Bird walk in the Wombat with Tanya Loos – 4 January 2020

Posted on 19 December, 2019 by Frances

We are super fortunate to have our very own local BirdLife branch: BirdLife Castlemaine District.

Monthly bird walks

BirdLife Castlemaine holds bird walks on the first Saturday morning of each month. All ages and birding abilities are welcome – they are a friendly and inclusive bunch! If you’d like to learn how to record your bird lists using Birdata, or brush up on your survey skills, they aim to do at least one survey each bird walk.

Meet on the first Saturday of the month, for an 8:30 am departure outside Castlemaine Community House (30 Templeton St, Castlemaine VIC) to tag along, car share or get a lift. Alternatively meet at the start of the walk as advertised. For further details see the BirdLife Castlemaine District Facebook page (click here), their eNews or their events page on the BirdLife website (click here).

Please note walk details times can vary from time to time according to weather conditions, etc., so please check details prior to the walk.

You will need, water, snacks, sun protection including a hat, sturdy shoes, long trousers, binoculars if you have them. Please dress appropriately for the weather.

Walks are cancelled if the temperature is above 35 degrees, it’s a fire ban or a severe weather warning has been issued.

January bird walk in the Wombat

Gang Gang Cockatoo (photo by Geoff Park)

The first walk for 2020 is on Saturday 4 January 2020 in the Wombat State Forest with a very special leader: Tanya Loos (formerly of Connecting Country, now with BirdLife Australia!).

Join Tanya on a wander through the wet ferny gullies and peppermint ridges of the Wombat Forest. We will do the Whipstick Creek Loop walking track which takes 3 – 4 hours. Those who wish to do part of the walk can retrace their steps. On our walk we are likely to see local special species such as Rufous Fantail, Crescent Honeyeater, Gang Gang Cockatoo and Blue-winged Parrot. We might also see Rose Robin, Bassian Thrush and Square-tailed Kite.

Meet at the former Continuing Education building at 30 Templeton St Castlemaine VIC at 8.30 am sharp, to car pool. Alternatively, meet at Garden of St Erth car park, 189 Simmons Reef Rd Blackwood, VIC at 9.30 am.

Garden of St Erth is one of The Diggers Club’s properties and a fantastic perennial and fruit garden, with a cafe and nursery – well worth a look!

Wombat Forest bird walk
When:   Saturday 4 January 2019 at 8.30 am to car pool or 9.30 am to join walk
Where:  to carpool meet at 30 Templeton St Castlemaine VIC
               to join walk meet at Garden of St Erth car park, 189 Simmons Reef Rd Blackwood, VIC
Bring:    sturdy shoes, hat, insect repellent, sunscreen, water, snacks, binoculars

Copper Butterfly monitoring dates – 31 December 2019 and 3 January 2020

Posted on 17 December, 2019 by Frances

Although the early summer weather was unfavourable for our beloved Eltham Copper Butterfly, butterflies have now been spotted out and about in Kalimna Park (Castlemaine VIC). Local ecologists and butterfly enthusiasts Elaine Bayes and Karl Just have been busy training enthusiastic volunteers in how to conduct the vital monitoring needed to help this threatened species.

In addition to the planned butterfly monitoring on Saturday 28 December 2019,  Karl and Elaine have now scheduled a further monitoring day on Friday 3 January 2020.

This is a fantastic opportunity to get out in the bush, learn more about your local environment, and collect some really important data to help protect this beautiful threatened species. You might even discover a new population of this special butterfly!

Castlemaine’s Kalimna Park is home to the largest remaining population of the threatened Eltham Copper Butterfly in the world. However, we don’t know how many butterflies there currently are, and its entirely possible that other, undiscovered populations exist around the Castlemaine area. Our aim is to support interested community members to learn how to monitor with expert guidance, conduct more monitoring and (hopefully) discover new butterfly populations.

Monitoring dates and locations:

• 10 am-2 pm Tuesday 31 December 2019. Location: Water tank on Hunter Track, top end of Hunter Street, Kalimna Park, Castlemaine VIC
• 12-4 pm Friday 3 January 2020. Location: Corner of Vanstan Road and Lawson Parade, behind Castlemaine Secondary College, Castlemaine VIC

Please book for this event – click here

Everyone is invited to get involved. Monitoring isn’t difficult but you will need:

• A reasonable level of physical fitness, as monitoring involves walking off-track through the bush, often in warm weather.
• A positive attitude and willingness to learn.
• Ability to read maps, follow simple procedures and record sightings.

To learn more about this wonderful and interesting little butterfly, including ecology, distribution and information on how to identify this species from similar look-alike butterflies – click here. It would be terrific to find some new populations in our region and this is the perfect opportunity to survey some excellent butterfly habitat. You don’t need to attend all these events to be a monitor. Once you understand the monitoring method and feel confident you can identify an Eltham Copper Butterfly, you’re welcome to do your own monitoring and report sightings.

Please enjoy the video below, courtesy of the N-danger-D Youtube Channel, that has some excellent footage of this wonderful butterfly and symbiotic ant species.

If you’d like to get involved in Eltham Copper Butterfly monitoring, please book in to a monitoring event, or for further information contact Ivan at Connecting Country (ivan@connectingcountry.org.au). 

