Australian Bush Life

Common Hovea - Hovea heterophylla flower.

The Common Hovea – Hovea heterophylla is a recent find on our bush block. Although it is a reasonably common plant in our area we hadn’t seen it on our block until this year. It has just been flowering in the last half of August.

Obviously this plant must have been around before the bushfire to drop seed onto the ground but we hadn’t seen it and now all of a sudden we have found a single plant.

This plant is really pretty. Similar to Purple Coral-pea – Hardebergia violacia it is a small shrub but it’s difference is that it is more of a ground cover plant and not a climbing plant. Common Hovea flowers are a slightly lighter purple and the leaves are longer and thinner. This plant is very hardy and drought tolerant. Also like the Purple Coral-pea would attract wildlife.

Common Hovea - Hovea heterophylla.

Common Hovea is also known to be a Bush Tucker plant in that the young pods are edible. We haven’t sampled any yet or really learnt if there is any processsing required prior to eating or if they are just eaten fresh and raw. We still have this to learn.

Koala climbing down to ground.

We do not have Koalas - Phascolarctos cinereus living on our bush block, but I am lucky enough to have Koalas at some of my field sites where I work with Helmeted Honeyeaters – Lichenostomus melanops cassidix. There is something fundamentally Australian about the Koala and my recent close encounter with one was such a magic moment.

Whilst waiting quietly for my survey birds to return I was startled by a large Koala coming down the Manna Gum – Eucalytpus viminalis next to me. The site is along a creek bed so hosts many of these large trees which Koalas do love. The Koala was quite happy to wander down onto the ground and across to a new tree right next to me. He was also quite happy to pose for some photos so lucky for me I had my camera on hand.

The major threats to Koalas are loss of habitat, dog attacks and car strikes. This loss of habitat seems to be the bane of many species and is a constant pressure on maintaining biodiversity. Particularly when habitat is lost and replaced with roads (car strikes) and homes (with pet dogs).

Koala

It is possible to live in harmony with Koalas but they need trees to survive. Some of their key habitat trees in Victoria are Eucalypts (both for eating and living in) such as E.viminalis – Manna Gum, E.camaldulensis - River Red Gum, E.obliqua – Messmate, E.melliodora – Yellow Box and many of these are not small trees! Hopefully those who choose to live in Koala habitat are also choosing to live amongst trees (particularly large ones). There is a full list of trees on the Koala Foundations website.

Fencing is a barrier as Koalas need to come to ground to move between trees – is it something we can choose to live without? Dog attacks are frequent as the Koalas are most vulnerable when they are on the ground moving between trees. Maybe choosing to live in Koala (wildlife) habitat could reduce the need to have a pet dog? Car strikes can be reduced where roads are generally small (freeways are major wildlife barriers) by simply driving carefully to protect wildlife i.e. slowing down and taking care to avoid hitting wildlife.

Doggy sitting without owning a pet.

We have chosen to live in the Australian Bush to enjoy the local wildlife and all it can offer.

We would consider to own farm animals to assist us with food production such as chickens or other poultry. Hey and we also consider our worms from our worm farm as pets – are we mad?!?

We would never own a cat as we both know how much damage cats have wreaked on biodiversity in Australia. Owning a cat is just something we could not morally do.

We know that we may be seen as “different” as owning a pet is so mainstream in Australia, but we hope to highlight some of the benefits of not owning a pet cat or dog.

• Saves money – no vet bills or pet food bills
• Reduces our carbon footprint by avoiding buying pet food (particularly meat)
• Can holiday anytime and anywhere (including National Parks)
• Don’t need to build or maintain fencing
• Don’t feel guilty about not looking after them (during long work days) or not walking them
• No pet hairs or smells all over our clothes and furniture
• No barking, which actually can really destroy peace & quiet!
• No doggy (or cat) poo to pick up and manage
• Our local wildlife are more likely to be around when no pets are present

Another option we have found that fills this “pet” niche is that we often “doggy sit” a couple of local dogs for short periods. This is a fun option and more like a holiday when we look after them.

