11 July 2014 – David Hollands on Wading Birds

Posted on 7 July, 2014 by Connecting Country

David Hollands. Photo from his website.

David Hollands is one of Australia’s best known bird photographers.  His immaculate and well-written books on Australian night birds, birds of prey and kingfishers are a must-have for all naturalists and bird-enthusiasts (click here for more info).

In 2012, after 12 years of preparation and trips across the country, David published an extraordinarily detailed and beautiful book about Waders – The Shorebirds of Australia. It was prepared in conjunction with renowned wader specialist Clive Minton, and includes species known to use habitat in the local area such as dotterels, lapwings, snipes and stilts.

The Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club is very lucky to have David as guest speaker at its July club meeting.  Everyone is welcome (including families), and there is no cost for attendance. The meeting starts at 7.30pm on Friday 11 July 2014 in the hall behind the Uniting Church on Lyttleton St, Castlemaine (next to the Art Gallery & Museum).

On the following day (Saturday 12 July), the club excursion will be to Ellis Falls, weather dependent.  The excursion will depart from the Octopus building on Duke St (opposite the Castle Motel) at 1.30pm sharp.

Connecting Country Committee Vacancy

Posted on 27 June, 2014 by Connecting Country

There is currently a vacancy for a ‘general committee member’ on the Connecting Country committee of management.  We are therefore seeking interest from Connecting Country members to be seconded onto the committee.

The role could be short term – that is, filling the vacancy for the next 2-3 monthly meetings in the lead up to the Annual General Meeting in late September-early October 2014.  However, it would also be a good opportunity for someone who might be interested in a longer term involvement (potentially re-nominating at the AGM) – and these 2-3 meetings could be a trial run to see if you enjoy it.

Meetings are held in Castlemaine on the 4th Tuesday of every  month, starting at 6.30pm and running for about 60-90 minutes.  All committee members are unpaid volunteers (but drinks, snacks and good company are provided!).

If you have an interest or passion for the works that Connecting Country are doing, and feel that you might be able to contribute, please send your expression of interest to Chris (info@connectingcountry.org.au or call on 5472 1594) before 8 July 2014.  Also feel free to contact us if you’d like more information about what is involved in being a committee member.

In Praise of Steering Committees

Posted on 26 June, 2014 by Connecting Country

The following article was written by Connecting Country’s Local Landcare Facilitator, Max Schlachter, for the Victorian Landcare Magazine’s special edition on ‘Landcare support’.

I have to admit that before I started my role as a Local Landcare Facilitator with Connecting Country if you’d asked me what a ‘steering committee’ was I would probably have answered “a group of people who get together around a navigation chart and a weather map to decide which way the ship should go”. While that probably says more about my lack of experience than anything else, the fact is I’ve come to value the support I get from my steering committee very highly. Continue Reading »

Community Planting – Connecting People with Place

Posted on 20 June, 2014 by Connecting Country

Twenty people banded together happily on Sunday morning (15 June 2014) to help a local Taradale landholder to realise his on-ground works with Connecting Country.

Roughly five hundred local indigenous plants were planted at two sites on the beautiful property over the course of the morning, which will extend and enhance the wildlife habitat corridor which follows the Coliban River.  It was a day for Connecting Country volunteers, members and staff to come together and experience firsthand the restoration work that local landholders and our works crew do in the shire.  And also to make new friends and swap stories over a lunch of sausages, burgers, muffins and hot drinks. Continue Reading »

Habitat for Bush Birds

Posted on 19 June, 2014 by Connecting Country

Habitat for Bush Birds is a new Connecting Country project that aims to improve habitat for five threatened bird species in the Mount Alexander region. Project Coordinator Tanya Loos and botanist Bonnie Humphreys from Connecting Country recently visited the first landholders to take part in the project.

