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Bev Debrincat



Habitat Network


 

 

 






 



Welcome to the HABITAT NETWORK website
Connecting people and habitat

Last updated September 2024




Our community native plant nursery and community food garden "The Habitat" is open every Wednesday and Saturday 10 am to 4 pm. If you would like to buy some native plants or food plants for your garden or to discuss habitat, native plants, food plants or weeds do come and visit. Find us at Santa Rosa Park, 251 Quarry Road, Ryde.

See our Brush-turkey brochure on the Resources page. And a photo of a cute Brush-turkey chick on our - Bird photos and YouTube links page.

Become a friend on our Facebook page, see link in side bar.

Also read about habitat in your garden in a bush fire prone area (223kb).

Lookup photos and YouTube videos:
- Australian habitat plant photos and information pages
- Habitat Garden photos for inspiration
- Bird photos and YouTube links - for simple pictorial bird identification
- Animals in the backyard, encounters and habitat photos
- Activities photos
- Native plants for my garden - click on a habitat plant photo to see an information sheet.

- Habitat Network Youtube channel.


HABITAT NETWORK

What is the Habitat Network?
Creating habitat in your garden
Resources
Our partners
The Science and Animals in my Backyard Surveys
The Habitat - Community native plant nursery and community garden
Links to other habitat and sustainability projects
Links to interesting information
Become a member
Graffiti & planting habitat barriers
2RRR - Real World Gardener
Join Bedlam Bay bushcare group
Small bird habitat corridors and connections and how to improve linear corridors


WHAT IS THE HABITAT NETWORK?

The Habitat Network is a network of people conserving, reconnecting and creating habitat for the benefit of our native plants and animals enriching our environment and our community.

Our aim is to reconnect isolated populations of small native birds, pollinators and other native animals which through loss of habitat are rapidly disappearing from our urban and rural environments.

By including small pockets of native plants in our gardens, we can provide wildlife habitat. Connect to your neighbours and encourage them to include a habitat area in their garden and you have a start of a corridor. Why not get your whole street involved?

We can also work with our local Councils, bushcare and landcare groups to conserve our bushland and habitat areas, extend our bushland edges (specifically for habitat) and plant habitat havens (protective bushy islands) to enhance or create native corridors.

If you are in a bushcare or landcare group or a street habitat / community garden group please think about how to connect your patch to the nearest bushland area to extend or create a habitat corridor. Let us know what you are doing and we will help to promote your project. Wouldn't it be fantastic if we as volunteers could help connect habitat all the way across our city, town or region. As our population increases these connections will be vital.

The Habitat Network is a Restoring Natural Capital project being run by International Environmental Weed Foundation (IEWF). IEWF is a not-for-profit organisation run entirely by volunteers. Visit our websites:

www.iewf.org

IEWF has a representative on the Greater Sydney Landcare committee and Landcare NSW Council. We encourge all bushcare and landcare groups in the Greater Sydney area to join the Greater Sydney Landcare. Please find out more by visiting www.greatersydneylandcare.org

To find out how the Habitat Network started and read about some of our activities see our article "Networking, Habitat Restoration, and Restoration Education in Sydney, Australia" (813 KB) published in the Ecological Restoration magazine - June 2010 - special education issue.

Innovation Award 2011, Landcare NSW Group Champion 2017, Partnership Award 2021
In May 2011 the Habitat Network won both the Innovation Award (joint 1st) and a Highly Commended for Urban Landcare. These were awarded by Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority as part of their 2011 Regional Awards. Well done to all of our Habitat Network members and to all who help with this project. Please see our "Activity photos" page above and read about other winners n the SMCMA 2011 Winter Mambara Issue 31 (pdf 1.15MB).

Also see the video about the Habitat Network produced by SMCMA and look for the other winner's there too.

In 2017 Habitat Network was a Group Champion at the Landcare NSW Awards - October 2017. This award was for our work in establishing and running The Habitat and for the work of our volunteers with the Shrimptons Creek Small Bird Habitat Corridor which delivered habitat havens and connections planted along aproximately 2.5 km of creekline.

In May 2021 Habitat Network and Hunters Hill Council won a Partnerships in Landcare Award for our ongoing Hunters Hill Small Bird Habitat Project which now extends a least 9 km.
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CREATING HABITAT IN YOUR GARDEN

Click here to:
* find out why we want to re-create lost habitat,
* learn how we can create habitat,
* see our habitat plant photos and information pages to discover what you may like to grow, and
* read our Habitat Network member's stories and see their photos.

