We have 360 seedlings to plant at our next working bee on Sunday 6 April 2025. In the reserve behind the Woodend Tennis Club, we will be looking to protect the rare Black Gums of Woodend. In time, the plants will create important habitat for local birds and animals. We would love to have many hands to help with the planting day. Morning tea is provided!
Our next working bee is on Sunday 23 March from 9 am to 12 pm. We will focus on removing woody weeds and ivy along Five Mile Creek from Thomas to Samuel Court. Park at Thomas Court and meet nearby in the Five Mile Creek reserve. Hope to see you there!
Thirteen adults and three children gathered at our Working Bee near the Rotary Exercise Track on 9 February. They aimed to remove the noxious English Ivy invading the native vegetation. Ivy removal in native vegetation has been a big focus for Woodend Landcare for years.
“Four years ago, when we started working here, English Ivy covered the entire ground. It was smothering any native seedlings that tried to grow.” Peter Yates explained, “The ivy was climbing nearly every tree trunk throughout the area. In some cases, it was smothering the entire trees.”
English Ivy (Hedera helix) loves the cool, wet, English-like conditions of the Macedon Ranges. It survives by creeping along the ground until it finds something to grow up, like a tree. It then climbs up the tree, completely covering it. Only once off the ground, the ivy will flower and seed. At height, this is the perfect location for birds to feed on the seed. The birds then spread the seed in their droppings, as they fly around. Bird droppings are crucial for the start of ivy’s life. They provide nutrients and moisture and offer a free flight to new locations.
By knowing the life cycle of ivy, we can target our eradication efforts to be most effective. By stopping it from climbing trees, we stop it from flowering and producing seeds. For trees that are heavily infested with ivy, we cut the ivy from the bottom 30 cm of the trunk. We also scrape the ivy from a 30 cm ring on the ground around the trunk. Eventually, the ivy will creep back towards the trunk and will start to climb up again. This process gives us a year or two to spray or hand weed the ground layer to stop its spread.
You can easily replicate this method at home. Simply prevent the ivy from climbing up any vertical structures including trees and fences. By doing this, you will stop it from flowering and setting seed. You don’t have to remove ivy from the whole trunk of heavily invaded trees. Simply cut the ivy at the base of the tree and every shoot and leaf above that will die. Over time, the dead ivy leaves will simply fall from the trees. This method does not kill the ivy on the ground. Nevertheless, it stops the ivy from being spread by birds into other gardens and the natural environment.
Clean Up Australia Day occurs annually on the first Sunday in March. This year we are removing rubbish and weeds along Five Mile Creek between Jeffreys St and High St. Everyone is welcome to help us take positive and practical action to clean up Woodend!
Nicole and the team featured on last Sundays episode of postcards! You can check it out here: https://www.9now.com.au/postcards/season-2025/episode-3. Woodend Landcare’s segment starts at 6:30 minutes.
Happy 2025 Woodend Landcarers!
We hope you you’ve had a great start to the year and are looking forward to helping restore nature in Woodend with Landcare in 2025. We have won 4 grants this year, so we’ll be undertaking a couple of planting days to continue the Black Gum BioLink Enhancement project in the vicinity of the tennis club – Scout Hall – Jeffrey’s St. Throughout the year we also plan to take part in Clean Up Australia Day, visiting Quarry Road Flora Reserve and Slatey Creek Black Gum Reserve.
Below is our our activities calendar for 2025 – make sure you mark these dates in your diary. Click here to download the 2025 Woodend Landcare Calendar – Printable version (PDF).
Our trusty Thursday Crew are back in action and continue to meet most weeks – contact Dave Bower (dvbower65@gmail.com) if you’d like to get involved.
As usual we have December and January off each year. We begin our working bee season in the shade of the gum trees by Five Mile Creek, along the Rotary exercise track near Jeffrey’s Street. This has been the site of our annual February bee for a couple of years now and the impact we’ve made on the ivy can easily be seen by anyone strolling by.
Don’t forget to check our website before the bee in case we have had to change locations or cancel at the last minute.
The Indian Myna, while seemingly harmless, is a significant environmental concern in Australia. Its aggressive and adaptive nature has allowed it to disrupt ecosystems, threaten native biodiversity, and cause issues in urban and rural areas. Groups like the Macedon Ranges Indian Myna Action Group (MRIMAG) are taking action to combat this invasive species and protect the environment.
We have set up a new page to find out more about the MRIMAG project and how you can get involved – click here to view.
Woodend Landcare would like to express our gratitude to all our dedicated volunteers and generous supporters who have helped us achieve so much this year. Some of our 2024 accomplishments include:
Despite our successes this year, we only have 36 financial members, which is down from last year. If you’d like to support the amazing work of Woodend Landcare volunteers maintaining and enhancing the natural environment within and around our town, please sign up as a financial or financial/active member by clicking here.
Our monthly Working Bees resume at 9am on Sunday 25 August 2024 with some important weed control along Five Mile Creek between Thomas Court and East Street. All are welcome to lend a hand, have a chat and and enjoy a tasty morning tea. Hope to see you there!
Woodend Landcare are pleased to welcome some new faces to our committee at our recent AGM.
The 2024-25 Committee is:
Sadly we are letting Linda Vale have a well-earned break from secretarial duties after some 20 years. Linda not only did the minutes, but she has been a regular attendee at our working bees too. Linda will not be disappearing and we will no doubt be calling on her to help our new secretary when she can. Huge thanks to you Linda for your incredible contribution.
You can read more about our work over the past twelve months in our 2023-24 Annual Report here.
25 August – Upper Campaspe Landcare Network – Presentation by Mr Max Campbell on Biodiversity, Holobionts and Symbiosis – more info and RSVP here.
5-11 September – Connecting Country – Feathery Festival – The Message of the Lyrebird Film Fundraiser, Guided Birdwalk, and Talk by Tanya Loos – more info and booking here.
7 September – Wombat Forestcare – AGM and guest speakers Aviya Naccarella (Deakin Uni) and Emily McIntyre (Melbourne Uni) on ecological interactions mammals, fungi, plants & soil – more info and booking here.
13 September – Biolinks Alliance – Rewilding Central Victoria Symposium – more info and booking here.
20 September – Newham Landcare – AGM and guest speaker Professor Tom Griffiths AO on ‘This continent of smoke’: fire in our lives and landscapes‘ – more info and RSVP here.
Woodend Landcare 