This Christmas, support landscape restoration and habitat creation in Central Vic

Posted on 28 November, 2024 by Anna

In this season of giving, please consider donating to Connecting Country and help support our vision for landscape restoration across the Mount Alexander region of central Victoria.

We can’t wait for governments to act! We need to build resilience in our local landscape in the face of climate change.  As a local, not-for-profit, community-based organisation, we work at the grassroots to protect, restore and enhance biodiversity to help threatened species, like the Brush-tailed phascogale and our wonderful woodland bird community, to thrive.

Over the past 15 years we have:

• Restored over 15,000 ha of habitat across the Mount Alexander region, which equates to around 8% of the shire.
• Delivered more than 245 successful community education events.
• Installed more than 480 nest boxes for the threatened Brush-tailed Phascogale
• Maintained a network of 50 long-term bird monitoring sites
• Secured funding to deliver more than 65 landscape restoration projects.
• Supported an incredible network of over 30 Landcare and Friends groups.

We should all be proud of what we’ve achieved. However, there’s much more to do.

You can be assured that any financial support from you will be well spent, with 100% invested into our core work of supporting and implementing landscape restoration in our local area. We run a lean operation and our small team of part-time staff attracts voluntary support that ensures every dollar goes a long way.

Donate here

Weed of the Month: Gorse

Posted on 28 November, 2024 by Lori

As we move through spring into the hotter, drier, summer months you will no doubt notice many of the local weeds flowering and seeding. This month, keep an eye out for the invasive Gorse (Ulex europaeus) which is a Weed of National Significance (WONS) and a ‘Regionally Controlled’ weed in the North Central Catchment – meaning landholders have a legal responsibility to control it. Gorse can be found right across the Mount Alexander Shire. It is a prickly woody shrub growing to around 3 meters, producing abundant, pea-shaped yellow flowers followed by pods of seeds which are spread through ‘explosive dehiscence’ in summer or as the weather heats up and dries out. Germination mainly occurs after rain in Autumn and Spring. 

Seeds remain viable in the soil for over 30 years, making an integrated and annual control program necessary to keep on top of infestations. Plants can also regrow from stumps. To control, cut and paint isolated individuals, hand pull small seedlings or grub out (disturb soil with a hoe, to essentially dig them up) large quantities of newly germinated seedlings. Spraying herbicide can be used for established infestations. For large infestations you may require a mix of techniques to achieve the best results, such as slashing and then spraying regrowth. 

There is now also specialised machinery, called an Eco Blade, that can groom out and chemically treat plants simultaneously which can be ideal for large infestations where there is no other vegetation present. Click here for a list of local weed contractors, and here for the Managing Gorse Manual.

For more information on Gorse or other land management topics, visit the Connecting Country website or contact us via email info@connectingcountry.org.au or phone 0493 362 394.  Landcare Groups are also a great resource for learning about local weeds. You can find your local group on the Landcare page of the Connecting Country website.  

The Weed of Month article is a segment from Connecting Country’s ‘Partnerships Against Pests’ project funded by Agriculture Victoria in 2024-25. Through this program, Connecting Country is working closely with local community groups, such as Landcare, to raise awareness of local pest plant and animal issues, with the aim to empower community with the skills to address these threats.  The project includes seasonal awareness campaigns around key pest issues as well as workshops, and market stalls across the region. Keep an eye out for Connecting Country staff and Landcare volunteers holding weed information market stalls at Mount Alexander Shire markets over the coming months.  

The Bee Line Project: Victoria Gully Group’s pollinator corridor planting

Posted on 28 November, 2024 by Hadley Cole

In 2023, Connecting Country received funding through the Victorian Landcare Grants for the pollinator corridor project; The Bee Line Project. This project has involved partnering with four Landcare groups in the Mount Alexander Shire to coordinate the planting of 1600 pollinator-attracting plants with the aim of building diverse pollinator corridors throughout the region.

Research demonstrates a serious global decline in pollinators due to habitat loss, a lack of connectivity between isolated pockets of habitat and climate change. Pollinators are the bees, butterflies, flies, wasps, moths, birds and even bats that are critical to the successful reproduction and survival of many of Australia’s native plants and food crops. The Bee Line Project brings these often-undervalued species to the forefront of habitat restoration and biodiversity conservation efforts, providing a focus for local Landcare and Friends groups to work together with a common goal. 