Restoration site in Taradale takes off!

Posted on 17 December, 2019 by Jess

We’ve just wrapped up our spring bird monitoring season for 2019. Connecting Country’s bird monitoring program was established in 2010 to investigate the effects of habitat restoration on woodland birds. 2019 was the first year our sites were monitored entirely by our team of amazing volunteers. Some of our current and former staff members also volunteered to do bird surveys.

One of our Landscape Restoration Coordinators and volunteer bird monitor, Jacqui Slingo, surveyed one of our revegetation sites in Taradale, Victoria. This was a paddock site that was direct seeded in 2014.  As you can see from the photos below, revegetation by direct seeding can take a number of years to take off depending on the conditions and rainfall in the years following. Jacqui was delighted to find that the direct seeding is now going great guns, with many Wattles now over 2m tall. With the increased cover of vegetation many smaller native birds are starting to use the vegetation, where previously they had only been heard in neighbouring bush.

Direct seeding at the Taradale site 3 years after seeding in February 2017.

Revegetated species starting to emerge in 2017, including: Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha), Silver Wattle (Acacia dealbata), Spreading Wattle (Acacia genistifolia), and Grey Box (Eucalyptus microcarpa).

Direct seeding at Taradale beginning to take off November 2019. Photo: Jacqui Slingo.

The birds observed during the survey starting to use the new vegetation included: Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, Grey Fantails, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, and teams of Yellow-rumped Thornbills, Striated Thornbills and Buff-rumped Thornbills.

It’s always rewarding to see wildlife benefiting from our restoration work!

If you are interested in increasing or enhancing native vegetation on your property within Mount Alexander Shire in central Victoria, feel free to fill in an expression of interest form (click here). We will keep your details on file for the next opportunity when it arises.

If you have skills and interests in bird monitoring and are interested in joining our bird program, please email our Monitoring Coordinator, Jess Lawton (jess@connectingcountry.org.au). We are always on the lookout for skilled bird watchers to join our monitoring program!

Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha) with developing seed pods. Photo: Jacqui Slingo

Echidna CSI – your reports needed

Posted on 17 December, 2019 by Ivan

We received a thought-provoking message from the Echidna ‘Conservation Science Initiative’ (CSI) project, run by researchers at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. They seek reports and photographs of the lovely Echidnas in our region. They’ve been studying the molecular biology of monotremes (both echidna and platypus), the world’s oldest mammals, and discovered some incredible surprises about their biology. For some fun facts about monotremes – click here.

Now they are using their knowledge and molecular tools to help with echidna conservation – but they need your help! Here is an outline of what the Echidna ‘Conservation Science Initiative’ is researching and how you can assist.

We want to learn more about echidnas! Where they are, what they are doing and if they are healthy – so we can work towards their conservation.

How can you help? By taking photos and collecting scats (i.e., poo). Although an iconic native Australian animal, we do not know much about echidnas’ wild populations, as they are extremely hard to find (when you’re actually looking for them). However, we know that there are many of you that have seen wild echidnas (sometimes even in your own backyard!) and taken photos or videos of them. With your help and photo taking abilities, we can start filling in the gaps about wild echidnas in Australia.

What we also need help with is collecting echidna scats.

Why? Because we can get a lot of information about echidnas through the molecules in their scats. We can get out DNA and hormones to tell us who that echidna is, if it’s healthy, stressed or reproductively active. And so we can learn more about these wild populations without having to track or capture any of these animals.

The EchidnaCSI app for smartphones is now available for new echidna sightings and scat collecting!

What do I do if I find an echidna scat? 
Open the app, go to the ‘submit’ page and select ‘collect specimen’. Your camera will pop up so you can take a photo of the scat first. We need this photo so we can get its GPS location to match the sample. A new page will appear asking you to get an envelope or bag and to write the date, time and your name on it. This is so we can identify which submission it belongs to once we receive it. The next page will instruct you to place the scat in the envelope/bag, trying not to touch it. We then give you information on how to send us your collection.

For more information and to download the app – click here

Echidnas forage at the ground surface, waddling along slowly, sweeping their pointed snout across the ground like a metal detector (Photo: Prof. Frank Grützner, University of Adelaide)

ARI subscriptions for environmental research updates

Posted on 12 December, 2019 by Ivan

We received an interesting update from Landcare Victoria and the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research (ARI) this week, regarding a new subscription service to stay in touch with ARI’s key biodiversity and ecological projects on land. Connecting Country has partnered with research organisations in the past and used some of the research that ARI has funded over the years. The following update describes ARI ‘s project update opportunities and how to subscribe.

Arthur Rylah Institute

The Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research (ARI) in Heidelberg VIC is the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning’s leading centre for applied ecological research. ARI has some exciting updates to science subscriptions, and they’re completely free! As a government research institute, ARI prides itself in making its science accessible and highlighting how its latest research is informing both policy and management to better support Victoria’s biodiversity.

ARI’s team of 90+ researchers work all across Victoria (and sometimes internationally) on science that matters, directly informing policy and environmental management. ARI staff work across a range of ecosystems (alpine, estuarine, grassland, forest and freshwater systems) and have expertise in fish ecology, threatened species, monitoring programs and geospatial modelling.

