Putting the stencil on the bird hide after concreting.

Another incredibly busy day at the wetlands. Bill and Ray had been there since 6:30 AM ensuring the site of the first bird hide was ready for a concrete mixer. The troops arrived well before 8 when the truck arrived and it was hell for leather until the job was finished. Ray and Ken stayed behind to level and smooth the newly laid concrete, carefully putting a slight incline near the leading edge to help accommodate the tool storage area. Meanwhile most of the others went with the truck to the rocks on the north-west side of the dam culvert. The remaining load (about a barrow’s worth) was dumped here and the truck drove away. The gang leapt on it with great speed, placing the concrete between large loose boulders to complete the reinforcement of the sides of the dam wall.

Filling in the holes. Fortunately the concreting was too stressful for Biscuit the one-eyed dog, so he left his paw prints out of the concrete.

At the same time, Rodney and Bill 2 were inspecting the plants and putting GPS locations for 9 of the 10 transects we have to complete for the NSW Environment Trust. That job done, we figured the concrete was ready to be edged and, after a very pleasant morning tea away they all (minus Rodney and B2) ran to the bird hide again. The edging completed, the next step for the morning was to put stencilling over the surface to provide a tread and to give it an aesthetically pleasing touch consistent with the bridge. Another half an hour and the concrete was going off enough to allow the plastic stencil to be removed, a very delicate operation. As a last touch Rodney put a date on one of the rectangular squares left by the stencil before going home.

Two of the 17 large grasshoppers that stayed to watch the activity.

Meanwhile, spring is advancing all too fast. Out first sating bowerbird gave the site the once over, a young female. The ravens are nesting and harassing the other birds looking for vulnerable chicks and eggs. The coots are trying to breed under the bushes. All sorts of weeds are coming into flower, as well as a few hidden natives. Outside the fence are flowering brilliant blue native crowfoot shrubs.  We have to ensure they don’t accidentally get sprayed.

Burning the first pile. As the fire gets hotter the hose goes on to control the spread of the flames.

We had planned this day for months, got all our permissions and made sure we had assistance from seasoned firefighters. We new we had the best part of a month before the fire season started. Finally the day came and four piles of woody weeds were burned. That, sadly, was the day parts of western Sydney caught alight and they declared the fire season to be started. But we persisted and it worked well.

African Boxthorn in full flower, fruit and leaf.

We had previously made four piles containing the bulk of the dead African Boxthorns to be burned. This species is a vigorous weed that contains huge woody thorns. When killed it becomes a great wooden hedgehog. Unlike some other plants, such as eucalypts or willows, the thorns are not shredded and remain very sharp, being robust enough to pierce even tractor tyres. As a result they cannot be easily disposed of and so have to be stacked, raked and burnt.

The framework for the first bird hide, thanks to Pru Goward.

While some of us helped by starting, managing and watching the fires until not even hot ashes were left, the rest continued with weeding and other routine jobs. Bill and Ray had already been busy completing the frame for the first bird hide. Soon a concrete base will be placed inside along with metal seats and a colorbond screen. A tool shed will be added as well as windows. Large shrubs will screen off people walking to the hide from the very skittish ducks.

Burning the third pile on a beautiful, if rather windy, spring day.