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.  ​  

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.

Story by Liz McDonald
​Photos and captions by Richard Kemp ​

By Lisa Gilbert
 
SPRING is  such an exciting time in the natural world of birdlife on Phillip Island (Millowl). We farewelled the short-tailed shearwaters in April and now, after spending the last five months around the Bering Sea near Alaska, over a million birds have arrived home to their breeding grounds on the island. 
 
Keep your eyes on the sky at sunset along the coast to see these incredible birds returning home to feed their young after a day’s fishing. Remember to keep to tracks in the dunes so you don’t accidently trample their sand dune burrows. 

By Philip Heath
 
IT FEELS like the death of an old friend – another magnificent 80-plus-year-old coast banksia at Flat Rocks, Inverloch, has finally succumbed to the retreating coastline and crashed into the ocean. Like its neighbours, it used to sit happily at the back of the dunes in the coastal reserve. After 10 years of sustained coastline erosion, it was the only living thing that stood between the ocean and Cape Paterson Road.

​It might have lasted longer had it had a helping hand, but no, it was left to fend for itself, and then it was really only a matter of time …

PHILLIP Island Nature Parks will throw open its doors to locals in September, providing an opportunity for us to get behind the scenes and gain an insight into the island’s important conservation and eco-tourism work.

This year marks the 12th annual community open day where Bass Coast residents can discover all Nature Parks’ attractions, celebrate the unique and remarkable conservation work being done on Phillip Island, and connect with local rangers, volunteers and staff.
 
For the first time, the community can attend the general viewing of the Penguin Parade at no charge over two nights – Sunday, September 10 and Monday, September 11.
 ​

By Gill Heal

YEARS ago it was a bare watercourse strangled by blackberry. 

Today this stretch of creek in Glen Forbes is dynamic bushland. Beneath the blackwoods and eucalypts there’s an understorey of hazel, musk and prickly currant. And under those, ferns, moss and lichens. Fish swim in a spring-fed rock pool overhung with creepers. A Pandora vine is a nest for a ringtail possum. There’s even a Gondwana species, the Austral mulberry. The place is a roll call of lost plants.

This stretch of the west tributary of the west branch of Archies Creek is Paul Spiers’ backyard.  It’s a riparian revegetation project he and the owners of several connecting properties have been working on for up to 20 years. ​

​By Werner Theinert
 
WHAT an amazing journey it's been since The power trip, my first Bass Coast Post article on  October 1, 2020.
 
The Nissan Leaf e+ discussed in that article is still going strong with over 46,000 kilometres on the clock.  It has only been charged away from home twice, at a cost of $8 each time at the fast chargers at Moe Folk Museum.  That equates to an expenditure of $16 for nearly three years and 35,000kms of travel. 

The rest of the power came from home, with most of it coming from the 12kW Solar PV on the roof.  The addition of a Zappi car charger last year provides us with the ability to transfer all our excess solar power into the car’s battery.

The blue curve is the power being transferred to the car battery.  The first two yellow “exported” power spikes on the top graph represent the two trips into town.

Our state and federal regulators still haven’t approved bidirectional chargers for battery electric vehicles, though the South Australian Government has approved them and smart solar PV inverters for use in the home. 

Basically this means that we are allowed to install large-scale batteries in our homes but not if those batteries have wheels, lights and a steering wheel!

By Lisa Gilbert
 
A TEAM of ecological crusaders last month embarked on a mission to salvage critically endangered plants from Wilsons Prom to help regenerate the species on Phillip Island.
 
Crimson Berry (Leptecophylla oxycedrus) is a prickly shrub that only grows to two metres tall but can be hundreds of years old. The spectacular red berries are edible, making them a good food source for animals and the thorns protect small birds from predators.
 
While prolific in Tasmania, the plant is now extremely rare in Victoria, only found on Phillip Island (Millowl), Wilsons Promontory and Corner Inlet.