Celebrating Our Backyard Biodiversity

September is Biodiversity Month, a time to celebrate the richness of life around us. Here along the Coal Point peninsula, we don’t need to travel far to be reminded of just how lucky we are, our reserves, link tracks and lake foreshore are buzzing with life.

There’s so much to love about our beautiful and biodiverse bigger backyard. Every Thursday the Landcare crew revels in the joys of Mother Nature. And every Tuesday we get a wonderfully-crafted reminder of where we’ve been, what we’ve done and where we’re going from Ros, our Landcare coordinator.

Over the past month the team gathered at sites like Hampton Street Link, Gurranba Reserve and Puntei Creek. We tackled invasive plants that threaten to smother the bush. We’ve been pulling out swathes of Mother of Millions (Bryophyllum delagoense), hacking back Black-eyed Susan (Thunbergia alata), and keeping an eye on the surprise arrival of Australian Umbrella Tree (Heptapleurum actinophyllum) seedlings, a native species but not from this part of the country.

Clearing weeds may sound unglamorous, but every thistle uprooted or tangle of Morning Glory (Ipomoea indica) removed gives native plants room to breathe. It means Basket Grass (Oplismenus aemulus), Scurvy Weed (Commelina cyanea) and young Grevillea sericea can flourish. It means flowers return to the bush, and with them the bees, birds and lizards.

And what a cast of creatures still call our peninsula home. In recent weeks, landcarers have encountered a resident blue-tongue lizard, a secretive Blackish Blind Snake (Anilios nigrescens), and the usual chorus of birdlife. Just last month, Pandorea pandorana and Clematis glycinoides were in bloom, adding to the colour of spring.

These small weekly efforts add up. Together, they keep the bush in balance and remind us that biodiversity isn’t an abstract idea, it’s the living world right at our back door. The resilience of our native plants and animals is something to be celebrated, and it depends on community care.

This Biodiversity Month, take a walk through your local reserve, pause to notice the small flowers pushing through the leaf litter, or the rustle of skinks underfoot. Every sighting is a reminder: we are fortunate indeed to live among such abundance.

And if you’d like to lend a hand, the Landcare team meets every Thursday morning. Come for the weeding, stay for the cuppa and company, and help keep our backyard brimming with life. Visit the CPPA calendar to see where we will be.