Science & Nature

Good plants for creeks

A short and sweet piece this week. For anyone who cares for a stretch of creek, the management challenges are often significant. As discussed in previous articles in this series, Illawarra waterways suffer from the legacy of inappropriate...

Should we have a City fish?

The state of New South Wales has a number of emblems including a flower (waratah), a gemstone (black opal), a bird (kookaburra), a marsupial (the platypus) and two fish, one of which is a 370-million-year-old fossil and the other is the Blue Groper...

Duncan Leadbitter

Cheep talk: WIRES volunteer on how to help baby birds

By Jennifer Kay, a volunteer rescuer with WIRES It’s nestling season – Spring has arrived and so have a host of baby birds! Australia is home to more than 800 bird species, each exhibiting distinct nesting behaviours and patterns of chick...

The Illawarra Flame

Above us, swamps

Swamps! Incredible places whose soil is regularly wet or even underwater, rich in biodiversity, amazing creatures like giant dragonflies and strange and sometimes unappealing scents (at least to us humans). The Illawarra is home to swamps in...

Nature Shake: Inspiration in the mix at Wollongong Botanic Garden

The sign of a great event is that you get what you went for, but you also walk away having experienced the unexpected. And that’s what happened for me at the fabulous Nature Shake community day held at Wollongong Botanic Garden on Saturday. Nature...

Amanda De George

From shark nets to drones: 4 ways to protect bathers, and their tradeoffs

Sharks, especially great whites, have been in the news a lot recently after the tragic death of a surfer off Dee Why beach and an abundance of tagged sharks being detected off Stanwell Park. Much of the media response so far has followed a fairly...

Duncan Leadbitter

Spring’s Bird of the Month: Bassian Thrush

The bird of the month for September is the Bassian Thrush (Zoothera lunulata), a songbird species occurring in south-eastern Australia. In the Illawarra, they are commonly seen in rainforest areas along the lower escarpment. With their mottled...

Ewan Auld

Dr Rip’s Science of the Surf: Rockfalls and Cliff Collapse

In early August, a large section of cliff along Sydney’s Bronte Beach collapsed and fell onto the beach, taking a section of a public staircase with it. The rockfall occurred dangerously close to the busy Eastern Suburbs coastal walk and has...

Prof Rob Brander

Through Droughts and Floods: What trees can teach us about resilience

If you have ever enjoyed the quiet of a hike on the plateau above the Illawarra Escarpment, you will know how enchanting it is when the afternoon’s golden light twists through Eucalyptus trees, black cockatoos soaring overhead. Lorikeets pick at...

Phebe Fidge

Enjoy free guided walks and spring flowers at Rhododendron and Rainforest Gardens

Volunteers at The Illawarra Rhododendron and Rainforest Gardens will offer free guided rainforest walks to visitors every Saturday and Sunday in September.

Tyneesha Williams

Creeks and weeds: Why go slow in infested waterways

One thing everyone seems to be able to agree on about Illawarra creeks is that there are far too many weeds in them. From Trad to Privet to Coral Tree to Camphor Laurel, it seems that our local waterways are absolute weed magnets. And we all reckon...

Our top 3 spots to whale watch on the southern migration

It’s official, the southern leg of the humpback whale migration is underway! Humpback whales are on the move, heading from their breeding grounds in sub-tropical waters off Queensland back down to their krill-rich feeding grounds around Antartic...

Amanda De George

Find a Grevillea colour for every garden at Spring Open Days

Looking for a spectacular tropical grevillea to brighten up your garden? Here are suggestions from the Illawarra Grevillea Park team. Red – ‘Katherine’s Fire’ has large vibrant red flowers with golden styles. Cream – ‘Moonlight’ is...

John Elton

ORRCA advice for boaters after Southern Right Whale calf struck off Stanwell Park

By Jody Langlois, secretary of the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) In July, ORRCA received reports of a Southern Right Whale calf being struck by a boat off Stanwell Park, NSW. The incident appears to have...

Jody Langlois

What's On

The Grassening: A living installation at Illawarra Nature Festival

An immersive multi-artform installation on Dharawal Wodi Wodi Country is bringing attention to a critically endangered local community – the Illawarra Lowland Grassy Woodland.

Kathryn Morgan

What are the trees telling us?

It’s that time of year when the days start getting longer, though not really warmer, and all sorts of flowers start to appear. Frances Bodkin’s compilation of a Dharawal seasonal calendar says this period is known as Wiritjiribin, after the Superb...

Bird of the Month: Greater Crested Tern

August’s Bird of the Month, the Greater Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii) is one of the larger members of the tern family and occurs along Australia’s entire coastline. They are quite common on Illawarra beaches, and are often seen feeding behind...

Ewan Auld

Are we (and our creeks) in for another wet summer (or 10)?

It’s been raining again, and it’s got me thinking about we can expect from the weather and the climate over the coming spring and summer period

A tale of Cabbage Tree Creek

With over a dozen waterways running east from the escarpment in the Illawarra, each with its own unique history, there are myriad stories to tell about them.

Look out! Marsupials about: WIRES calls on drivers to take care on our roads

Drivers are being warned to take extra care at dawn and dusk as winter is a dangerous season for wildlife on our roads. “With the shorter winter days, there’s more of a chance that cars will cause problems with wildlife on the roads,“ says Jennifer Kay, an Illawarra branch volunteer with the Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service (WIRES).

Tyneesha Williams

Plant water-loving Illawarra natives to create habitat and help stop erosion

Back to the plants this week! As we are going with the riparian flow for a while, I thought I’d feature a few of Illawarra’s most water-loving plants. There are dozens of local water plants, living anywhere from periodically inundated creek lines to...