A Caroline Springs man has found friendship in a pair of magpies living in a local car park and is calling for their habitat to be protected.
Caroline Springs resident Gerald Evans has long fed magpies in his backyard and said he finds them “enjoyable to watch”.
He recently noticed a magpie pair building a nest in the canopy of a lemon-scented gum tree in the CS Square car park in Caroline Springs and began to watch and document their behaviour.
He named the pair ‘Norma and Nigel’ and has been sharing photos of the birds in a local community Facebook group, which he said have attracted plenty of interest.
“I’ve started feeding them and now they follow me to the coffee shop,” Mr Evans said.
“I feel that we should have more trees instead of tar. And these trees have been here for at least 20 to 25 years,“ he said.
“It would be a shame to lose them – especially with all the bird life … I’d like to see these trees protected by [the] council so that they don’t get removed in the future.“
A Melton council spokesperson said that the trees are located on privately owned land, and there are no council planning controls that require the protection of the trees on the site. Council approval would not be required to remove the trees.
The spokesperson said there are plans for further development of the site, including additional car parking where the trees are located.
“Council tries to minimise impacts to trees and vegetation in planning applications where practical,“ the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for CS Square confirmed the centre will undergo a multi-million-dollar expansion, including the construction of 85 new car parking spaces – including in the area where the birds have nested.
“Foot traffic to the centre has grown significantly over the past few years, and as part of this growth, we want to ensure that we’re upgrading our amenities to meet the demands of our customers,” the spokesperson said.
Star Weekly asked the spokesperson directly if the trees would be removed as part of the car space construction, but did not receive a response.