Victoria Gully Group (VGG) are a local group comprising of residents who live close to Victoria Gully, which starts in the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park south of Castlemaine and meets Forest Creek at Greenhill Avenue, Castlemaine. Affectionately known by locals as the ‘gully’, Victoria Gully accommodates a range of recreation and aesthetic needs including children’s play, walking and bike riding. From the south the gully starts as a narrow, deeply-incised channel then widens to an open, grassed valley with a jumbled topography resulting from historical gold sluicing. This valley is home to a large mob of kangaroos and an intermittent unnamed creek runs along the east side.  

Pollinator plants added to existing Victoria Gully Landcare Group site. Photo by Victoria Gully Group.

This year, VGG planted 300 tube stock provided by Connecting Country through the Bee Line Project. The planting plan was developed by Bonnie Humphreys from Connecting County and VGG members following a site visit in November 2023.  

Victoria Gully Group members got together on 30 July and 2 August to plant the pollinator attracting plants across various sites in the “gully”. The planting included species such as Lemon Beauty-heads (Calocephalus citreus), Narrow-leaf Bitter-pea (Daviesia leptophylla), Dusty Miller (Spyridium parvifolium) and Austral Indigo (Indigofera australis) which all provide habitat and food for insect pollinators as well as having lovely showy flowers.

At the site there is an existing frog pond installed by VGG in 2017. The group decided to add further habitat value to this by adding in some pollinator attracting plant species. Group members dug out clumps of Phalaris grass to make space for the new plantings, replacing the weedy grass with indigenous plants. 

Victoria Gully Landcare Group’s pollinator planting sites were considered carefully for their biodiversity value and for opportunities to extend existing habitat and create corridors. As “the gully” sits adjacent to Castlemaine Diggings Heritage Park, restoration work across this area links up to existing bushland, extending habitat corridors.

Well done, Victoria Gully Group for harnessing your people power to restore habitat for local pollinators!

Elphinstone Land Management Association & Taradale Landcare pollinator planting

Posted on 21 November, 2024 by Hadley Cole

In 2023 Connecting Country received funding through the Victorian Landcare Grants for a pollinator corridor project; The Bee Line project. The project has involved working with five Landcare groups in the Mount Alexander region to coordinate the planting of 1600 pollinator attracting plants with the aim of further expanding pollinator corridors.

Research demonstrates a serious global decline in pollinators due to habitat loss, a lack of connectivity between isolated pockets of habitat and climate change. By ensuring restoration efforts include pollinator attracting plant species and are connected to existing bushland or restoration sites, we can help to build resilience across ecosystems at the landscape scale. Pollinators form the backbone of the natural environment and by increasing connected habitat for a diverse range of their life forms, we are encouraging populations to thrive which will have a flow on affect to all flora and fauna across the Mount Alexander Shire.

Photos above show the planting sites on private property in Taradale and along the roadside in the Elphinstone township. Photos by Lynette Hills.

Elphinstone Land Management Association (ELMA) partnered with neighbouring group Taradale Landcare to take part in Connecting Country’s Bee Line Project and planted 300 pollinator attracting plants species across sites between each group’s work areas. The groups worked with public and private landholders and targeted areas along or adjacent to the roadsides between the Taradale and Elphinstone townships. These planting sites were carefully selected as they add value to existing plantings that will enhance connectivity between Taradale cemetery which is home to precious indigenous flora.

The plantings aim to increase connectivity through corridors from Elphinstone to the Taradale Cemetery, through to Taradale township. These strategic plantings aim to allow pollinators to move through the landscape and hopefully lead to an increase in populations of local pollinators by providing additional food and habitat resources.

Well done ELMA and Taradale Landcare for teaming up, pooling resources and working successfully together to continue conservation efforts in the region!

This project is funding by North Central Catchment Management Authority through the 2023 Victorian Landcare Grants.

Bird of the Month: Cockatiel

Posted on 21 November, 2024 by Anna

Welcome to Bird of the Month, a partnership between Connecting Country and BirdLife Castlemaine District. Each month we’re taking a close look at one local bird species. We’re excited to join forces to deliver you a different bird each month, seasonally adjusted, and welcome suggestions from the community. This article was written by Damian Kelly from BirdLife Castlemaine District, accompanied by photos from Ash Vigus.

Cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus)

A popular bird, often kept as a pet that breeds easily in captivity. It can be found all over the world in aviaries. Due to its popularity, sightings of this bird out of its usual range need to be checked carefully as many are likely escapees. Having said that, they do sometimes pop up in unusual places. Recently Ash Vigus has recorded them on the Moolort Plains in some numbers (see photos). Unusual for this region but perhaps a sign of changing times.

In spite of its size the Cockatiel is closely related to the much larger cockatoos. Researching these articles sometimes leads us down strange paths: what are the similarities with cockatoos? Well, like cockatoos, Cockatiels have gall bladders. Most parrots along with birds as diverse as Humming Birds and Peregrine Falcons do not. How about that for a weird fact? In case you wanted to know, the gall bladder is a little sac that collects bile from the liver and delivers it as needed into the small intestine to aid in the breakdown of fat. Anyway, enough of digressions!

Cockatiels are very adaptable birds and can be found over wide areas of the dry inland of Australia. It is a nomadic species that moves around depending on climatic conditions and food availability. It favours tree-lined water courses and the edge of timbered areas and favours open, lightly wooded areas. Food sources include the seeds of grasses and trees along with fruit and berries. It has also adapted to new food sources such sorghum, soybeans and other grain crops. The Cockatiel flock on the Moorlort Plains were feeding in a wheat crop. At times they can be found in urban parks and gardens in the drier zones.

They are a monogamous bird, probably pairing for life. Generally they move about in groups of varying sizes and often roost communally. Breeding can be seasonal favouring spring, but in suitable conditions they have been known to breed at any suitable time when food and water are available. Nests are generally in hollows with clutch sizes normally 4-5 eggs. Incubation and feeding of young involves both parents.

Cockatiel flock on the Moolort Plains. Photo by Ash Vigus

Male Cockatiel, with his bright orange cheek. Photo by Ash Vigus

The Bee Line Project: Barkers Creek Landcare & Wildlife Group Pollinator Planting

Posted on 11 November, 2024 by Hadley Cole

In 2023 Connecting Country received funding through the Victorian Landcare Grants for a pollinator corridor project; The Bee Line project. The project has involved working with five Landcare groups in the Mount Alexander region to coordinate the planting of 1600 pollinator attracting plants with the aim of further expanding pollinator corridors throughout the region.

Research demonstrates a serious global decline in pollinators due to habitat loss, a lack of connectivity between isolated pockets of habitat and climate change. By ensuring restoration efforts include pollinator attracting plant species and are connected to existing bushland or restoration sites, we can help to build resilience across ecosystems at the landscape scale.  By increasing connected habitat for a diverse range of life forms, we are encouraging pollinator populations to thrive which will have a flow on affect to all flora and fauna across the Mount Alexander region.  

Barkers Creek Landcare & Wildlife Group (BCL & WG) took part in the Bee Line Project and added 400 pollinator attracting plants to a site they have been working on for approximately 6 years, ‘The Old Tip site’. The site is adjacent to the Barkers Creek Bushland Reserve which is a 35 hectare bushland reserve that the group plan to restore as a long term project. The planting of the pollinator attracting species close to the bushland site provide extended habitat for pollinators to move across the landscape, increasing pollination services and encouraging healthy and robust flora that will be better equipped to cope with the effects of climate change.

Barkers Creek Landcare & Wildlife Group and Harcourt Valley Landcare Group team up for National Tree Day. Photo by BCL&WG.

BCL& WG group members provided the following report on their participation in The Bee Line project. 

The site is an old tip site and is supported by a ‘Partnership Agreement’ with Mt Alexander Shire Council. The main focus of the works on the site has been to create pods of grasses (200 per year) that have been planted across the clay cap of the Old Tip, plus, a few extra trees and shrubs have been added each year.

From April to August 2024 BCL & WG prepared the site and planted out the 400 pollinator attracting plants as well as a further 200 grass species provided by the Mount Alexander Shire Council.

“Our participation in the Pollinator Project will help transform the site to be more in keeping with the Bushland Reserve that it neighbours.”

On National Tree Day, Sunday July 28, BCL & WG teamed up with Harcourt Valley Landcare Group for a planting day. The day was well attended by 21 volunteers which resulted in 250 shrubs and grasses planted across the site.

The preparation work for the plantings took up a great deal of time. The group found that there were a few members who couldn’t make the work bees on the weekends but were available on weekdays so they decided to form a “B team” which involved a small group of volunteers who attended weekday work bees to help prepare the site for planting. This proved a wonderful success with the weekday preparations resulting in the holes being dug for the weekend planting work bees.

