging using the car’s 63kWh battery to power the house. It appears that it’s okay to install a battery in your house, as long as it doesn’t have wheels or a steering wheel. We finally decided to install a home battery without a steering wheel which had the capability to make the home power outage-proof.

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Back from the brink

20/3/2024

The astounding recovery of the Eastern Barred Bandicoots is a model of
what can be achieved in species conservation. Photo: Dave Newman.

By Catherine Watson

ONE evening a couple of weeks ago my naturalist friends Dave and Jackie Newman headed to Phillip Island to see if they could spot some Eastern Barred Bandicoots in the wild. They’d been told a couple of quiet spots where they might see them, but had no luck.

They tried a few other places before striking the bonanza in a most unexpected spot: central Newhaven. In less than an hour, they spotted six bandicoots running around in people’s front yards. As Dave said, “Unbelievable!”

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Farmer fined for illegal land clearing

12/2/2024

Woodpiles at 170 Toorak Road show the extent of land clearing.

By Catherine Watson

LOCAL conservationists have slammed “a paltry fine” imposed on an Inverloch man who cleared 31 mature trees and other native vegetation from his farm.

Darrin Taylor was fined $3800 in the Wonthaggi Court on February 2 for felling protected trees at 170 Toorak Road last May without a Local Laws Permit. He was also ordered to pay $1500 into Bass Coast Shire Council’s Environmental Fund.

Mr Taylor was discharged without conviction on an undertaking not to reoffend for the next 12 months. He was not required to revegetate the cleared land.

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A feast of garden ideas

25/1/2024

All photos: Sharon Willcox

By Harry Freeman

WHETHER you’re a seasoned gardener or flexing your green thumb for the first time, the Bass Coast Edible Gardens weekend on February 10 and 11 is a great opportunity to learn more.

For the third year in a row, gardens around the shire will be open for visitors, from Ventnor to Inverloch, Coronet Bay to Cape Woolamai. The gardens’ proud owners will be on hand to share their wisdom, ideas, and expertise with anyone who wants to know more.

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The views have it

24/1/2024

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"Within each precinct it is important to acknowledge the distinction between built up areas where houses have view line potential and 'nature walk' areas. In built up areas, middle storey clearing and the use of a mix of low growing indigenous species ... is recommended."

CORINELLA homeowners have won their battle for a sea view. The long awaited Corinella Foreshore Landscape Plan, recently released by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA), states that vegetation may be thinned or cleared in residential areas with "view line potential".

The plan is the latest chapter in a bitter dispute between those who believe the foreshore reserve should be a natural environment that provides habitat for wildlife and those who want a more manicured foreshore, with bay views for homeowners.

Whether the plan is a victory for common sense or environmental vandalism depends on your point of view. John Lippmann and Jenny Date put the case for and against.

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VCAT to rule on Ruttle wetlands

22/1/2024

The 8ha Albert Ruttle Wetlands Reserve is an important biodiversity site, and part of the
Inverloch-Wonthaggi biolink.

By Cait McMahon

BASS Coast Shire Council and Inverloch residents were at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) last week seeking to protect open space set aside as part of the Ruttle Estate subdivision.

The owners, looking to build a dwelling on a portion of the wetland area set aside as communal open space, have asked VCAT to rule on whether that will contravene the obligations detailed in a Section 173 Agreement. The Agreement sets out certain conditions on the landholder, including allowing and enabling access to the land and maintaining the area to protect and enhance any native vegetation and fauna.

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Wildlife toll hits home

14/12/2023

Endangered eastern barred bandicoots are being skittled at increasing rates
on Phillip Island. Photo: Zoos Victoria

By Lisa Gilbert

In just seven days over the Easter holiday period at least 105 wild animals from 19 different species were killed or injured on roads across Phillip Island.

This holiday period, Wildlife Victoria and Phillip Island Nature Parks are working alongside Bass Coast Shire Council and the Department of Transport and Planning to reduce the wildlife road toll on Phillip Island.

The organisations came together after community members and wildlife rescuers on the Island flagged a substantial increase in the number of native animals injured and killed.

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Tell them they’re dreaming

12/12/2023

From Bass Coast to the Murray Darling Basin, there’s a credibility gap in our response
to the climate crisis.

By Ken Blackman

THIS is about us but let’s start somewhere completely different: the Murray-Darling Basin – Australia’s biggest food bowl across a huge area, from northern Victoria to southern Queensland and into South Australia.

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When worlds collide

13/11/2023

By Brendan Casey

MOST days I walk along an Inverloch path where I can look down at Swamp Skinks basking outside their grassy burrows. Sometimes they tilt their little heads and look up at me.

This path was extended and repaired as part of a housing estate, enabling the local community and visitors to walk through and observe the wonders of a fragile intertidal ecosystem.

It also exposed an extant population of a now very rare lizard that was until recently hidden from people.

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Action stations on climate

9/11/2023

Councillors and CEOs from across the nine member councils endorsed the four-year action plan at SECCCA’s annual leaders’ breakfast.

The South East Councils Climate Change Alliance (SECCCA) has pitched a blueprint to change the way climate impacts are managed in the south east of Melbourne.

The action plan was launched to an audience of federal and state members of parliament, industry and business groups, peak bodies and councillors from across the nine member councils at SECCCA’s annual leaders’ breakfast on Wednesday.

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The call of nature

20/10/2023

By Catherine Watson

IS THIS Wonthaggi’s most beautiful nature strip? The big trees were there when the current residents moved in a couple of years ago but they have taken it to a whole new level with understorey plantings of shrubs and ground cover.

I love walking through this miniature woodland. It’s deliciously cool on a hot summer day and sheltered from the brutal south-westerlies in winter. (The only drawback is the colony of noisy miners that consider it their territory.)

There are multiple benefits to urban plantings. They cool their surroundings, they absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen. They provide habitat and food for birds, lizards and invertebrates. They look good and they make us feel good.

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Lucky Laribee

17/10/2023