Safe driving is not only important for human safety but also for wildlife safety. Wildlife injuries and deaths on our roads have a huge impact on maintaining our biodiversity. As most of us drive we all play an important role in trying to protect our wildlife whilst on the roads as unfortunately they don’t understand our human road rules and ettiquette!

Here are some tips we regularly use to reduce the chance of injuring wildlife whilst driving:

• Reduce speed so that you have time to stop.
• Drive carefully at night as many Australian wildlife species are nocturnal and very active at night.
• Drive particularly carefully at dawn, dusk and during rain.
• Or avoid driving at dawn and dusk as wildlife are most active then.
• Or avoid driving in the rain as it is more dangerous, but many of our frogs and water birds love the rain and are more likely to be out and moving about.
• Always keep an eye on the roadsides as wildlife often use these areas and can move out unexpectedly, particularly when there are habitat features such as indigenous vegetation or water pooling on roadsides.

We carry a pillow case and box in our car so that we can assist injured wildlife if we come across them. We are lucky to live near the Healesville Sanctuary which can quickly assist any wildlife with injuries, but many vets are also willing to help out.

We also have the RACV’s wildlife assist number, 13 11 11, plugged into our mobiles so even if we are travelling we can link to the nearest wildlife resuce centre using just this one phone number.

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is such a fantastic musician. We really like to listen to his music to get more in touch with nature (country). He sings in his local language and it makes you feel more connected. Although we can’t understand his language it is so beautiful to hear songs being sung in an aboriginal language as this is very rarely done. A highly recommended album one of our favorites!

To reduce our energy use and personal carbon emmisions we never dry our clothes using electricity. From spring to autumn on non-rainy days we can usually manage to dry our clothes on our outdoor washing line using natural sunlight energy. But during winter we dry all our clothes indoors. We have found the best and most simple tool to help us with this is a ceiling clothes drying rack.

Ceiling clothes drying rack.

This rack uses a pulley system to pull the clothes rack up to the ceiling. In our home we have quite a high ceiling peak and even with long pants hanging down we can still walk underneath the clothes, so they don’t take up any floor space like other drying racks.

As we heat our home using sustainable harvesting of wood for home heating we believe this clothes drying technique to be completely sustainable. The air up at the ceiling where the clothes are drying is also a few degrees higher than at floor level so is really efficient at drying clothes.

We only use our wood fire for heating our house. As our home is under trees we wrestled with the concept of solar/thermal energy for heating but we do not receive enough direct sunlight to achieve this. We did not feel that it was sustainable to cut down our bush to gain access to sunlight. As the reason we had chosen this house initially was because of the bush (trees) and the beautiful wildlife biodiversity it provides. Cutting this exact bush down did not provide us with the moral answer. Also living under the trees also provides us with much desired shade in summer.

Firewood collection - sustainably.

Instead we manage and source all our firewood from our bush block in a sustainable manner. We feel that this is probably the most sustainable heating fuel option as it is truely a fuel that can provide a current and renewable energy source. Fossil based fuels source energy which is millions of years old, but the energy in the trees we use for fuel has been generated in less than 100 years and can be recycled within or lifetime.

After ensuring that our need to heat is as low as possible by improving insulation and reducing drafts within the home some concepts we consider to improve the sustainability of this home heating option are:

• Use trees that are already dead, but we don’t take every dead tree.
• Ensure that dead trees with good hollows are left as habitat.
• Leave some dead trees on the ground as logs to rot and provide habitat and nutrients to the forest.
• Only burn wood that has been thoroughly dried – no green wood.
• Protect and manage our bush habitat by reducing weeds and ensuring regeneration for future use.
• Planting indigenous trees as required in un-treed areas for future use and as habitat improvements.

Harvesting wood can be a sustainable product for human consumption such as heating, but this does not endorse some of the harvesting practices that are used in native forests around where we live. But the logging of native forests debate is a whole other issue for another blog post!

Wood fired heater for stove top cooking.

To save on gas during winter we cook most of our meals on our wood fired heater, so we are heating our home and cooking our food all in one. It is a great way to keep energy bills down and save on fossil fuels. Reducing our impact on climate change.

