Nardoo Hills Reserves

	Spotted pardalotes are among the woodland species that Nardoo Hills supports. Photo: Wayne Lawler/Ecopix.
	The protected woodlands of Nardoo Hills Reserves. Photo: Wayne Lawler/Ecopix.

It's almost impossible to imagine the Australian bush without the sound of a laughing kookaburra or flashy show of colour from a passing lorikeet, robin or honeyeater.

Yet that's exactly the sort of future we face if temperate woodlands, the most threatened wooded ecosystem type in Australia, are not better protected.

The case is particularly severe in Victoria, which since European settlement has lost 83 per cent of its woodland ecosystems to land clearance.

Combined with drier weather patterns, that loss has led to a dramatic decline in woodland bird numbers, with recent research suggesting that even common birds such as the red wattlebird, spotted pardalote and rufous whistler are in trouble.

Such harrowing data is one of the main reasons Bush Heritage decided to buy Victoria's Nardoo Hills, one of the few places left in the state where you can still find healthy examples of grassy box and box-ironbark woodlands, the sort of country loved by our woodland birds.

We hope Nardoo Hills Reserves, which include Judith Eardley Reserve, will help ensure that our woodland birds are heard long into the future.

All this has been protected thanks to the generosity of our supporters.

What these reserves protect Swift parrot. Photo: Graeme Chapman. Northern golden moths orchid. Photo: Jeroen van Veen. Lace monitor (goanna). Photo: Wayne Lawler/Ecopix. Nardoo Hills supports at least 95 bird species, including the nationally endangered swift parrot, which travels all the way from Tasmania during winter to feed on the area's flowering eucalypts. Nardoo Hills also protects these significant species and communities: Animals Swift parrot (nationally endangered) Hooded robin Diamond firetail (threatened in Victoria) Lace monitor (threatened in Victoria) Fat-tailed dunnart Chocolate wattled bat Brown treecreeper (threatened in Victoria) Crested bellbird (threatened in Victoria Plants Yellow box Drooping sheoak Creamy candles Buloke Northern golden moths orchid (threatened in Victoria) Southern swainson pea Robust greenhood orchid (nationally critically endangered) Vegetation communities Plains grassy woodland (endangered) Hillcrest herb-rich woodland Metamorphic slopes shrubby woodland Box-ironbark forest Broombush mallee

What we’re doing on the property

	‘Stabbing' wheel cactus at Nardoo Hills Reserves. Photo: David Baker-Gabb.

Bush Heritage volunteers have helped us all but rid Nardoo Hills of wheel cactus, a noxious weed. When left unchecked, the cactus can form dense, almost impenetrable infestations.

We use a rather unusual technique to kill the cactus: ‘stabbing' them with herbicide. Thanks to our volunteers, we've killed nearly all adult wheel cactus plants in this way, although follow-up work to control seedlings will be required over the coming years.

Huge effort has also gone into controlling rabbits, whose population has been massively reduced by an integrated program of warren mapping, control and monitoring. That said, we must be vigilant to ensure their numbers are kept under control.

Nardoo Hills is now free of grazing sheep, which in the past damaged the area's native vegetation.

‘Extinct' orchid rediscovered     The robust greenhood orchid. Photo Jeroen van Veen.               Jeroen van Veen – Bush Heritage's Field Officer at Nardoo Hills Reserves. Photo: Catherine Hunt.     It's no exaggeration to say that the robust greenhood orchid astonished everyone when it made an appearance at Nardoo Hills in 2009. After all, it's not every day that you find a plant presumed to be extinct. In fact, before that, the green and white-striped flower hadn't been seen since 1941. Previously, grazing by rabbits and livestock had limited opportunities for many plants at Nardoo Hills. But it seems this little orchid just bided its time, waiting patiently for the pests to disappear and rain to fall before deigning to make an appearance. Bush Heritage's Field Officer, Jeroen van Veen, said: ‘This is what we work for. After years and years of slogging away and restoring natural bushland, these are the kinds of things that keep you going'. Remarkably, this was the second rare orchid to turn up at Nardoo Hills. A few years earlier, the northern golden moths orchid had also made an unexpected appearance. These days, Nardoo Hills is now home to the largest protected population of northern golden moths orchids in Australia. Hopefully, in years to come, we will continue to be surprised by other rare species popping their heads up Bush Heritage reserves.

Cultural values

	One of around 20 scar trees on Nardoo Hills Reserves. Photo: David Baker-Gabb.

This is the traditional lands of the Dja Dja Wurrung people, who have shared some of their knowledge on the cultural significance of their country, including identification of more than 20 scar trees (as recorded in a preliminary cultural survey). In the future we plan to conduct a more comprehensive cultural heritage survey.

The Paterson family has owned much of the Nardoo Hills for three generations, spanning more than 100 years, and so the present generation has a wealth of local historical knowledge.

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Quick facts

Nardoo Hills Reserves incorporate Judith Eardley Reserve.

News

Victoria facing a wave of extinctions

Extinct no more

Visiting

Where we can, we offer opportunities for you to visit the places you've helped protect. We offer visits when conservation and safety considerations permit.

Unfortunately, this Nardoo Hills Reserve is not open to self guided visits. Information on self-guided trips at other reserves is available here.

Thanks

Thank you to all our supporters, whose donations fund the day-to-day costs of managing Nardoo Hills Reserves.

The Reserves were acquired between 2004 and 2007 with assistance of the R.E. Ross Trust, Judith Eardley Save Wildlife Association and the Australian Government under the Natural Heritage Trust's National Reserve System Programme.