Dora’s property is a beautiful example of high quality box ironbark forest, with plenty of large old trees, woody debris and shrubs for small bush birds to thrive. Tanya was thrilled to observe a family group of Hooded Robins, a Diamond Firetail, a family group of Brown Treecreepers and a Jacky Winter on the fence line. All four of these species are the target species for the Habitat for Bush Birds project. Apparently the fifth species, the Painted Button-quail has also been seen on the property.

Here Bonnie is pointing out native saltbush to landowner Doralinda Guidici and her children Sam and Jade. The friendly Joggle and Jala were also very interested, and helped out in the way big friendly dogs do!

The Habitat for Bush Birds project has an on-ground component – with support available for protective fencing, weed control, pest animal control and supplementary planting available for private properties within 11 priority habitat zones. As Dora’s property is in such good condition, excluding sheep out of the high conservation vegetation will be of the highest priority.

The project also has a strong focus on monitoring – with the aim of locating where these threatened birds are present – and absent – over the whole Mount Alexander region.  Continue Reading »

Connecting Country Membership Renewal Drive is on!

Posted on 18 June, 2014 by Connecting Country

Connecting Country has commenced its annual membership renewal drive and we hope that all current members will continue their membership into 2014-15 by completing and returning a renewal form. We are also always keen for new members, and we welcome applications at any time of the year.

Membership demonstrates your support for the organisation, which helps us obtain funding for new projects across the local community. Current members are also able to vote at the AGM if there are decisions to be made (e.g. committee elections) and provides you with insurance cover at Connecting Country events.

As per previous years, membership of Connecting Country is completely free.

Please find a 2014-15 Membership Renewal Form for current members here.  This can be returned by email (naomi@connectingcountry.org.au) or by post to Connecting Country, PO Box 437, Castlemaine VIC 3450.  Membership renewals are requested to be completed and returned by 31 July 2014.

New Membership Application forms are available here for those keen to join Connecting Country for the first time, or for those whose memberships have lapsed. More information about Connecting Country can be found on this website and our constitution can be found here.  A completed hard copy of the membership application form either needs to be posted to the address above, or dropped into our office (room 10, 233b Barker St, Castlemaine – enter through the glass door on Templeton St).

Email Naomi if you unsure if you are a current Connecting Country member or not (naomi@connectingcountry.org.au).

It’s been a really exciting 12 months for Connecting Country, and we are in the process of preparing our Annual Report  which summarises all that we have done – which we will send out to members in the coming weeks.  Heartiest thanks to all for your continued support for and participation in Connecting Country activities.

13 June 2014 – CFNC Talk on Moss

Posted on 10 June, 2014 by Connecting Country

This Friday (13 June), there will be a special Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club (CFNC) general meeting.  Local resident and amateur bryologist Bernard Slattery will be talking about local mosses.  Bernard, and another local Cassia Read, launched the FOBIF publication, Mosses of the dry forests in south eastern Australia, to great fanfare two weeks ago.

Bernard writes,

I  spent about 65 years not really noticing moss, except as a vaguely dank winter thing. How can a person be so blind? The discovery that things are quite spectacular down there on the ground came by accident, while I was looking for something else, and the experience has taught me that the way we see things, or don’t see them, can be quite mysterious. Maybe it has something to do with an idea Shakespeare was getting at when he talked of the man ‘ who will not see because he does not feel’…in any case, I’ll try to explain how it happened in my case. In the process, I’ll show a few pictures of what happens in the moss world when there’s a fire…the transitions are amazing.

The evening commences at 7.30pm at the Uniting Church Hall, Castlemaine – members and visitors welcome. The book will be available for sale on the night. You can also order it on the FOBIF website. A report about the launch which includes a transcript of the speech Frances Cincotta gave to launch the book is included on the website.

Looking for that special moss species.

Breutelia and triquetrella. Photo by Bernard Slattery. White Gum Track, 31 August 2012

A well placed fence can do wonders

Posted on 6 June, 2014 by Connecting Country

the ‘fence affect’ on jan’s grassy plot is pretty evident here!

