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.
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.
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.
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 Swamped by Threats Project, a partnership between BMCC, CTLLS, NPWS and Forest NSW, has reached the halfway mark. The project aims to conserve the ecological integrity and habitat quality of priority swamps for the endangered and swamp dependant Blue Mountains Water Skink and the Giant Dragonfly of the Blue Mountains and Newnes Plateau. The innovative ten year project is funded through a $750,000 Save Our Species (SOS) Partnership Environmental Trust grant.
A key focus of the project in the Blue Mountains has been the restoration of the natural hydrology of swamp systems which have been disrupted by stormwater flows from urbanised catchments, resulting in erosion, channelisation, de-watering, sedimentation, and weed invasion. Works have included stormwater outlet stabilisation, gross pollutant traps, raingardens, stormwater infiltration and integration structures and soft engineering swamp rehydration structures, as well as weed control. The sixteen priority swamp systems being targeted include Connaught, Yosemite, Marmion Road, North Street, the Gully, McCrae’s Paddock, Leura Falls, East Leura, Jamison Creek, Central Park, Wentworth Falls Lake, Franks Creek, Kittyhawke, Duperry/Clarendon Swamp, Red Gum Park, Lawson Pool and North Lawson Swamps.
IMAGE: Eric Mahony and Geoffrey Smith at Central Park swamp raingardens in high flow CREDIT: BMCC
A big thank you goes out to all the Bushcare and Swampcare volunteers whose ongoing on-ground efforts are making such a valuable contribution of in-kind hours in support of the grant funded work.
IMAGE: Banksia Street raingarden above Wentworth Falls Lake CREDIT: BMCC
This project has been supported by the Hominy Bakery in Katoomba who provide the catering for these events “You know the food is good when everyone’s silent” said Katy O’Neill at the Valley View Swampcare Event.
Blue Mountains City Council Media Release 08 October 2020
Efforts to protect and conserve several rare and endangered forest areas in the Blue Mountains will be amplified, after Council was awarded a $350,000 grant by the NSW Environmental Trust.
Over the next four years the funds will be used for the Forests for the Future project, which seeks to restore and protect unique environments in a number of Council managed reserves between Glenbrook and Springwood.
Working in partnership with the NSW Save our Species program and Hawkesbury River County Council, the project will help conserve the critically endangered Sun Valley Cabbage Gum Forests and endangered Blue Mountains Shale Cap Forests across their entire range. Iconic threatened species which inhabit these forests, such as the Powerful Owl, the Tiger Quoll and the Koala, are also expected to benefit from the restoration works.
Eric Mahony, Council’s Natural Area Management Program Leader, with Councillor Mick Fell and Mayor Mark Greenhill at Deanei Reserve, Springwood. Photo Credit: Council
Blue Mountains Mayor Mark Greenhill said: “The Forests for the Future project is part of our ongoing commitment to best practice environmental management.
“As a City within a World Heritage Area, it’s our job to protect our local environment, especially those areas which have rare or endangered species. Some of our environment is unique to the Mountains, and that needs to be conserved,” he said.
The works – that are able to get underway – include weed control, bush regeneration, stormwater mitigation, fencing and track rationalisation at Deanei, Else Mitchell and Patterson Reserves in Springwood, Sun Valley Reserve in Sun Valley, Blaxland War Memorial Park and Wascoe Park in Glenbrook.
Works will also include vegetation mapping, as well as education for schools, land owners and the community.
This year marks the 20th Anniversary of the Greater Blue Mountains region being granted World Heritage status by the United Nations. To find out more about Council’s work to conserve our local environment, visit the Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity webpage at www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/protecting-and-restoring-biodiversity.
AABR is progressively providing online material to assist landholders undertake ecological weed management after the extensive wildfires of spring-summer 2019-20. If you are a land manager or willing volunteer, please check out our resources below and learn what you can do to help recovering natives that are experiencing competition from regenerating weed!
First Aid for Burned Bushland (FABB) is the place the see the resources AABR is developing to provide guidance for assisting in the recovery of our bushland after the fires last spring and summer. Click the link below to see more…
This year marks the 20th Anniversary of the Greater Blue Mountains region being granted World Heritage status by the United Nations.
Blue Mountains City Council will mark this important milestone by celebrating the unique privilege of managing a City within a World Heritage Area.
From July to December 2020, Council will showcase how we help preserve an area of such special significance, including recognition of Traditional Ownership, protection of the environment and threatened species, water resource management and strategic planning.
Blue Mountains waterways are some of the most beautiful, iconic and highly valued in Australia. They sustain a unique diversity of animals and plants, hold great cultural significance to Traditional Owners, and provide huge opportunities for recreation and eco-tourism.
Our waterways also supply drinking water to over five million people, including residents of the Blue Mountains local government area.
PRIORITY WEEDS in the City of Blue Mountains, are plants that have the potential to pose a biosecurity risk to human health, the economy, the livability of our city and the environment. In NSW, the administration of priority weed control is a State Government responsibility under the Biosecurity Act 2015. The Act is implemented and enforced by the Local Control Authority (LCA) – Blue Mountains City Council
The revised version provides some great improvements including images of all species targeted by Council on private lands for identification. This includes an easy to use colour-coded guide showing the various control measure/s for each State, Regional and Local Priority weed, which coincides with the herbicide guide at the back of the booklet. There is also an easy to read flowchart of Council’s inspection process for you to better understand how it works. A truly valuable resource for the backyard gardener treating an odd weed here or there, volunteers working on their Bushcare sites or to the professional bush regenerator contractor alike.
Article by Karen Hising, Jan Allen and Keith Brister
Jan Allen, a very observant Bushcare volunteer from the Upper Mountains, found this beautiful Orchid. From research, we were not sure of the full identification, but we have been advised that it may be Chiloglottis seminuda – other experts may offer an opinion.
Chiloglottis species – front view Photo credit: K Brister
The genera Chiloglottis is also known as Wasp Orchid. The common name comes from the “callus” – the glands on the labellum, which resemble the body of a female wasp. Instead of being attracted by the general offer of nectar or pollen, many Orchid species, such as the native Chiloglottis genera, use sexual deception to attract male wasp pollinators. These Orchids emit an odorous pheromone very similar to the sexual pheromone produced by females of the pollinator species, thereby luring the male to the flower with the false offer of sex.
Chiloglottis species – rear view. Photo credit: K Brister
Pollination occurs when the male wasps attempt to copulate with structures on the Orchid labellum that mimic the wingless, ant-like female. The high degree of specificity between sexually-deceptive Orchids and their pollinators indicates that there must be subtle, but important, differences in the pheromones produced among even closely related Orchids.
Memoirs Of The Museum Of Victoria 56(2):461-466 (1997)Hidden Biodiversity: Detection Of Cryptic Thynnine Wasp Species Using Sexually-Deceptive, Female-Mimicking Orchids (Abstract) – Colin C. Bower and Graham R. Brown https://museumsvictoria.com.au/media/4804/jmmv19975639.pdf
CLICK below to read the book review – Orchids of the Blue Mountains by Sabine Hanisch and Ben Jasiak; how their daughter discovered a long lost orchid and also about the multi-billion dollar Bush Blitz project – a project finding thousands of new species.