New subscription

ARI recently launched a new subscription, the Terrestrial Quarterly Update (click here), and it’s now easier for you to subscribe and manage your subscription preferences from a single place (click here)

The latest achievements from their terrestrial ecology team includes research on:

• Threatened flora and fauna.
• Fire ecology.
• Spatial modelling (including machine learning).
• Environmental watering.
• Vegetation ecology.
• Ecological risk assessment.
• Pest and wildlife management (including translocations).

The Terrestrial quarterly update joins ARI’s other long running services. Click on the following links for more information:

• ARI seminar series: ARI’s regular one hour seminars on Mondays features researchers from ARI and scientists from around the world (also available via a free webinar stream).
• ARI eNews: ARI’s flagship newsletter highlighting new projects, latest scientific publications, new fact sheets and videos, and other notable events.
• Aquatic Quarterly update: two updates; one providing detail on current projects, events and publications from ARI’s aquatic ecology researchers, the other offering an insight into how research is influencing management.
• YouTube: ARI’s video playlist on DELWP’s channel shares some of the stories from their research.
• ARI website: regularly updated repository of ARI’s project summaries, publications, fact sheets, guides and videos.

Help monitor our endangered copper butterfly – Sunday 15 December 2019

Posted on 12 December, 2019 by Ivan

This Sunday will be the second of four Eltham Copper Butterfly monitoring events for 2019-20, with local ecologists and butterfly enthusiasts Elaine Bayes and Karl Just training volunteers in how to conduct the vital monitoring needed to help this threatened species.

This is a fantastic opportunity to get out in the bush, learn more about your local environment, and collect some really important data to help protect this beautiful threatened species. You might even discover a new population of this special butterfly!

Castlemaine’s Kalimna Park is home to the largest remaining population of the threatened Eltham Copper Butterfly in the world. However, we don’t know how many butterflies there currently are, and its entirely possible that other, undiscovered populations exist around the Castlemaine area. The aim is to support interested community members to learn how to monitor with expert guidance, conduct more monitoring and (hopefully) discover new populations.

When: 12.00 -4.00 pm on Sunday 15 December 2019

Where: Parking spot just north of where golf course intersects with Kalimna Tourist Road, Castlemaine, VIC – click here for map

Bring: water, a hat, suitable clothing (long pants, sturdy shoes and weather-appropriate gear) and snacks to keep you going

Please book for this event – click here

Everyone is invited to get involved. Monitoring isn’t difficult but you will need:

• A reasonable level of physical fitness, as monitoring involves walking off-track through the bush, often in warm weather.
• A positive attitude and willingness to learn.
• Ability to read maps, follow simple procedures and record sightings.

To learn more about this wonderful and interesting small butterfly, including ecology, distribution and information on how to identify this species from similar look-alike butterflies – click here.

There will be two more over the next few weeks, covering different areas around Castlemaine:

• 12-4 pm Saturday 28 December 2019. Location: Corner of Vanstan Road and Lawson Parade, behind Castlemaine Secondary College, Castlemaine VIC – click here for map.
• 12-4 pm Friday 3 January 2020. Location: Corner of Vanstan Road and Lawson Parade, behind Castlemaine Secondary College, Castlemaine VIC – click here for map.

If you’d like to get involved in Eltham Copper Butterfly monitoring, please just book in and come along to a monitoring event, or for further information contact Ivan at Connecting Country (ivan@connectingcountry.org.au).

Connecting Country office hours update

Posted on 11 December, 2019 by Frances

Koala at Moonlight Flat (photo: Frances Howe)

The Connecting Country office will be closed from 4.30 pm on Thursday 19 December 2019 and reopen at 8.30 am on Monday 6 January 2020.

Our usual office hours are 8.30 am to 4.30 pm Monday to Thursday. You’re welcome to drop by to say hello, pick up our new brochure or ask a question. We’re upstairs at the Hub building (233 Barker St, Castlemaine VIC, enter from Templeton St). However, if you’re coming to visit you may wish to call ahead, as we each work a range of hours and sometimes we’re all out and about at the same time.

Many thanks to our volunteers, donors and all our supporters during 2019. We wish you all the best for a safe and peaceful holiday season, with time to enjoy the bush!

What’s that bird? Ask Merlin

Posted on 10 December, 2019 by Ivan

Local bird enthusiast, author and photographer, Damian Kelly, has introduced us to a very special personal assistant. Meet Merlin, a smartphone app that helps identify bird species from our region and all over the world. We hope you enjoy Damian’s following introduction to the Merlin app.

The Merlin Bird app has been around for a while, but until recently lacked any Australian data. This has now changed and it has data sets covering regions of Australia, as well as an entire Australia data set. The app is free and works on both Apple and Android devices.

The data sets are based on information and images collected via eBird. If you have been an eBird contributor you have been part of it all. From the Apple app store or Google Play Store, just download the app and the relevant data files for our region. The data files are quite large and can take a while to download.

Unlike the other available bird apps, Merlin provides two very useful functions that provide assistance with identification:

• Photo ID – identification of a bird directly from a photo.
• Bird ID – a keying-out procedure where you answer questions and the possibilities are quickly narrowed down, which makes identification much easier.

