Annual Bushcare Picnic Day and Awards

Saturday 31 October 2026, Megalong Valley Community Hall

Join us for a day of celebration, revelling in the great year Bushcare has had!

RSVP online required for catering and bus bookings.

This year we will be running a photo competition during the picnic.

Bushcare Picnic Day Photographic Competition

Theme: Natural environment (examples: wildlife, nature, geography, Bushcare activities etc)

Guidelines: Photos must have been taken within 12 months of the submission time. The photos must have been taken within the Blue Mountains. While there are no specific guidelines for dimensions, resolution or style, photos will be displayed during the picnic in an A3 poster format. High resolution photo submissions are recommended. 1 photo entry per person.

How to submit photos: Please send your photo entries to [email protected] with a file of your photo (png, jpeg, jpg, etc), your name, when and where the photo was taken, and a short description (maximum of 30 words). Optionally, also include the name of your regular Bushcare group.

Please submit your photo by Friday 16 October 2026.

Voting instructions: Much like our previous years’ cake competition, photos will be displayed during the picnic for people to vote on during the picnic day. The winner of the competition will be announced during the end of the picnic awards ceremony.

Learning about nature via apps

With ever-changing IT options, such as apps and other technologies, it can be difficult to keep up with current nature identification tools.

For assistance to use these apps, feel free to reach out to our Bushcare Officers, who are happy to show you how to use these apps to identify an array of wildlife, plants, fungi and more.

Apps such as iNaturalist are helpful in teaching us about nature and can also assist science and monitoring programs in local areas.

To date, iNaturalist data has been cited in more than 7,000 scientific papers, so every observation provided can contribute to real science and conservation via community involvement. iNaturalist recently advised that two moths were found not to be extinct, as feared, and another moth was new to science. All thanks to interested participants documenting their nature finds via iNaturalist.

Keep an eye on our Bushcare events page for later in the year, as we are planning to host an event to assist Bushcarers to learn how to use identification apps.

Love bugs – Perfect Tussock Moth (Calliteara pura)

by Ann-Maree McEwan, Bushcare Volunteer

A caterpillar of a Perfect Tussock Moth, Calliteara pura was spotted at Gulguwa Bushcare (Dulhunty Street, Katoomba) on Saturday 13 June 2026, sunbaking on a bracken fern leaf.

The identification description (from the Coffs Harbour Butterfly House online information) describes this caterpillar as ‘brown or yellow, with a pale orange head, and is covered in long hairs, including 4 white tussocks, one on the back of each of the first four abdominal segments’.

According to the identification information, after the caterpillar pupates, the adult female moth is white with a pattern of broken thin lines on the forewings and white hindwings. Her wingspan is about 6cm. The male is similar, but with brown areas in the outer halves of the forewings and has orange hind wings with dark margins. The eggs are pale yellow and shaped like a doughnut.

How to report platypus and rakali (Australian water rat) sightings

Acknowledgement: adapted from the Australian Platypus Conservancy Newsletter, May 2026

It’s important that everyone remain aware that platypus may pop up nearly anywhere in Tasmania or along the east coast of Australia south of Cooktown, even in places where the species has not been known to occur for years. Keep this fact in mind when engaged in activities that could potentially impinge on platypus welfare and survival.

Sightings play an important role in describing how the status of platypus populations can change over time. If you do happen to spot a platypus (or rakali) in the wild, the Australian Platypus Conservancy (APC) website provides a user-friendly platform to report the salient details.

All confirmed reports are then shared with the Atlas of Living Australia, so they can be used for research and conservation purposes and also be viewed by interested members of the wider community.

Natural Area news

by Matt Rudge, Team Leader Natural Area Operations

Last financial year the Natural Areas Operations (NAO) team completed more than 10,000 hours of work as part of the BMCC Natural Areas program. This included tasks such as bush regeneration across the LGA, visitor facilities, and targeted weeding programs.

The visitor facilities work activities included helicopter operations for walking track materials, responding to customer service requests such as fallen trees and the maintenance of council boardwalks.

