Cooee Environmental Newsletter - February edition EVENTS COMPOSTING & WORM FARM Fri 9 Feb, 10am - 1pm Composting and worm farming are great alternatives to disposing of your food waste in the rubbish bin. Create natural fertiliser for your garden, reduce organic waste going to landfill and lower greenhouse gases. Workshops are $25; with residents receiving a $90 voucher towards composting equipment. DISCOVER STONY RANGE Sat 10 Feb, 1.30 - 4pm Stony Range Botanic Garden is a haven of bushland right in the heart of Dee Why. Find out all about this magical botanic garden with an illustrated talk, guided walk and afternoon tea. Take home a free native plant from their nursery! CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY Sun 4 Mar Over the past 27 years, Australians have devoted more than 32 million hours towards the environment through Clean Up Australia Day collecting over 344,000 tonnes of rubbish. Get together with family and friends and help keep our area beautiful. NEWS IMPROVING WILDLIFE HABITATS Our biodiversity team have been working with local students on a wildlife habitat educational program. Focusing on Feathertail Gliders (also known as Pygmy Gliding Possums), the program has been rolled out to a number of local schools. Project partners include Taronga Zoo and the Office of Environment and Heritage. BUSHCARE GREEN ARMY GRADUATES The latest team of Green Army participants have just graduated. The program offers students hands-on, practical experience in our local environment. The group achieved some great outcomes within the Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment helping to rehabilitate important wildlife refuges; assisting with water quality improvements; and restoring habitats through weed removal, bush regeneration and planting. Interested in becoming a Bushcare volunteer? LIVING SUSTAINABLY COOL WHITE OR HOT BLACK? Buying a new car this summer? Think about a white or silver car, as these are much easier to cool compared with a black one. Your air conditioning does not have to work so hard which means less fuel used and thus less air pollution. The thermal picture (left) highlights the surface temperature of two cars parked in the sun. Yellow denotes the hottest temperature, with orange and purple the cooler. (Black car left; white car right). ENJOY OUR NEW WATER STATIONS Ten new drinking fountains made their Northern Beaches debut on Australia Day. Water stations will be available at future Council run events, tackling the wasteful and damaging effect of single use plastic litter. Always remember to BYO reuseable water bottles and coffee cups when you’re out and about and do your part to reduce plastic pollution. REUSABLE BAGS ON THE RISE Why not swap your plastic bag for a Boomerang Bag? Join a local sewing group at Avalon, Collaroy Plateau, Narrabeen and Manly. Socialise, while learning how to sew a bag. Even Council's Vacation Care kids recently made their own sustainable bags out of old T-shirts. GUEST CONTRIBUTOR THE TAWNY FROGMOUTH Betina Kellermann, environmental volunteer at Stony Range Botanic Garden, said the Dee Why garden can be a good place to spot a Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides). The large, big-headed bird has nocturnal habits and with its wide eyes is often mistaken for an owl. Grey-brown plumage allows them to camouflage themselves easily, becoming almost invisible in daylight. Native to Australia they can be found in almost any habitat type, from forests and woodlands, to heathlands and savannahs. They are also common in the suburbs, having adapted well to human presence. Betina said that they were lucky enough to spot two Tawny Frogmouths on a recent spotlight walk at the garden. Photo credit: Betina Kellermann. (Reference: Simpson & Day. Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. 8TH Edition). |