Help Build Castlemaine’s Newest Housing Estate
Posted on 3 June, 2015 by Connecting Country
Taking pre-fabricated housing to a new level – nestboxes ready to be installed.
The McKenzies Hill Action & Landcare Group works in an area designated for urban expansion as part of the Council’s ‘Diamond Gully Structure Plan’.
According to the Mount Alexander Shire Council’s website “Diamond Gully will be Castlemaine’s primary urban growth area and the structure plan is intended to guide the residential transformation of this area.”
Thanks to the efforts of the Mckenzies Hill Action & Landcare Group, the ‘residential transformation’ isn’t just for people – it includes new homes for possums, birds, bats and other native wildlife.
On Sunday 14th June 2015 the group are looking for volunteers to help install a multitude of new apartments (nest-boxes) in the newly named ’70 Foot Hill Reserve’. The reserve, formally known as the Newstead gravel reserve, is a parcel of crown land with a surprisingly diverse range of native vegetation on it. Like much of the forest around Castlemaine, the reserve is missing large old trees with nesting hollows. The nest boxes installed by the group have been specially designed to suit a range of animals – just like the range of hollows that would be found in a mature forest.
The working bee will include a talk by Miles Geldard from ‘Wildlife Nestboxes’ on the need for nestboxes and how they work. There will be a free BBQ as well.
When: Sunday 14th June 2015, starting at 10:00am.
Location: 70 Foot Hill Reserve, Diamond Gully Road (the section between Sluicers Rd and Princess St, look for signs)
Bring: a chair for BBQ afterwards
Contact: Jan Hall – 5470 5556
Leave a Reply