It’s not quite on the scale of Mount Rothwell, but Jan Hall’s  property at McKenzies Hill is making a difference at a local biodiversity level by ‘fencing in’ a raft of plants to protect them from the heavy grazing of rabbits, wallabies, kangaroos and sheep. Exclusion Fencing was the topic for our latest Workshop Session on Sunday June 1 2014 and Jan’s property, which has a number of types and sizes of exclusion plots, was a perfect setting for the session.

Peter Morison (ex DEPI and Land for Wildlife) shared his considerable expertise and experience, outlining the role of exclusion fences in conservation projects and the practicalities of building and maintaining them, including monitoring the results.

And if you want to completely ‘fence in’ or at least protect your block from future land use changes or development, then a Covenant could also be the way to go. Parts of Jan’s property are covered by a Conservation Covenant through Trust For Nature which means these areas will be protected and conserved for perpetuity under a legally binding agreement. This gives Jan confidence that all her work in excluding pest plants and animals and bringing back biodiversity won’t be in vain.

damp but undeterred; peter outlines fencing

To read more about the session, access resources on the topic and see photos from the (slightly damp) day, visit this page. You’ll also find workshop participant Kerrie Jennings’s views on the day.

For more info on the 2014 Workshop Program, email janet@connectingcountry.org.au.

15 June 2014 – Community Planting Day with Connecting Country

Posted on 2 June, 2014 by Connecting Country

Connecting Country is running two Community Planting Days over the coming months as part of our Connecting Landscapes program.  The plantings are being done at strategically important locations, where the new vegetation will create valuable habitat linkages for native wildlife such as the threatened Brush-tailed Phascogale to move across the local landscape.

The first planting day is coming up very soon, being on Sunday 15^th June in Elphinstone. We’d love for you to come and join us.  We will be providing a free bus ride to site and are meeting in Castlemaine outside the Ray Bradfield room in the Maxi IGA car-park at 9am for a 9:15am departure. This is a great opportunity for people of all ages to get involved with our habitat restoration activities first-hand while meeting other Connecting Country members, volunteers and staff. After the planting and over a BBQ lunch, Tanya Loos – coordinator of the new Habitat for Bush Birds project – will give a talk about habitat structure for woodland birds. We will be returning to Castlemaine by bus at 1pm.

Please RSVP to bonnie@connectingcountry.org.au to secure a place on the bus, and for further details about the day.

6 July 2014 – Alex Wild to talk on Ants

Posted on 31 May, 2014 by Connecting Country

Meat Ants, Iridomyrmex purpureus, at Yandoit, copyright www.alexanderwild.com

Mid-winter doesn’t seem to be the best time to watch ants or other insects. Many species will be passing the season as eggs or unseen juvenile forms and many of our ants will have retreated underground. Yet there will be plenty of insect life to be seen when American photographer and entomologist Alex Wild visits Newstead Landcare on Sunday 6 July to give a presentation on: ‘How ants run ecosystems in Australia and around the world’.

Alex is a research scientist specialising in insects, especially ants, but also beetles, bees, wasps, and various other arthropods. He is also widely known as an insect photographer and teacher of macro photography – his photographs appear in numerous natural history museums, magazines, books, television programs, and other media.

Luckily for us, Alex has previously visited our corner of the world, documenting a good number of our local ants. But his talk won’t just be about ants – as Alex says: ‘Since ants have their muddy little tarsi in everything, though (preying on things, dispersing seeds, aerating soils, scavenging, all sorts of mutualisms & mimicry), the talk will cover a lot of other taxa too.’

If you are interested in ants, insect photography or a good natural history tale, mark this date in your calendar. The talk will take place at 3.30 pm at the Newstead Community Centre. The event is presented by Newstead Landcare in conjunction with The Norman Wettenhall Foundation and Connecting Country. Meanwhile, you can see more of Alex’s work on his website.