Targeted weed programs focused on priority weeds across the LGA, which includes species such as broom, gorse, Crofton weed and mistflower as well as responding to reports of weeds in public lands.

The highlights of this year were as follows:

  • Aquatic weed control at Glenbrook Lagoon working alongside Healthy Waterways Team tackling re-surgence of Mexican water lily and cabomba.
  • Maintenance of Natural Areas assets including the cleaning and painting of boardwalks. Recent projects were the Katoomba Falls and The Gully boardwalk refurbishment.
  • An increased number of European wasp reports in public areas such as Wentworth Falls Lake and the Charles Darwin walk. Pest control was engaged to destroy nests in those areas.
  • Supporting the Blue Mountains fox control program.
  • Procurement of tube stock for Bushcare and Natural Area management projects and the collection of native plants.

The NAO team will continue to support Bushcare into the future. We are hoping to have their assistance soon with installing Bushcare signs across our Bushcare groups.

As always, give them a warm hello if you see the team working in your local area!

Blue gum forest spotlight, Deanei Reserve

by Nathan Summers, Bushcare Officer

On a warm November evening towards the end of 2025, a group of local Bushcare volunteers got together with some of our local fauna experts, and had a great evening discovering the wildlife of Deanei Reserve, the remnant blue gum forest at Springwood.

Many thanks to Graham Turner who led us through the event with his excellent understanding of fauna, animal behaviour and the bushland. We also thank other local fauna enthusiasts Nicola Goodwin and Andrew Klotz who helped us and took many photos, as well as environmental educator Sue Price.

Twelve local Bushcare volunteers joined the occasion, and we were blessed with a fascinating evening observing and learning about insects, frogs, mammals and birds while walking through the blue gums, grey gums and Turpentine Forest. Some of the highlights included finding a ringtail possum with a baby on its back, a sugar glider, and a brushtail possum. We also found a tawny frogmouth, Peron’s tree frog and were treated to a lesson on a number of bush insects including the blue eyes lacewing, bush and bark cockroaches, huntsman and St Andrews Cross spiders, crickets, beetles, ants and planthoppers.

It was indeed a fruitful and educational evening, showing what comes alive in our shale blue gum forests at night time. Thanks to our local fauna enthusiasts Graham, Nicole, Andrew and Sue for bringing this to life.

Popes Glen Bushcare NPWS combined gorse event

On a cold and misty Saturday morning in late May, four hardy Popes Glen volunteers met two Bushcare Officers (James and Michael) at the end of Connaught Road, Blackheath. The phone calls had started at around 7 am with the NPWS and BMCC staff discussing the weather and if we should cancel. It didn’t look promising!

By 8.50 am, with the BMCC crew assembled, the rain had stopped and there was even a hint of sun. Two cakes were delivered for the after-lunch dessert, so we had no excuse but to head into Popes Glen. Everything was soaked by the rain and the mist, so the vegetation was looking lush and amazing. The plan was for Popes Glen Bushcare volunteers to head upstream from the BMCC Reserve and National Park boundary whilst the NPWS volunteers worked downstream.

We headed upstream to a known gorse hotspot, but first Paul Vale described the area we were in and how it looked just after the 2019/20 bushfires. We all marvelled at the lush scene before us given the burnt landscape Paul described in early 2020 when the Reserve re-opened after the fire and then the flooding rains. The skeletons of mountain ash trees killed by the fire was the only obvious sign of the impact visible today. Paul also described the gorse and broom plants that germinated in their thousands but quickly pounced on by contracted bush regenerators, BMCC Natural Area Operations staff and Bushcare volunteers.

Then we took the plunge into the thick regrowth and damp creek-side vegetation. Once we got our eyes in, we noticed a few gorse, and leeches, and the odd broom and blackberry. Apart from a Tim Tam break at morning tea, we worked steadily up the creek removing the weeds as we went. By the time we reached Clarence Street we had added Himalayan honeysuckle and agapanthus to the species removed list. All up approximately 200 mostly gorse plants were removed from the BMCC reserve.

This was a significant reduction in the number of plants compared to last year with a continuing decline in gorse each year since the fire, indicating how effective the initial and continued efforts of gorse control have been.