Photo ID

You don’t need to have the image on your phone. It works on images displayed on your camera back or a hard copy.

Having tested the app on photos on my phone, camera back images and even the cover of my book I can say that the results are impressive, although not yet 100%. Oddly, it failed to identify a clear image of an Owlet Nightjar, but correctly identified many species that I threw at it, such as robins, thornbills, a Barking Owl and even a mixed image of a Powerful Owl with downy chick.

If it can’t identify an image it offers to let you assist with your suggested identification and sharing of your images if you wish. In this way it will gradually become more accurate, based on the input of a range of people.

You can download data sets for different regions of Australia. It pays to make sure you have set your location as this helps with the accuracy of the app. The large data download ensures the ability to use the software without a network connection, which is handy when you are in more remote areas.

Bird ID

When you don’t have a photo, you can answer questions about a bird. These include:

• Location – you can use GPS on your phone, enter a location manually or select from a map.
• Date – helps with migratory species.
• Size – a comparison set of outlines is provided.
• Colour – main colour that you select from a palette.
• General habitat and behaviour – fence or wire, trees, bushes and such like.

Then Merlin provides a list of potential species along with images, calls, distribution and general information. Again, you can confirm the accuracy, which helps improve the app.

Although not a full taxonomic key, the keying-out process is simple and easy to use. It should help beginners get going, as well as assist more experienced birders to narrow down possibilities.

What else can I say? It works as expected, is quite accurate and will quickly become more so as increasing numbers of people contribute. More significantly, it demonstrates the power of citizen science in producing very useful tools.

Damian Kelly

Connecting Country brochure reaches far afield

Posted on 5 December, 2019 by Ivan

We recently received an email from one of our valued members that gave us insight into the influence Connecting Country’s brochures can have on the broader community and even further afield. The email was from the lovely Kerrie Jennings, a long-time supporter and volunteer with Connecting Country. Kerrie included some photographs of Japanese students reading our brochures and learning about the Central Victorian landscape and the biodiversity within. It is heartening to know where our educational materials can travel, and what impact it might have on future connections to our unique landscape.

Here is the message and photos from Kerrie:

‘Here is a couple of pics taken by the Loddon River at Baringhup of students visiting from Japan. They stayed with their host family in Castlemaine and traveled out to the farm and also our neighbors’ farms to see sheep, cattle and hay. This group visited the Baringhup Landcare picnic site by the river where we chatted about the restoration of the area over afternoon tea. The booklets in their hands are from Connecting Country and will be a great memory and indicator of local wildlife as well as our efforts to know and care for our part of the world.’

Cheers and many thanks

Kerrie’

If you have a relevant local story, interesting observation, great photograph or blog idea, please email us (ivan@connectingcountry.org.au) and we can create a blog to share with our community.

BirdLife Castlemaine walk at Leanganook – Saturday 7 December 2019

Posted on 4 December, 2019 by Ivan

Our partners at Birdlife Castlemaine have provided the following information regarding their final bird walk for the busy 2019 year. It will be at the Leanganook Camping Ground loop track. Please see the details below, or click here to learn more about their monthly bird walks.

BirdLife Casltemaine’s final bird walk for 2019 will be on Saturday 7 December 2019 at Mount Alexander where we will walk the Leanganook Camping Ground loop track.  The walk will commence at 9.00 am at the camping ground accessed via Joseph Young Drive or meet outside Castlemaine Community House(30 Templeton Street, Castlemaine, VIC) at 8.30 am to car pool.

The habitat is open with Manna Gums, grassy woodland and scattered wattles. Birds that may be seen included Eastern Yellow and Scarlet Robins, Thornbills, White-throated Treecreepers, Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and Striated Pardalotes.

To celebrate a successful year for BirdLife Castlemaine District Branch, the walk will be followed by morning tea so please bring some food to share plus your preferred beverage.

Standard things to bring along to each walk include water, binoculars, hat, sunscreen, sturdy shoes, long pants during snake season, and other weather-appropriate gear.

Please note: Walks will be canceled if, during the walk period, the temperature is forecast to be 35 degrees or more, severe weather warnings are in place, persistent rain is forecast, or if the day has been declared a Total Fire Ban day.

Please check your email on the evening before the event to find out if it has been canceled.

Crimson Chat imitating Christmas (photo: Jane Rusden)

A team effort: monitoring biodiversity at Connecting Country

Posted on 3 December, 2019 by Jess

Community has always been at the core of what we do at Connecting Country. In recent years, it’s been increasingly difficult to source funding for environmental projects. In this new phase, we’ve had to rely on our community even more.

It is important we monitor local biodiversity so we can understand how our on-ground works are helping species. In past years, Connecting Country was able to employ staff members to monitor over 50 woodland bird survey sites, 450 nestboxes, and 48 reptile and frog sites.

Community members monitoring birds (photo: Connecting Country archives)

Nestbox monitoring
In recent times, the funding that once covered this monitoring has ended. 2018 was the first year our nestbox monitoring program was not funded. But that didn’t stop us! Asha, Beth, and Jess were able to incorporate nestbox monitoring into work and volunteer time. With the help of an army of volunteers, we monitored 297 of our 300 ‘core’ nestboxes. Special thanks to Beth, Asha, and Jeremy, Lori, Bev, Paul, Gayle, Carmen, Mal, Damian, Frances, Lachlan, Naomi, Claire, Meg and Naomi for providing invaluable assistance with our nestbox program.

