They found the site at the end of Sanderling Avenue on the left side of the 4WD Bennett’s Beach access far worse than they had expected, with flowering, seeding bitou bush and monster asparagus with ferns metres long loaded with red berries. The volunteers spent their time cutting off the flowers and berries before the flowers seeded and the seeds were spread by birds into native bushland. All the flowers and seed heads were collected in bags and then deposited in the red garbage bins for safe disposal. Bitou Busters organiser Jill Madden said recent wet weather had promoted weed growth on the dunes and the situation had been made worse because the volunteers had not been able to work on the site for over a year due to COVID restrictions. “Nature never takes a break,” she said. “And that includes the plants we don’t want as well as those we do.”