No. 27
New Melville Council & CEO; Progress Reports for MBS
Hello everyone,
In this Newsletter, we write about the winds of change blowing through the City of Melville!! Also about how the establishment of the Melville Bird Sanctuary is likely to roll-out, details of new additions to our Osprey family and our next Birdwatching Walk.
Results of Local Government Elections at CoM
On 21 October 2023, Local Government Elections resulted in a new Mayor, Katy Mair along with 4 new Councillors being elected. Details of the new Melville Council are at this link Mayor and Elected Members - City of Melville (melvillecity.com.au) We congratulate the new Mayor Katy Mair, the new Deputy Mayor, Glynis Barber and Councillors, both new and those voted back in and wish our new Melville Council every success.
Congratulations to the new CEO of the City of Melville
Today, (20 November 2023), Gail Bowman became the first ever female CEO at the CoM. In its announcement, CoM made the point that along with recently elected Mayor Katy Mair and Deputy Mayor Glynis Barber, there are now 3 women leading the City as well as a majority of women on Council. Find out more about the new CEO at Mayor welcomes Melville’s first ever female CEO - City of Melville (melvillecity.com.au)
Progress Reports from (i) Meeting of Joint Steering Committee for MBS (Melville Bird Sanctuary) and (ii) the Friends of Melville Bird Sanctuary (FoMBS)Committee
(i) The first meeting of the Joint Steering Committee for MBS was held on 11 October 2023. Present at the meeting were representatives from the CoM, DBCA, SERAG and FoMBS (us). This group will meet on a regular basis as per the MBS Action Plan presented to Council in June 2023. We informed the Committee that we would not be incorporating our FoMBS group at this stage as there were many MBS priorities needing to be addressed that didn’t require incorporation of the group. Action items from this first meeting are:
Completion of the formal MBS boundaries mapping by the City and FoMBS
Installation of a sign shelter near the Bird Viewing Platform at entrance to Troy Park for FoMBS to display educative material, notice of events, points of interest at MBS etc
Signage within the MBS boundaries for protection of birdlife
(ii) The newly formed FoMBS Committee consisting of Jenny Christenson, Tom Lubin, Paul Youngman, Mark Hutchison, Deb Youngman and Sue Stanley will be meeting regularly with priorities as follows:
the development of a new FoMBS website for which a web design company has been engaged
conducting regular bird counts within MBS boundaries
keeping MBS Facebook current with photos and commentary of birdlife at MBS
assisting the City of Melville and DBCA with the development of signage for the MBS
developing a programme of community education in conjunction with DBCA, Birdlife WA, City of Melville, SERAG, BEAG etc
Our Alfred Cove Osprey family
For those who haven’t yet heard, there’s good news! Our Osprey couple has 2 new chicks whose little heads we photographed in the nest for the first time on 5 November. It was a lovely moment seeing the chicks and the attention being lavished on them by Mum and Dad!! By the way, last year’s juvenile is still here and very special to us! Only the other day we noticed the juvenile having several sips of water at the Pt Waylen sandbar. Who says Ospreys don’t drink?! Below is a photo of the Osprey parents and 2 chicks courtesy of Sue Harper who took the gorgeous photo below:
Bird Disturbance
The establishment of the MBS will be contingent on the commitment of both DBCA and CoM to manage the areas within the MBS boundaries with care and regard for birdlife. At present it is painfully obvious that the Dogs Not Allowed signage within the MBS is being disregarded by many. It should be noted that ALL areas included in the MBS boundaries were already ‘Dogs Not Allowed” prior to the approval of the MBS.
The other big disturbance to birdlife is people fishing both on and close to the mudflats. The mudflats as part of the Swan Estuary Marine Park provide essential habitat for a diversity of birdlife including migratory birds and must be protected. We’ve all witnessed how birds are scared off as soon as people arrive at the mudflats with their fishing gear. Continual disturbance is particularly deleterious for migratory birds who need to build up their energy and fat reserves to make the long trip back to the northern hemisphere.
Our next Birdwatching Walk
Our next Birdwatching Walk will be held on Saturday 2 December commencing at 7.30am from the entrance to Troy Park (opp 194 Burke Drive, Attadale). It will be led by Mark Hutchison, a member of our FoMBS committee. Mark is a citizen scientist currently working for the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development on Peel Shorebird Disturbance Surveys. He has also contributed to Birdlife’s Birds on Farms and biodiversity assessments for carbon plantings.
We’ve had some exciting migratory bird sightings in the recent past including the critically endangered Eastern Curlew, Red-necked Stints and the Bar-tailed Godwits below
If you wish to attend the Walk, please reply to this email and give us names of those attending. Children are welcome accompanied by their parents. Please bring a pair of birdwatching binoculars, a hat, sunscreen and a bottle of water. We’ll have about 8 pairs of spare binoculars. If children are attending, we could get some kids’ binoculars as well if you let us know by 27 November. Please try to be on site at 7.15am to complete registration details.
If you feel unwell in any way, please take care of yourself and stay home.
Finally the World Migratory Bird Day event arranged for the community by SERAG and FoMBS on 14 October was a great success. While it was a little early for the full influx of migratory birds, we did see quite a few and importantly got to speak with people who attended about our plans for the future of the MBS.
We hope to write to you again before Christmas.
All the best,
Tom and Jenny
Friends of the Melville Bird Sanctuary