Monitoring nestboxes (photo: Tanya Loos)

Woodland bird monitoring
Later in 2018, we received funding from the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust to review all our monitoring programs, and to support volunteer ‘citizen scientists’ to carry out the monitoring. Spring 2019 was the first year our woodland bird sites were monitored by citizen scientists. Special thanks to our keen bird monitors: Damian, Lex, Jane R, Peter, Geoff, Jennifer, Euan, Asha, Jacqui, Jane M, Kerri P, Kerrie J, Lawrie, Lou, Sue, Peter, Steve, Tanya, Angus and Bob.

Reptile and frog monitoring
Our reptile and frog monitoring program has struggled to continue without ongoing funding.  We’re going to review our reptile and frog monitoring program early next year – so watch this space! Thank you to Mike, Paul, Thea, David, Kerrie, Rob, Kim, Mark, Alex, Beth, Neville, Geraldine, Geoff, Kerri, Tusker, Peter, Helen, Leanne, Jane S, Brendan and Jane R for your efforts with this program.

Many of our landscape restoration projects target species like this juvenile Spotted Pardalote (photo: Jane Rusden)

Data entry
We’ve collected nearly 25,000 species records since 2010. This year we recognized the importance of sharing this information with government agencies, so it can be put to the best use possible. We put a call out to see if anyone would be interested in assisting us with data entry, and we were blown away by many wonderful people offering to help. Thanks to Lou, Karen, Alex, and Corey – our data entry heroes! – for coming in to Connecting Country on a weekly basis, sitting in front of a computer screen and entering our species records into the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas.

Thank you!
This year, we had a small amount of money for a humble thank-you celebration for our volunteers. We wanted to be inclusive, so we initially wrote a list of all the people who had volunteered with us in any capacity over the past 2 years. This list came to over 120 people!  As much as we would have liked to have thanked each person, this was just not possible this year. So, we limited our celebration to our monitoring volunteers.

We enjoyed celebratory drinks and nibbles in The Hub Plot garden, a short summary of our monitoring achievements over the last two years, and Connecting Country’s inaugural ‘Klop’ game championship. Thank you to everyone who came and made it a wonderful evening with great company. A special thanks to Lou, Jane R, and Duncan for setting up and helping the evening run smoothly, and to Heather and Neil for the lovely venue.

These days our monitoring programs run off the smell of an oily rag. But, because we are surrounded by an enthusiastic community, we are still able to check in on our local biodiversity and deliver our monitoring programs. If it wasn’t for your hard work, we simply would not be able to monitor our wildlife. To everyone who has helped Connecting Country: Thank you! We are so grateful for your support.

Walking with the sound turned up: listen to the bush

Posted on 2 December, 2019 by Asha

This blog post was kindly written by Jess Drake as a reflection on Andrew Skeoch’s talk at Connecting Country’s 2019 Annual General Meeting. Jess Drake is a local soil and land scientist. Thank you, Jess!

The day after Connecting Country’s event I did one of my usual forest loops in the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park without my headphones on. Andrew Skeoch had reminded me of the value of listening to the forest. This time I tried to follow Andrew’s four perspectives of listening while out walking.

His first perspective was using sound to identify species. I remember around this time last year I could hear frogs in the man-made dams in the bush. One of them is completely dry this year, and there was a clear absence of any Pobblebonk or Common Eastern Froglet that I heard in abundance last year (click here for details).

The second perspective of listening was sentience – communication between animals. I have a soft spot for the boisterous calls of the teenage White-winged Choughs. I love seeing and hearing packs of choughs causing complete upturn of forest litter layer, squawking at the top of their lungs. They seem to be chattering about their mischief or discovered treasures. The only break from their boisterous chatting seems to be when they see me getting that bit to close and a loud alarm goes off as they fly up into the trees, whilst seemingly agitated by being caught-out mid-fun.

Denuded trees in the National Heritage Park (photo by Jess Drake)

Ecosystem function was Andrew’s third perspective – using sound to understand the type of ecosystem you are in. One thing I noticed on my walk was instead of a rustle of leaves, I mostly heard the cracking and crunching of branches. As I looked up into the canopy on the ridge line, I noticed it was a bit thin. Many of the trees didn’t have leaves. Perhaps something is affecting the forest function?

The final perspective was evolution, where sound can reflect time. Andrew gave a few examples including about why cicadas sound has evolved to the cacophony we hear today.

Not being an ecologist, I thought about the sounds coming from the earth. As I accidentally kick a rock and it makes the thunking noise downhill, I imagine the sound of mass erosion during a thunderstorm, or the sluicing of mined materials during the gold rush. I imagine the loud explosions of volcanic eruptions that formed Lalgambook/Mount Franklin, as the country evolves over millions of years.

Andrew’s key message was really about listening both ways – us listening to the forest and the forest listening to us and revealing itself. He talked about using sound to learn about the conservation of our ecosystems. Sound in the forest is something that I personally had taken for granted (with my headphones on), but I certainly won’t again. I do like the chattering of the choughs after all!

