Kensington bushland reserve is a significant remnant of Swan Coastal Plain vegetation, that has been reserved in the suburb of Kensington, in Perth, Western Australia, by the state government. [1]
It is located west of Kent Street Senior High School, and lies on the north side of Kent Street. The portion of Jarrah Road that defined the western boundary of the reserve is a cul de sac, known as Baron Hay Court. Across the road is a Department of Agriculture complex. It is bounded to the north by Harold Rossiter Park, and George Reserve and has an area of 9.1 hectares (22 acres). [1] It is close to the Western Australian Herbarium. In 2000 it was designated as "Bush Forever Site 48" by the Government of Western Australia. [1]
It was made a reserve in the 1990s when the suburb was still located within Perth City council boundaries. [2] [3] [4] It is now within the Town of Victoria Park local government area, and is managed together with "The Kent Street Sand Pit" and the "George Street Reserve" (a contaminated landfill site) as a single entity, the "Jirdarup Bushland Precinct". [5] This Precinct has a total area of 17.9 hectares.[ citation needed ] The name Jirdarup is a Nyoongar word meaning "place of birds". [6] The Town of Victoria Park plans to rehabilitate the Sandpit site. [7]
It lies on the Bassendean Dune system, [5] [8] the oldest and most easterly of the sand dune systems of the Swan Coastal Plain. [9] [10] [11]
Key upper storey plant species within the bushland are Banksia menziesii , Banksia attenuata and Jarrah ( Eucalyptus marginata ). As of 2003, some 207 plant species have been found, representing 42 families and 111 genera. [5] Major weeds are Asparagus asparagoides , perennial veldt grass, Gladiolus caryophyllaceus , while Ehrharta longiflora , Ursinia anthemoides , and Misopates orontium are also threatening also to become a problem. [5]
This bushland is part of the threatened ecological community (TEC), Banksia woodlands of the Swan Coastal Plain, the main threats to which are: fragmentation, dieback, [12] weed invasion, inappropriate fire regimes and climate change. [5] In February 2016, a bushfire burned approximately 70% of the native vegetation of the reserve. [5]
List of Weeds found in Kensington Bushland [5] | |||
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Significant bird species which may be seen in the bushland are Carnaby's Black Cockatoo ( Calyptorhynchus latirostris ) - endangered, Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoo ( Calyptorhynchus banksii ) - vulnerable, and the rainbow bee-eater ( Merops ornatus ), [5] with Forest Redtailed Black-Cockatoo being year-round residents of the area. [13] Pitfall trapping in 2017 found eight native reptiles. These included the western bobtail ( Tiliqua rugosa ), dugites ( Pseudonaja affinis ), the western bearded dragon ( Pogona minor ), and Buchanan's snake-eyed skink ( Cryptoblepharus buchananii ). [5]
This tiny piece of remnant bushland has often been the subject of surveys. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] Thus, one of the first Australian records for the aphid, Uroleucon erigeronense is from Kensington Bushland. [16] The day-flying moth, Pollanisus occidentalis , is found in abundance in the bushland. [15] A new species of robber fly, Cerdistus hudsoni , has so far (2011) only been found in two places, one of which is Kensington Bushland. [14]
Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park is a national park in the South West region of Western Australia, 267 km (166 mi) south of Perth. It is named after the two locations at either end of the park which have lighthouses, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste. It is located in the Augusta-Margaret River and Busselton council areas, and is claimed to have the highest visiting numbers of any national park in Western Australia. The park received 2.33 million visitors through 2008–2009.
Bassendean is a north-eastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Its local government area is the Town of Bassendean.
Leda is a southern suburb of Perth, Western Australia within the City of Kwinana. Leda is one of the five main suburbs of Kwinana.
Mount Eliza is a hill that overlooks the city of Perth, Western Australia and forms part of Kings Park. It is known as Kaarta Gar-up and Mooro Katta in the local Noongar dialect.
Golden Bay is an outer southern suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, located within the City of Rockingham. The suburb is located between Secret Harbour and Singleton, and just off the Mandurah Road. Originally known as Peelhurst, the locality name was officially changed in 1985. Golden Bay shore is a segment of the Swan Coastal Plain, which runs along the coast of the Indian Ocean.
Banksia ilicifolia, commonly known as holly-leaved banksia, is a tree in the family Proteaceae. Endemic to southwest Western Australia, it belongs to Banksia subg. Isostylis, a subgenus of three closely related Banksia species with inflorescences that are dome-shaped heads rather than characteristic Banksia flower spikes. It is generally a tree up to 10 metres (33 ft) tall with a columnar or irregular habit. Both the scientific and common names arise from the similarity of its foliage to that of the English holly Ilex aquifolium; the glossy green leaves generally have very prickly serrated margins, although some plants lack toothed leaves. The inflorescences are initially yellow but become red-tinged with maturity; this acts as a signal to alert birds that the flowers have opened and nectar is available.
The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geological and biological zone, one of Western Australia's Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia regions. It is also one of the distinct physiographic provinces of the larger West Australian Shield division.