We can cook any meal just as we would on a gas stove top. The wood fired stove can be managed to be hotter or cooler by allowing more or less air flow into the system to burn the wood. It is absolutely fantastic for putting a soup on in the morning and letting it slowly cook away for lunch on those really cold days.

Smoked Trout stock.

Not only do we cook regular meals using our wood heater but we also take the time to prepare additional ingredients particularly those which take a lot of cooking time. For instance we always re-use any bones or fish carcasses, like the local smoked trout that we buy.  We cook them up in water with some herbs or excess vegetables pulled out from our vegetable garden to prepare stocks. We then store in re-usable containers and keep in the fridge for later use.

We also take advantage of this free energy and always keep a pot full of water on the wood fire stove top to have hot water on tap for tea / coffee or cleaning up, particularly doing the dishes.

Purple Cora-pea - Hardenbergia violacea. Flowers.

Well spring appears to be just around the corner again! The shortest day has passed and the next round of wildflowers are coming on now that it is late winter. One of the first to emerge in a full display of purple glory is the Purple Coral-pea – Hardenbergia violacea.

This indigenous plant is a climber, extremely hardy and will flourish in dry and sunny conditions. As with many of the pea family of plants Hardenbergia violacia responded well to the recent bushfire, it’s hard seeds survived the fire and the plants were one of the first to flower in the first winter after the bushfire event. Each plant can sprawl out metres across the ground, it readily droops over garden beds or will also willingly climb anything to reach metres off the ground. The purple flowers are truely striking most especially when the are climbing and flowering simultaneously with a wattle. How nature can provide the contrast of yellow and purple is amazing!

The Purple Cora-pea – Hardenbergia violacea is readily cultivated and sold in nurseries. Warning though if you live on a bush block which has a natural population of this species it is important to not plant out cultivated varieties as they can interbreed with the wild population. Mixing the genetic stock may cause the wild plants to loose their natural charateristics that have made them so tough in their local environment.

Often the nusery varieties have been cultivated for features such as size, colour or excessive flowering so can actually be quite different from the orginal wild species. Some nurseries specialising in indigenous plants will maintain the natural genetic qualities from local regions so it is always worthwhile trying to source plants from local indigenous nurseries this way for garden use. Although this is an easy plant to collect seed from and germinate, so their really is no need to buy from nurseries if you already have this plant in the wild.

Purple Cora-pea - Hardenbergia violacea. Climber and creeper.

The purple flowers have a variety of bush tucker uses. The flowers can be eaten raw, they make a great color addition to salads. Additionally the flowers were used to make a purple dye. The leaves can also be boiled to make a sweet tea.

Hardenbergia violacia is also an important plant for our wildlife. On our bush block we have readily seen ants carrying seeds underground and parrots such as King Parrots or Crimson Rosellas landing on the ground to eat the seeds. So if you do harvest seeds or flowers from the wild don’t forget to leave some for the wildlife too!

Helmeted Honeyeater at feed station.

The last month has been really busy for this Bush Chick as I have just started a new job looking after Victoria’s Avi-faunal emblem the Helmeted Honeyeater, Lichenostomus melanops cassidix. These birds are endangered under the Environment Protection & Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999. My current role is to work with the birds in the field to meet outcomes of the Recovery Plan for this species.

Over the last month I have been busy working with the dedicated volunteers who maintain the supplementary feeding program. The birds are part of a captive breeding program where birds are bred in either the Healesville Sanctuary or Taronga Zoo and released into the wild. On the birds release into the wild they are given extra support to increase their chance of survival through a supplemented feeding program, where a part of their diet is supplemented with a nectar based solution known as Wombaroo.

Helmeted Honeyeater - captive leg banded bird being released.

Whilst out in the field I have been busy tracking which birds are observed during each visit by checking their leg bands. This is sometimes an easy task if they come down low and you can see their bands really easily, but if they stay up high in the trees this is more difficult. We are currently moving into the breeding season where I will be busy monitoring nesting behaviour and assisting the birds nesting success as best as possible. This will mostly involve trying to reduce the chance of predation of their nest.