Butterfly monitoring for 1 December 2019 – POSTPONED!

Posted on 29 November, 2019 by Frances

Our planned Eltham Copper Butterfly monitoring this coming Sunday 1 December 2019 is postponed due to cool weather! Local ecologists and butterfly enthusiasts, Elaine Bayes and Karl Just, have advised that the weather forecast for Sunday is too cool for our special butterfly, which requires a series of warm nights to emerge. November 2019 has been cooler than last November, hence the butterflies are a little slower to appear.

Apologies to anyone who was planning to come along on Sunday. There are still plenty of opportunities to get involved and learn how to monitor this threatened species around Castlemaine. Given weather conditions, we will continue monitoring into January 2020.

Eltham Copper Butterfly monitoring

There will be two more monitoring events over the next few weeks, covering different areas around Castlemaine, with a another event in January 2020:

• 12.00 – 4.00 pm on Sunday 15 December 2019. Location: Parking spot just north of where Mount Alexander golf course intersects with Kalimna Tourist Road, Kalimna Park, Castlemaine VIC – click here for map.
• 12.00 – 4.00 pm on Saturday 28 December 2019. Location: Corner of Vanstan Road and Lawson Parade, behind Castlemaine Secondary College, Castlemaine VIC – click here for map.
• January 2020: date and location to be advised.

If you’d like to get involved in Eltham Copper Butterfly monitoring, please come along to a monitoring event, or for further information contact Ivan at Connecting Country (ivan@connectingcountry.org.au).

Copper Butterfly monitoring update: 28 December 2019 and 3 January 2020

Posted on 28 November, 2019 by Ivan

Although the early summer weather was unfavourable for our beloved Eltham Copper Butterfly, butterflies have now been spotted out and about in Kalimna Park (Castlemaine VIC). Local ecologists and butterfly enthusiasts Elaine Bayes and Karl Just have been busy training enthusiastic volunteers in how to conduct the vital monitoring needed to help this threatened species.

In addition to the planned butterfly monitoring on Saturday 28 December 2019,  Karl and Elaine have now scheduled a further monitoring day on Friday 3 January 2020.

This is a fantastic opportunity to get out in the bush, learn more about your local environment, and collect some really important data to help protect this beautiful threatened species. You might even discover a new population of this special butterfly!

Castlemaine’s Kalimna Park is home to the largest remaining population of the threatened Eltham Copper Butterfly in the world. However, we don’t know how many butterflies there currently are, and its entirely possible that other, undiscovered populations exist around the Castlemaine area. Our aim is to support interested community members to learn how to monitor with expert guidance, conduct more monitoring and (hopefully) discover new butterfly populations.

Monitoring dates and locations:

• 12-4 pm Saturday 28 December 2019. Location: Corner of Vanstan Road and Lawson Parade, behind Castlemaine Secondary College, Castlemaine VIC – click here for map.
• 12-4 pm Friday 3 January 2020. Location: Corner of Vanstan Road and Lawson Parade, behind Castlemaine Secondary College, Castlemaine VIC – click here for map.

Please book for this event – click here

Everyone is invited to get involved. Monitoring isn’t difficult but you will need:

• A reasonable level of physical fitness, as monitoring involves walking off-track through the bush, often in warm weather.
• A positive attitude and willingness to learn.
• Ability to read maps, follow simple procedures and record sightings.

To learn more about this wonderful and interesting little butterfly, including ecology, distribution and information on how to identify this species from similar look-alike butterflies – click here. It would be terrific to find some new populations in our region and this is the perfect opportunity to survey some excellent butterfly habitat. You don’t need to attend all these events to be a monitor. Once you understand the monitoring method and feel confident you can identify an Eltham Copper Butterfly, you’re welcome to do your own monitoring and report sightings.

Please enjoy the video below, courtesy of the N-danger-D Youtube Channel, that has some excellent footage of this wonderful butterfly and symbiotic ant species.

If you’d like to get involved in Eltham Copper Butterfly monitoring, please book in to a monitoring event, or for further information contact Ivan at Connecting Country (ivan@connectingcountry.org.au). 

Connecting Country launches brand-new brochure

Posted on 27 November, 2019 by Ivan

It’s been some time since Connecting Country updated our general brochure, but here we have it, hot off the press – and it looks fabulous!

Every organisation needs to share their story and give the community information about their activities, and we are no exception. How do you get involved in our projects, what do we do, why do we do it and how can you contact us? It’s all covered in our newly designed and delivered brochure.

The new brochure looks amazing, thanks to the hard work and creative magic of Jane Satchell, one of Connecting Country’s landholders, who kindly volunteered her professional graphic design skills. In the brochure, you’ll find gorgeous images from some wonderful local photographers, as well as a summary of our four key areas of work.

Click here to download your very own copy, or drop into the office to pick up a free hard copy. We’d love to hear feedback on our brochure and any other information you may require into the future.

Special thanks to Jane Satchell for all her help with the brochure, and to the generous volunteer photographers – Geoff Park, Brownyn Silver and Bernard Slattery – who freely donated their images. Without your help and generous donations, such a classy and professional product would not be possible.

Our brochure cover, showing the superb graphic design by Jane Satchell and photo by Geoff Park

Dear deer, we are watching you

Posted on 27 November, 2019 by Ivan

Have you seen feral deer in your local area?

