No. 33
Outcome of Community Planting Day on 21 May; Review of Birds and Wellbeing event; EMIS; New Volunteers; Next Birdwatching Walk 27 July; Bird Disturbance Form; Donations Containers for Change; City of Melville Meeting 22 July.
Hello everyone,
It’s been over 2 months since our last newsletter. We continue to be as busy as ever with the Melville Bird Sanctuary (MBS) and have news for you about both past and future events of particular note for the MBS.
Review of our ‘Birds and Wellbeing’ event on Sunday, June 9th
Our first Speaker event – Birds and Wellbeing - at the Piney Lakes Environmental Education Centre was a sell-out with over 45 community members including our Member for Bicton, Lisa O’Malley MLA and City of Melville Mayor Katy Mair.
Extra chairs had to be hunted down for people who hadn’t booked. Our speaker Dr Rochelle Stevens enthralled the group with the content and delivery of her talk. Those who attended will recognise and understand one of her comments: “Birding is the Sudoku of Nature Appreciation!”
It was a most enjoyable community morning with lots of camaraderie and delicious morning tea courtesy of the City of Melville. Stay tuned for our next Speaker event later this year.
Elected Members Information Session (EMIS)
on Tuesday, June 25th
We were recently invited to present at the June EMIS of Melville Council. The timing was particularly significant, being almost exactly one year from Melville Council’s official support for the MBS on 20 June 2023. It was a great opportunity to show our FoMBS website and request Melville Council to join forces to protect our birdlife and particularly migratory birds.
New Volunteers for the Melville Bird Sanctuary
We had a first meeting of 7 new volunteers on 5 July. It was great to have a chat and get to know one another, become familiar with the FoMBS website and have some broad discussion about progress at the MBS. We’re very positive about the group of volunteers we have so far. And the more volunteers we have, the more effective we can all be for the MBS. Rest assured that as a volunteer with Friends of MBS, you can decide how much you wish to be involved. Please refer to this link on our website: How to Join — Melville Bird Sanctuary (melbirdsanc.com
Our next Birdwatching Walk – Saturday, July 27th, 3-4.30pm
Margaret Matassa, Chair of Swan Estuary Reserves Action Group (SERAG) will be our expert guide on the next Birdwatching Walk at Alfred Cove. The Walk starts from the Bird Viewing Platform at the entrance to Troy Park opposite 194 Burke Drive, Attadale. Please be there by 2.45pm to complete registration details. Do wear warm clothing, walking shoes, a hat and bring along a raincoat, umbrella , a pair of bird watching binoculars and a bottle of water. We’ll have a few spare pairs of binoculars on hand. If the weather is too wet, we may have to call off the Walk – but fingers crossed – it’ll go ahead.
Bird Disturbance Form on the FoMBS website
We’ve recently tweaked the Bird Disturbance notification form on our website to enable you to complete and forward the form directly to us online. See this link Bird Disturbance Report Form — Melville Bird Sanctuary (melbirdsanc.com) Providing sanctuary for our birds requires minimising bird disturbances. Reporting them is a first step. We’ve been asked by DBCA and the City of Melville to provide as much disturbance data as possible to them. We’ll do our best to collate and forward data to them. We urge you to make use of the Bird Disturbance form on our website.
Donations - Containers for Change
We thank one of our volunteers for kindly undertaking to register our group with Containers for Change. See details below which have been tried and tested to ensure it works. You can now, if you wish, direct funds from your used containers to Friends of MBS.
Running the FoMBS group incurs financial costs including those associated with maintaining a 2000 strong database and a separate email address. Donations no matter how small will also assist our efforts for the MBS e.g. developing, acquiring, disseminating information to further the community’s awareness of birdlife as well as conserving our birds for current and future generations.
Meeting with City of Melville on Monday, July 22nd - Jeff Bird, Manager Natural Areas and Parks and Jem Stirling, Foreshore Officer
Recent meetings with decision makers at the City of Melville have led to positive outcomes and we are hopeful and optimistic about the future of the MBS. We are looking forward to our next meeting with the City on 22 July and will keep you posted.
All the best,
Jenny Christenson & Tom Lubin
Co-founders: Friends of Melville Bird Sanctuary
Contact Melville City Rangers
Business hours: 08 9364 0666 or 1300 635 845
After hours: 0418 943 219
Contact Wildcare Helpline (Parks & Wildlife - DBCA)
08 9474 9055
Donations may be made to our Westpac Bank Account. Details as follows:
Friends of Melville Bird Sanctuary
BSB: 036-084
A/c: 494777