FOBIF produces 2 new resources

Posted on 23 May, 2014 by Connecting Country

The Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests’ publication, Mosses of Dry Forests in south eastern Australia, is now available. The book will be launched by Frances Cincotta on 31 May 2014. The launch invitation can be downloaded here. Everyone is welcome to attend.

FOBIF has also produced an attractive and informative poster on Fungi of the Mount Alexander Region. The A2 sized poster will be available for sale ($5) at the launch of the FOBIF moss guide. This production of this poster has also been supported by The Norman Wettenhall Foundation. An order form can be download here.

You can also purchase both these resources from Beth Mellick (Norman Wettenhall Foundation) at The Hub, Office 5, 233b Barker St, Castlemaine (enter via glass door on Templeton St) or the Environment Shop, 325 Barker Street, Castlemaine.

25 May 2014 – Cactus Control Field Day

Posted on 22 May, 2014 by Connecting Country

The next Cactus Community Field Day will be held next Sunday 25 May. As usual the morning will start around 10.30 am.

The venue is a property about 7 km north of Maldon on the Maldon-Bridgewater Road.

More on this event can be found on the Tarrangower Cactus Control Group website. The website also contains a report on the launch of the 2014 Cactus Control season by Lisa Chesters, Federal MP for Bendigo.

31 May 2014 – Parks Victoria Volunteer Recognition Event

Posted on 22 May, 2014 by Connecting Country

On Saturday 31st May, Parks Victoria are holding a Regional Volunteer Recognition Event in Maldon. The event will acknowledge the outstanding contribution  volunteers make to the Victorian parks system.

Northern Region Ranger-in-Charge, David Major, says that “It’s an opportunity to meet other like-minded people in the community, share any publications or stories with others, cheer on recipients of the Parks Victoria Kookaburra Awards and hear about volunteer achievements in the region.” 

When: 12noon to 3.00pm, 31 May 2014, lunch included
Where: Victorian Blue Light Youth Camp
16 Phoenix Street, Maldon
RSVP Friday 23 May 2014
Email marlene.thomas@parks.vic.gov.au
Phone 5430 4620

Click here to see an invitation with a map to the venue.

All things great and small

Posted on 15 May, 2014 by Connecting Country

A gully at Baringhup, with remnant bulokes and other trees, provided us with shelter from the biting wind and a chilly autumn day for our second workshop session, “Biodiversity in the Paddock”  on Sunday May 4th 2014. The spot also provided a more permanent home to an array of flora and fauna, all contributing to local biodiversity on the property.

Thanks to property holders Jacqui and Lachlan Brown for providing their farm as an ideal location to explore concepts around biodiversity, productivity and restoration.

Guided by Lachy, Jacqui and our expert ecologists we moved between scales; from the broader landscape, down to the property and paddock level and back, to identify what makes up ‘biodiversity’ and how we can improve and monitor the health of a landscape.

Cassia Read, Karl Just, Bonnie Humphreys and Chris Timewell led us through a hands-on foray for the obvious to the often overlooked – in this case plants, birds, mosses and lichens, ants.

Jim Radford takes us on a journey of species, genetics, processes

Karl, Bonnie, Cassia, Lachy, Jacqui and Chris

More information, photos and links from the session as well as Jules Walsh’s summary of the session, can be found here.

For more information: email (janet@connectingcountry.org.au) or call Janet on 5472 1594.

Registrations Open for Box-Ironbark Ecology Course 2014

Posted on 15 May, 2014 by Connecting Country

We have been informed by the organisers that registrations are open for the 17th Box-Ironbark Ecology Course. This five-day residential course in Nagambie commences on Monday 6th October and concludes on Friday 10th October, 2014.

The course is for those interested in gaining a general understanding of ecological processes and principles specific to Box-Ironbark Country, as is complementary to the workshops being run locally be Connecting Country.

The course involves five absorbing days of field studies and is taught by a number of expert ecologists including: Cathy Botta (soil), Andrea Canzano (insects), Garry Cheers (birds), Paul Foreman (plants), Lindy Lumsden (wildlife), David Meagher (mosses and liverworts) and Neville Rosengren (geology).