DeerScan is a new free community resource for Australian landholders, community groups and pest controllers. DeerScan can be used to map deer sightings, report problems or damage caused by deer, and document control actions. It can be used to inform your neighbours and local biosecurity authorities about current deer problems. You can use DeerScan to record new (and historical) observations of deer in your local area, as this will help to build a detailed picture of deer populations.

Deer facts:

• Feral deer are becoming a major pest species.
• There are six species across Australia (red, fallow, rusa, sambar, chital and hog).
• Their numbers are increasing.
• Local authorities need your help to map populations and report problems.
• Everyone is encouraged to report all sightings into DeerScan.

DeerScan can be used to record information on:

• Sightings and numbers – Where have deer been seen in your local area?
• Damage – The damage or problems deer are causing.
• Control activities – Locations where deer control has been implemented.

For further information have a look at the Deerscan website (click here) or download the FeralScan App on your smartphone. The process for recording deer sightings is outlined below.

Step 1 Register your details
	Register your details in DeerScan or simply record information with a valid email address. You do not need to register but it will make it easier for you to view your own data, and enable the FeralScan team to keep you informed about how your data is helping to control feral deer in your local area.
Step 2 Map your observations
	Record wherever you see deer, what species you have seen, what problems they have caused, and control activities such as ground shooting. To enter data, zoom to your current location and place a marker on the map, then insert the details of your observation in the form provided. Smart phone users can use the App to enter data while in the field.
Step 3 Submit your record
	Submit your record and view the details in the All Sightings or My Data tabs. View other observations in your local area entered by other community members. You can also upload your photos to the Photo Gallery and they will display on the website.

Information you enter about feral deer and their impacts in your local area will help local biosecurity authorities to manage feral deer populations to reduce the damage they are causing. Feral deer are becoming a major pest throughout Australia so your input is important!

Butterflies and biodiversity celebrated

Posted on 25 November, 2019 by Ivan

A strong crowd of a few hundred people turned out for perfect weather and an excellent, first-ever Butterfly Celebration Day in Castlemaine on the 17 of November 2019. The free event was in the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens, Victoria, with the community invited to bring a picnic and help celebrate the special story of the threatened Eltham Copper Butterfly, Notoncus ants and Sweet Bursaria plants that make the magic in our local bushland.

Connecting Country provided information and free native plants to the attendees who visited our information stall throughout the day, as well as a base for guided walks through the nearby butterfly habitat. The celebration day was possible with a grant from the Mount Alexander Shire Council. Castlemaine Landcare Group supported local choreographer Vanessa Case and musician Andy Rigby to work with local primary school students to tell the butterfly’s story in movement and music.

This entertaining and educational event featured a Welcome to Country, local musicians, community choirs and a preschool storytelling and craft workshop. Local ecologists Karl Just and Elaine Bayes conducted tours of butterfly habitat north of the gardens, and gave the keen attendees a great overview of the complex symbiotic relationship between the Eltham Copper Butterfly, its preferred habitat of Sweet Bursaria plants and its attendant Notoncus ants.

Another highlight of the day was a visit from David Crosby, the person who published the first scientific description of the Eltham Copper Butterfly as a clearly defined sub-species, back in 1951. During the 1980s he also made an inventory of butterfly habitat for the Melbourne area. David began collecting butterflies as a boy in the 1940s. His comprehensive butterfly collection of 13,000 specimens, included many from areas of habitat now lost to development, is now in the Australian National Insect Collection.

An important part of protecting the Eltham Copper Butterfly is monitoring to record where it currently exists in the Castlemaine area. If you would like to get involved with butterfly monitoring there are three monitoring events during December 2019. Details are provided below. For more information contact Connecting Country or click here.

Eltham Copper Butterfly monitoring events:

• 12-4 pm Sunday 1 December 2019. Location: Water tank on Hunter Track, top end of Hunter Street, Castlemaine – click here for map.
• 12-4 pm Sunday 15 December 2019. Location: Parking spot just north of where golf course intersects with Kalimna Tourist Road, Castlemaine – click here for map.
• 12-4 pm Saturday 28 December 2019. Location: Corner of Vanstan Road and Lawson Parade, behind Castlemaine Secondary College, Castlemaine – click here for map.

The Butterfly Celebration Day was a tribute to our strong and vibrant community, and care for the local environment. Click below and scroll through to enjoy the photos taken by Ivan Carter on the day.

Yarn at Yapenya – Traditional Owners and Landcarers

Posted on 25 November, 2019 by Asha

Yapenya (aka Mount Barker) is a private property in North Harcourt (Victoria) owned and managed by the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation (DDWCAC). On Sunday 29 September 2019, around 35 Landcare volunteers from the Mount Alexander region and Trent Nelson from DDWCAC gathered around the campfire at Yapenya.

We started with a Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony from Trent, while the cockatoos watched on from the eucalypts nearby. Everyone then settled in to a good two hours of talking about our connection to the land, and ways to better work together and support each other to care for it. We shared a little afternoon tea, and then went on a wander with Trent while he showed us a bit more of beautiful Yapenya.