Thank you to Monica and NPWS for a delicious lunch at the end. By 1.30 pm the rain had set in again. Thank you to everyone on the day and those that were part of the GGWW previously. Your hard work is definitely paying off.

— Michael Smith, Bushcare Team Leader

Vibrant Blue Mountains: From World Heritage to a Sustainable Future

Vibrant Blue Mountains: From World Heritage to a Sustainable Future, by Michael Kindler

Local Leura Bushcare volunteer and author Dr Michael Kindler has written a compelling new book which explores how the mountains have fared environmentally, economically and culturally since becoming a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000.

Species of plants and animals that are vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered or extinct are listed. The book also charts the transition of the Blue Mountains from a beloved National Park to an internationally valued ecological marvel.

The title reflects how the Blue Mountains have become energised over the last 25 years and shows how the community has developed and what challenges are now faced. Five richly illustrated chapters outline the severe impacts of extreme weather events, such as bushfires and severe inundation, on water quality and park management.

The author champions ‘natural capital’ and asserts legal rights of nature by applying the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Kindler offers a roadmap to ensure the park’s sustainability for future generations.

The book is available from local bookshops, the visitor information centres at Echo Point and Glenbrook, and in the Katoomba Cultural Centre.

–Michael Smith, Bushcare Team Leader

Living Near the Bush

by Peter Ardill, Blue Mountains Conservation Society

As all bushcarers are aware, the proximity of our local bushland to residential areas comes with advantages and disadvantages. Great bush walks can be found just around the corner, but urban areas are a source of many degrading impacts, including pollution, erosive stormwater flows and — you wouldn’t believe it — environmental weeds!

Bushcare is a dynamic community environmental activity, but it is not the only way that residents can contribute to the health of local nature and the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. Blue Mountains Conservation Society has recently published a free sixty-page booklet, Living Near the Bush: How to support nature in the Blue Mountains.

Packed with practical advice, the easy-to-read format is an added bonus. Local artist, Fiona Lumsden, ecologist Ian Baird and photographers Alan and Dianne Page have contributed delightful illustrations.

The booklet has the health of nature well covered. There are literally hundreds of tips and suggestions about how you can help to keep our local bushland and streams in top shape.

With approximately 35,000 houses occupying the Blue Mountains, if local residents were to adopt even some of the environmentally friendly practices outlined in Living Near the Bush, the environmental benefits would be enormous.

Spring is a great season for Bushcare, and also a nice time to tuck into a good read!

The booklet is available in an easily accessed online flip-book style, or PDF download. A limited number of print copies are available at Conservation Society events.

The passing of Bob Chapman

It is with sadness that we acknowledge the recent passing of one of our longer term Bushcare volunteers, Bob Chapman. Bob, who was born in 1943, lived at Glenbrook for many years, and had much to do with Bushcare and environmental activities in the lower Mountains and Lapstone area.

He had been involved with Darks Common Landcare since its inception in 2004 and had much involvement in other land restoration in the lower mountains as well.

His wife Kathy, as a community member, was involved in the development of early planning for the Eastern
Escarpment, both Kathy and Bob being instrumental in much of the environmental outcomes for this plan.

Bob was very knowledgeable and purposeful, yet quiet natured, which led to achievements with subtlety. He
was a deep methodical scientific thinker. One of Bob’s great lifelong passions was astronomy, something he
had partaken since his younger years. This included constructing lenses for his telescopes, glass making
being another occupation of his. He had a knack of finding a way to make something happen when there was an idea or a project to do.

He worked in the building industry as a materials technician for many years at Parramatta, and also in the UK and Queensland, including timber and glass.

Later coming to Glenbrook in the lower Mountains where both Kathy and Bob have been involved in many projects together.

Bob had a friendly, pleasant disposition, always being someone good to be around, and an asset to a Bushcare group. He was passionate about the environment and had achieved much in the Blue Mountains in a quiet, considered way. We appreciate what Bob has done, and our thoughts go out to Kathy and his family.

A quote from Bob:

When I am gone, don’t look to the ground to remember me, look to the stars. It is the components of the stars where we all come from.