Please see and print:
Planting a small bird habitat haven A4 (814 kb). and
Planting a small bird habitat haven A3 (835 kb).
Planting a small bird habitat haven A2 (851 kb).

Also see Australian native plant photos and information pages here.


Also read about the early days of the Habitat Network and the Hunters Hill small bird corridor project (1.54 mb).
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RESOURCES

We have a number of Resources including diagrams, information sheets and brochures which we encourage you to download and use. There are also simple to use web based resources which are there for you to use.


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OUR PARTNERS

Visit our about us page to find out more about us and our project partners.


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THE HABITAT - COMMUNITY NATIVE PLANT NURSERY and COMMUNITY FOOD GARDEN

The Habitat is being run by the community in partnership with City of Ryde at Santa Rosa Park, 251 Quarry Road, Ryde.

If you would like to learn something new, meet new friends, share your knowledge and do something which will help our local environment come along to The Habitat. Volunteers are always welcome - visit us between 10am and 4pm any Wednesday or Saturday.

Check out The Habitat - and find links to other community nurseries, community gardens and related sites HERE.

If you would like to be involved please email info@iewf.org or simply drop in for a visit.


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LINKS TO OTHER HABITAT AND SUSTAINABILITY PROJECTS

Follow this link to see other habitat and sustainability projects. Please let us know what you are doing so that we can network with your project too.


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LINKS TO INTERESTING INFORMATION

Habitat and native animal information, and interesting projects creating crossings and connections for nature and people can be found here.

Here you can find other useful information, including other networks, articles and research, and other fauna related websites.


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BECOME A MEMBER

Find out how easy it is to become part of the Habitat Network click here


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GRAFFITI & PLANTING HABITAT BARRIERS

We are encouraging planting habitat to deter graffiti and add to security while creating a habitat haven. Download our Habitat haven a natural graffiti barrier information sheet (413 KB) and A3 poster (454 KB)

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2RRR - Real World Gardener

Check out Marianne Cannon's "Real World Gardener" program on local Sydney radio 2RRR 88.5fm Wed 5pm and Sat 12 noon. You can also listen to interviews with local experts: http://realworldgardener.blogspot.com


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Join Bedlam Bay bushcare Group

Find out more and join Bedlam Bay bushcare here.


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Small bird habitat corridors and connections and how to improve linear corridors

Find out about creating small bird habitat corridors and connections including a practical example the Hunters Hill small bird habitat corridor (1.68MB) and read about the Shrimptons Creek habitat corridor project. These are stories of the start of these projects to around 2019 - 2020. Since then we have continued to work on both habitat corridors.

The Hunters Hill small bird habitat corridor has received funding from the NSW Governments Coastal and Estuary Management Program for Strengthening Biodiversity Corridors along the Lower Lane Cove and Parramatta Estuaries (2022 to 2024). Read more about this project extension here.

As part of this project we have helped produce a video about the biodiversity of Hunters Hill find link here.

It is pleasing to see the habitat values continue to improve and the number and diversity of bird species continue to grow.

Extract from our 2024 Annual report:
We are pleased to let you know that the habitat values are improving along Shrimpton’s Creek with Buff-banded Rails now being sighted regularly. In total we know of 4 chicks in Greenwood Park/ELS Hall Park and another 2 adults and 2 chicks in Santa Rosa Park. They continue to survive, even with a number of large dogs that roam around off leash with their uncaring owners, thanks to dense areas of habitat and the ability for these ground-dwelling birds to run fast and hide.

We were excited, in the community garden at The Habitat, to see a Variegated Fairywren and a White-browed Scrubwren spend at least 1 day resting. The Variegated Fairywren was the 1st recorded in this corridor since we started monitoring 13 years ago. The number of species of birds seen in the corridor has increased with King Parrots, Eastern Rosellas and Crimson Rosellas being frequent visitors. Eastern Whipbirds are notoriously hard to see however there is a couple calling regularly on our RMS site. On an average walk along Shrimptons Creek 20+ different species may be seen or heard. In total 25 different species of birds have been seen or heard.

See video at: Variegated fairywren at The Habitat 2024 02 17 (youtube.com)

Check out our poster on how to plant a small bird habitat haven in your garden creating a valuable connection between habitat areas A3 size and A4 size.


Find out how to Improve Linear Corridors in rural, peri-urban and urban areas.


Posters and other materials are available on our Resources page.


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