Have a look at their course flyer for more information on the location and topics.  Note that this is not a Connecting Country event.  Contact Kate Stothers (katelance1@gmail.com) if you are interested in attending.  

This area of Box-Ironbark Forest has a Grey Box (Eucalyptus microcarpa) and Red Ironbark (Eucalyptus tricarpa) overstorey. Not all ‘Box-Ironbark’ forest contains these two eucalypt though.

17-18 May 2014 – Swift Parrot survey weekend

Posted on 14 May, 2014 by Connecting Country

We are fortunate to live in a part of central Victoria which is a hot-spot for the threatened Swift Parrot – although the numbers of birds seen during their migrations varies dramatically from year to year.

Over the past 20 years, Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club members and other local birding enthusiasts have conducted surveys for this species on the two annual survey weekends (always the 3rd weekend in May, and first weekend in August).  Across south-eastern mainland Australia, these surveys have been coordinated by BirdLife Australia (and its predecessor Birds Australia).  The surveys also focus on the Regent Honeyeater, although this species is now highly unlikely to be found in the Mount Alexander Shire.  The last confirmed local Regent Honeyeater sighting was about ten years ago of a single bird near Newstead.  A powerpoint presentation on the surveys and these species is available on the BirdLife website (click here).

A copy of the datasheet is available here (click here).   Across the official survey weekend – and the weekends on either side – BirdLife Australia are interested in the results of all bird-watching surveys – irrespective of whether Swift Parrots are seen or not.  Even unsuccessful surveys are of interest to the scientists studying this species.  The datasheet can also be used to document observations of the Swift Parrot made at other times of the year.

There was a recent article published about the impact of Sugar Gliders in killing Swift Parrots and their fledglings and eggs at their nesting sites in Tasmania (click here).

New edition of ‘chat’

Posted on 14 May, 2014 by Connecting Country

The April edition of the North Central CMA publication, chat, is now available and can be viewed by clicking on the banner above. As well as news about awards, local events, courses and resources, this issue includes interesting night photos of a fox and a wallaby taken on Mount Alexander using a camera trap set up by Regional Landcare Facilitator, Max Schlachter.  It also contains a beautiful image of Grey-crowned Babblers by Chris Tzaros.

Hawkweed Alert

Posted on 14 May, 2014 by Connecting Country

People who have recently purchased plants or flowers at markets in the region are being asked to check their purchases after a State Prohibited Weed, Orange Hawkweed, was being offered for sale.

This pretty looking flower has demonstrated itself to be a highly invasive species that thrives in cooler climates. It can be identified by its hairy leaves and stems. The flower has vibrant golden petals with orange tips.

It is illegal to trade, display, transport, or propagate any State Prohibited Weed.

If you do find this weed, do not dispose of it yourself, officers from the Department of Environment and Primary Industries must be contacted to conduct the removal.

This article first appeared in Macedon Ranges Environmental eNews.

April/June 2014 – FOBIF Photographers at TOGS

Posted on 25 April, 2014 by Connecting Country

Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests is holding a photo exhibition at TOGS Cafe and Gallery, Castlemaine over the next 6 weeks. The title of the show, Small Wonders, reflects the surprising discoveries people often make when they take a close look at nature. All photos are taken in our local area.

4 May 2014 – Talk on Aboriginal Guides

Posted on 25 April, 2014 by Connecting Country

Dr Fred Cahir will be giving a talk on Aboriginal Guides during the Victorian goldrush period between 2 and 4.30 pm on Sunday 4 May. Dr Cahir is a Senior Lecturer at Ballarat University. The event is presented by the Mount Alexander Branch of the National Trust and will be held at the Chewton Community Centre. Afternoon tea will be served.

Click here to view flyer. (Please note that the flyer refers to the period relating to Aboriginal guides as the 1880s when it should be the 1850s.)