What an enormous effort by Barkers Creek Landcare & Wildlife Group. Congratulations and Thank you for your contributions to The Bee Line Project.

This project was funded by the 2023 Victorian Landcare Grants through the North Central Catchment Management Authority.

Maldon Urban Landcare Group AGM & special event: Living with our Wild Neighbours with Tanya Loos

Posted on 11 November, 2024 by Hadley Cole

Maldon Urban Landcare Group (MULGA) is celebrating their Annual General Meeting (AGM) with special guest Tanya Loos who will be speaking about her most recent book ‘Living with Wildlife’ on Saturday 30 November 2024.

MULGA have provided the following information and details about this wonderful event.

Everyone is welcome to come along to this very interesting talk ‘Living with Wildlife’ – possums in the roof, an echidna in the garden, or perhaps a bird attacking your windows? Join Tanya Loos, author of Living with Wildlife: A Guide for Our Homes and Backyards, published by CSIRO Publishing, as she provides information, advice and solutions to encounters with wildlife, based on current guidance from wildlife rescue organisations and the latest research. Tanya loves drawing from ecological science to educate and inspire people to care about wildlife and wildlife habitat.

When: Saturday 30 November at 2.15pm

Where: Maldon Neighbourhood Centre, 1 Church St, Maldon VIC

Refreshments will be provided. Booking not required.

For further information, contact Bev Phillips, ph. 0407 770 350, email: maldonurbanlandcare@gmail.com

Connecting Country AGM: Growing our Future Together

Posted on 1 November, 2024 by Lori

After 16 years of influencing positive environmental change on 500+ properties in the region, it’s time to look forward and help shape the future of Connecting Country!  

We want to hear from you – our members, supporters and the wider community – about what is important to you in supporting local biodiversity and connection with nature. 

Following brief AGM formalities, we will delve into an informative and interactive plenary discussion with a diverse panel: 

• Brendan Sydes – ACF Biodiversity Policy Advisor and Connecting Country President. 

• Ian Higgins – local ecologist and founding member of Friends of Campbells Creek. 

• Ann-Marie Monda – landowner (with Carla Meurs) from Wooroomook property in Sutton Grange integrating environmental improvements within agricultural farmland. 

Chaired by Sharon Fraser from the Castlemaine Institute, the panel will discuss the current state of the environment and why conservation is so important – from the grassroots level upwards – now more than ever. 

You will be invited to contribute your ideas and help shape the future direction of Connecting Country, its advocacy and support for grassroots conservation in our region. We will celebrate some of the local achievements to date and consider future opportunities for continuing positive environmental change, under changing financial, environmental and climate conditions.

Please join us for this special event on Saturday 23rd November 2024: 

Campbell’s Creek Community Centre
60 Elizabeth St, Campbells Creek VIC 345 VIC 3450

1:15pm – lunch and sharing of ideas 

2-2:20 pm – AGM formalities including a summary of 2023-24 achievements, review of the years financials, and election of office bearers 

2:20-4pm – plenary session, discussion and workshop 

For catering and logistical purposes, please register your attendance – click here

AGM formalities 

View Connecting Country’s 2023-24 Annual report – click here

View Connecting Country’s Financial audit 2023-24 – click here

 Connecting Country constitution 

Consumer Affairs made changes to the model rules for Constitutions and recommended organisations review their own constitutions in light of these changes.  

As such, Connecting Country’s Constitution has been updated in alignment with the model rules including:

• Updated language to support the flexible use of technology  (Rule 9, 35 and 62). 

• New processes for disciplinary appeals where members have been suspended or expelled by a disciplinary subcommittee (Rule 23). 

• Changes to grievance procedures regarding mediation (Rule 27 and 28). 

• Stronger disclosure requirements for a conflict of interest (Rule 65). 

See attached (with track changes) draft for review/endorsement. 

 These changes are required to be voted on and adopted by the organisations membership at the AGM as a special resolution.  To view a DRAFT updated Connecting Country Constitution (with track changes) – click here 

 Nominate for the Committee of Management

Want to be more involved with Connecting Country? Why not consider becoming a committee member.  We are actively looking for new committee members to broaden the skills of our Committee.  The positions require 2 hours per month to attend committee meeting plus small amounts of reading or work time as required to keep the organisation rolling.  If this sounds like you, please complete a nomination form or contact our office to discuss via info@connectingcountry.org.au.