Carnaby's black cockatoo, also known as the short-billed black cockatoo, is a large black cockatoo endemic to southwest Australia. It was described in 1948 by naturalist Ivan Carnaby. Measuring 53–58 cm (21–23 in) in length, it has a short crest on the top of its head. Its plumage is mostly greyish black, and it has prominent white cheek patches and a white tail band. The body feathers are edged with white giving a scalloped appearance. Adult males have a dark grey beak and pink eye-rings. Adult females have a bone-coloured beak, grey eye-rings and ear patches that are paler than those of the males.
Banksia attenuata, commonly known as the candlestick banksia, slender banksia, or biara to the Noongar people, is a species of plant in the family Proteaceae. Commonly a tree, it reaches 10 m (33 ft) high, but it is often a shrub in drier areas 0.4 to 2 m high. It has long, narrow, serrated leaves and bright yellow inflorescences, or flower spikes, held above the foliage, which appear in spring and summer. The flower spikes age to grey and swell with the development of the woody follicles. The candlestick banksia is found across much of the southwest of Western Australia, from north of Kalbarri National Park down to Cape Leeuwin and across to Fitzgerald River National Park.
Banksia menziesii, commonly known as firewood banksia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae. It is a gnarled tree up to 10 m (33 ft) tall, or a lower spreading 1–3 m (3.3–9.8 ft) shrub in the more northern parts of its range. The serrated leaves are dull green with new growth a paler grey green. The prominent autumn and winter inflorescences are often two-coloured red or pink and yellow, and their colour has given rise to more unusual common names such as port wine banksia and strawberry banksia. Yellow blooms are rarely seen.
Mount Henry Peninsula is a land feature and reserve located 11 km (6.8 mi) south of Perth, Western Australia, on the north bank of the Canning River near the Mount Henry Bridge in Salter Point, Western Australia. It covers 11.9 hectares, and includes both Banksia attenuata and Banksia menziesii woodland, and a muddy and desert biome. The peninsula features limestone slopes, shoreline vegetation, wetlands, and contains the most inland vegetated knoll of the Spearwood dunes on the Swan-Canning estuary, as well as a significant variety of natural conditions for birds and other fauna. The Mount Henry Peninisula is a designated Bush Forever Site, number 227.
Cullacabardee is a northeastern rural suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, located 21 km (13 mi) from Perth's central business district via Alexander Drive or Beechboro Road. It is in the City of Swan local government area. Most of the suburb is covered in native sheoak and banksia forest. A small Noongar community is based on Baal Street, a drug rehabilitation retreat is located off Gnangara Road in the suburb's northeast, and the Perth International Telecommunications Centre facility is based in the suburb's northwest.
Assemblages of plants and invertebrate animals of tumulus springs of the Swan Coastal Plain are ecological communities in Western Australia. They have been managed under a number of other, similar names, including Mound springs of the Swan Coastal Plain and Communities of Tumulus Springs . The tumulus mounds were common to a narrow range of groundwater discharge at the boundary of 'bassendean sand' and 'guildford clay', along the edge of the Gnangara Mound aquifer. The communities are critically endangered.
Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve is a protected area managed by the Department of Parks and Wildlife 35 kilometres (22 mi) east of Albany, Western Australia. The area is accessible by 2WD vehicles. The bay itself, including two small secluded beaches, faces due east and is protected from the Southern Ocean by a headland formed by the granite massif of Mount Gardner. The nature reserve was established in 1967 to protect the threatened noisy scrub-bird and its habitat. It is known for being the site of the discovery and naming of Gilbert's potoroo, but in 2015 a huge fire destroyed 90% of the tiny marsupial's habitat, as well as killing three-quarters of the remaining small population.
Forrestdale Lake Nature Reserve is a lake nature reserve around Forrestdale Lake in the City of Armadale, Western Australia, approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) south of the central business district of Perth, the state capital, and on the southern fringes of the Perth metropolitan area. It lies immediately south of the suburb of Forrestdale, and 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south-east of Jandakot Airport. It is a still largely natural wetland, with some adjoining native vegetation, surrounded by land developed for housing and agriculture, that regularly supports large numbers of shorebirds and other waterbirds.
The Avon Wheatbelt is a bioregion in Western Australia. It has an area of 9,517,104 hectares. It is considered part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion.
Thomsons Lake Nature Reserve is a lake nature reserve around Thomsons Lake in the City of Cockburn, Western Australia, approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) south of the central business district of Perth, the state capital, and on the southern fringes of the Perth metropolitan area. It is in the suburb of Beeliar, 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) south-west of Jandakot Airport. It is a still largely natural wetland, with adjoining native vegetation, surrounded by land developed for housing and agriculture, that regularly supports large numbers of shorebirds and other waterbirds.
Bayswater Brook was a natural brook in the north-eastern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, which discharges into the Swan River in the suburb of Bayswater. In the 1920s, due to urban development, the brook was turned into a network of drainage channels, which are partially covered and partially open. The brook's water source is runoff and groundwater. In the 1970s, the Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary was built near the mouth of the brook. Water from the Bayswater Brook flows through the wetlands at the bird sanctuary before continuing to the Swan River. It has an average annual flow of 7.5 gigalitres.
The Banksia Woodlands of the Swan Coastal Plain is a protected sclerophyll community situated in the Swan Coastal Plain, Western Australia that predominantly consists of banksias. Listed as endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, it was once a near-incessant band of large shrub patches around Perth and other nearby coastal areas.
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