Clean Up Australia Day 2 March 2025
Posted on 19 February, 2025 by Hadley Cole
Clean Up Australia Day is an annual nationwide event focused on empowering local communities to clean up, fix up and conserve the natural environment. This year Clean Up Australia Day will be held on Sunday 2 March 2025.
This year the national not-for-profit organisation Clean Up are encouraging everyone to get involved in Clean Up Australia Day for the BIGGEST Clean Up ever in 2025 as they celebrate 35 years of improving and conserving our environment, one piece of litter at a time!
From little things big things grow. Thirty five years ago Ian Kiernan, AO, an “average Australian” had a simple idea to make a difference in his own backyard and began a local Clean Up event. This small event has now become the nation’s largest community-based environmental event, held annually on the first Sunday in March.
Over 22 million Aussies have stepped up over the years, pulled on their gloves and donated their time to improve the environment.
Registration for Clean Up Australia Day is free for communities and schools (businesses pay a small fee). Registration ensures groups are covered by the public liability insurance, and groups also receive a free Clean Up kit with all the materials required to host a safe and successful event.
Local Landcare and Friends groups of the Mount Alexander/ Leanganook region often host a Clean Up Australia Day event. Please see below a list of local events happening across our region or to find events happening near you – click here .
You can also get in touch with your local Landcare group to see if they are hosting a 2024 event by finding your local group on the Connecting Country website – click here
Golden Point Landcare Group
Did you enjoy the Res this summer? Come along for the annual Clean Up event that keeps the Res clean and beautiful!
Where: Meet at Expedition Pass Reservoir (The Res), Golden Point Rd. Golden Point VIC
When: Sunday 2 March 2025, 10.00 am – 12.00 pm
What to bring: Hats, sunscreen, sturdy footwear, water bottle, gloves and a friend!
Friends of Campbells Creek Landcare Group
Join the Friends of Campbells Creek team for the annual clean of the creek and surrounds.
Where: Meet next to the fluoro-green footbridge at Winters Flat (for google map link: click here)
When: 8.00 am onwards
What to bring: Wear sturdy footwear, hat and if you have some, gloves. Bring your own drinking water.
Morning tea (provided).
Campaspe Valley Landcare Group
Join Campaspe Valely Landcare Group for a Clean Up along Barfold Bridge over the Campaspe River.
Where: Meet at Barfold Bridge, south side of the Campapse River
When: Sunday 2 March, from 10.00 am
What to bring: Wear sturdy footwear, hat and if you have some, gloves. Bring your own drinking water and a friend!
OH&S concerns have been considered and the clean up will be chaperoned by an emergency vehicle with flashing lights.
For more information contact: CampaspeLandcare@gmail.com
Golden Point Landcare Group after their Clean Up in 2024 at the Expedition Pass Reservoir (the Res). Photo by Golden Point Landcare.
Bird of the Month: Jacky Winter
Posted on 17 February, 2025 by Anna
Jacky Winter (Microeca fascinans)
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 special local bird species. We are blessed to have the brilliant Jane Rusden and Damian Kelly from BirdLife Castlemaine District writing these! We’re excited to join forces to deliver you a different bird each month, seasonally adjusted, and welcome suggestions from the community.
A pair of Jacky Winters. Photo by Damian Kelly.
The Jacky Winter is one of the “Feathered Five’ indicator species selected by Connecting Country for their detailed 10-year Woodland Birds Action Plan for the Mount Alexander region. There have been noticeable declines in this species’ with the clearing of woodland in many parts of Australia. A handy way to find them, is to look along fence lines where paddocks butt up to bushland, as they love to perch on the fence wires preening or keeping an eye out for insects to eat for lunch.
Although it is a member of the generally colourful family of robins, the Jacky Winter has a more subdued colour palette of pale grey, white and brown, which allows it to blend in to the environment. Males and females are very similar in appearance. Also both sexes can be easily confused with female Hooded Robins, but the Jacky Winter is paler on the chest, it’s bill is slightly shorter and the white stripe down the side of the tail is continuous. To add to the confusion, both species’ distributions overlap considerably. Jacky Winters prefer areas of open woodland, and can be found over large parts of Australia, as well as extending into Papua New Guinea.
In suitable habitat it can be easily observed with its typical feeding behaviour of hawking for insects using the ‘sit and pounce’ tactic typical of several different robins, where it sits on a low branch and then dives down to catch prey on the ground. They can often be seen in pairs whilst feeding. Food includes a range of insects and arachnids. Given the chance they are also known to be partial to cheese. Not unusual as I have experienced similar behaviour from a Brown Treecreeper pinching cheese from my lunch.
Jacky Winter sits on a nest. Photo by Damian Kelly.
In their breeding season they build a very small, cup-shaped nest mainly composed of twigs and bark and held together with spiders’ web. Clutch size is usually 2 eggs. Only the female incubates the eggs, but both parents feed the young. Unlike other Australian species, there is no evidence of helpers at the nest – all work is done by the breeding pair.
Long-term studies indicate that Jacky Winters are generally sedentary and remain in an area throughout the year. There is very little evidence of migration apart from some local seasonal movements. This sedentary aspect of their behaviour makes this species more vulnerable when habitat is cleared.
Jacky Winter. Photo by Jane Rusden.
Seeking data entry volunteer – and our sincere gratitude to the invaluable, Vicki Ryan
Posted on 5 February, 2025 by Anna
Connecting Country benefits from the dedication of many wonderful volunteers who collect data for our two long-term monitoring projects; woodland bird and nest box monitoring. For the last three years, one woman has been diligently working away in the background collating and entering these data, Vicki.
Vicki is a retired director of resources and planning at a major Uni and has a wealth of experience in developing administration systems and processes, making her the perfect fit. Vicki joined us in the covid years, seeking some intellectual stimulation and to contribute positively. She had this to say about her time volunteering with CC:
“I enjoyed my time volunteering with Connecting Country and having the opportunity to work with such a dedicated and supportive team. It has been a privilege to provide support to this valuable organisation. I strongly encourage anyone who is considering volunteering to contact Connecting Country and take the opportunity to work with such an amazing team. Not only will you be contributing your services, you will also learn the nesting habits of phascogales and gliders, and become familiar with the many bird species found in this region.”
Vicki is sadly leaving Castlemaine and will be moving on to other things. She has been an incredible asset for us, and we will miss her greatly.
Thank you for everything, Vicki!
Our wonderful data entry volunteer, Vicki Ryan.
Would you like to volunteer with us?
We are on the lookout for a data entry volunteer for our bird survey and nest box monitoring projects.
Who we are looking for:
- Ideally you will have some data entry experience – No prior knowledge of fauna is required – although we promise you will inevitably pick up some bird names!
- You will be looking for a longish-term volunteer experience (at least 12 months).
- You are able to come into our office (Castlemaine) to complete the data entry (ascending two flights of stairs)
Hours/days are flexible.
Bird data: data entry is concentrated in the winter and spring months, when you will process the bird data coming in from our survey team in the field. A commitment of 1-2 hours per week during these seasons would be ideal, however this is flexible.
Nest box data: data entry monitoring happens every two years (next in 2026), and will require a commitment of a 2-3 hours per week during autumn into winter.
Responsibilities include:
- Entering data from hardcopy datasheets into a database.
- Generating summary reports and emailing/posting to landholders.
- Collating and filing datasheets.
If you are interested, please email anna@connectingcountry.org.au, with some info about yourself and your experience.