Attendees agreed it was an empowering afternoon of connecting and sharing ideas for working together to care for country. One participant said, ‘It felt very special to be part of the day… It was inspiring to hear Trent talking about his vision for the land. I went straight out and bought a yam daisy plant for my garden!’

So, what can you do? If you’re a Landcarer or a landholder wanting to care for the land in line with DDWCAC’s values, here are a few simple actions suggested on the day:

• Plant native food and fibre plants – such as Murnong (Yam Daisy) and Kangaroo Grass.
• Use Dja Dja Wurrung language where possible – for example when on country or at meetings. Stay tuned for a dictionary of words to start with.
• Read the ‘Dja Dja Wurrung Country Plan 2014-2034’ and think about which goals you can help achieve. To download the plan – click here.

Also, you may like to watch the beautiful video called ‘Leanganook: His teeth’, in which Trent speaks about Leanganook (Mount Alexander) and its importance to Dja Dja Wurrung and Taunurung people. To view the video – click here.

A huge thank you to Trent and DDWCAC for working with Connecting Country to organise this ‘Yarn at Yapenya’ gathering, and to everyone who came with open spirit and made it such a worthwhile afternoon. Thanks also to John Walter for taking and sharing his photos from the day.

This event was funded by the North Central Catchment Management Authority through the Victorian Landcare Program, as part of Connecting Country’s ‘Landcare Connections’ project.

Welcome to Country at Yapenya 2019 (photo by Asha Bannon)

Yarn around the campfire (photo by John Walter)

Yapenya walk (photo by John Walter)

Hearing about Yapenya from Trent Nelson (photo by John Walter)

View from Yapenya 1 (photo by John Walter)

View from Yapenya 2 (photo by John Walter)

Sounds, celebrities and fine food – our 2019 AGM!

Posted on 21 November, 2019 by Ivan

On Saturday 16 November 2019, 75 people gathered at Campbells Creek Community Centre to enjoy an afternoon of formalities and hear an excellent presentation from local soundscape ecologist and environmental thinker, Andrew Skeoch. We celebrated the hard work and achievements of Connecting Country’s past decade with presentations from staff and our chairperson Brendan Sydes, as well as updating the audience on our current funding shortfall. We would like to warmly thank our presenters and all the committee members, staff and volunteers who assisted with the event, which was very well received based on feedback.

By far the biggest star of the show, was the amazing and intriguing presentation from celebrity scientist Andrew Skeoch (yes, he has given a TEDx talk! – click here). Andrew is one of our best-known nature sound recordists and works from a desire to address the fundamental question of our human relationship with the living biosphere. Andrew presented some interesting patterns in birdsong and provided the keen audience with some extraordinary spectrograms.

Andrew presented what birdsong looks like in real-time stereo spectrograms (photo: Sarah Koschak)

Our AGM was short and sweet, and all of our committee members were re-elected for another year! The hard-working Connecting Country committee must be thanked for their considerable strategic and practical contributions to our organisation.

Elected members of Connecting Country’s 2019-20 committee of management are:

• President:                   Brendan Sydes
• Vice President:          Saide Gray
• Treasurer:                   Max Kay
• Secretary:                    Marie Jones
• Ordinary member:    Karoline Klein
• Ordinary member:    Malcolm Trainor
• Ordinary member:    Christine Brooke
• Ordinary member:    Deborah Wardle

AGM minutes will be circulated to members and available on request. Stay tuned for an upcoming blog post with more details from Andrew’s talk. If you would like a copy of Connecting Country’s annual report for 2018-19 – click here.

Please enjoy this gallery of some of the smiling faces at our AGM. Special thanks to Johnny Baker for generously donating their delicious pastries, Vicki Edwards for the photos, and all the volunteers that generously helped with preparations, food and packup.

  

Cactus Warriors AGM and Plains-Wanderer talk: 24 November 2019

Posted on 20 November, 2019 by Ivan

Our partners, the Tarrangower Cactus Control Group, are holding their Annual General Meeting along with a talk on the critically endangered, fascinating Plains-Wanderer bird. Here are further details provided by the Cactus Warriors. 

The Cactus Warriors have, yet again, had a very rewarding year destroying many thousands of Wheel Cactus plants in our local environment and increasing awareness about this noxious weed in our community. The Tarrangower Cactus Control Group would like to thank the many landowners and volunteers for their dedicated work and wonderful results.

The Cactus Warriors are holding an end of year celebration to reward our ‘warriors’, including an exciting presentation and free lunch. The guest speaker, committee member Bec James, is a Natural Environment Program Officer with the Department Environment, Land, Water and planning, and Secretary of the Victorian Weed Society. And for something completely different, Bec will present about the project she’s currently working on to help save the critically endangered Plains-Wanderer bird in Northern Victoria.

We invite all past, present and future ‘cactus warriors’ to join us at 11:30 am on Sunday 24 November 2019 to hear our special guest speaker, followed by a delicious lunch. No RSVP is required. Please join us in the Band Room, Maldon Community Centre, 6 Francis St, Maldon VIC. We’ll have a very quick AGM at 11.00 am, before the presentation, which everyone is also welcome to attend.

For more information about Wheel Cactus, and how to control this invasive species, please watch the video below from the Cactus Warriors.

End-of-Year Celebration for all Cactus Warriors