Volunteers spot endangered butterflies in Castlemaine
Posted on 26 December, 2019 by Jacqui
In pleasant but overcast conditions, eight volunteers joined local ecologists, Karl Just and Elaine Bayes, on Sunday 15 December 2019 to look for Castlemaine’s endangered butterfly (the Eltham Copper Butterfly) in Kalimna Park, Castlemaine VIC.
After a quick briefing, we formed a line in the bush (emergency services style) and began walking slowly with long sticks in hand to tap the Sweet Bursaria (Bursaria spinosa) plants gently as we walked by, to see if any Eltham Copper Butterflies would alight. We all had high hopes of spotting some of the small beautiful butterflies. To begin with some thought we saw them, only to realise they were small yellow moths, revealing their identity as they landed and tucked their wings.
After walking together for a while a call came from a volunteer at the end of the line that Eltham Copper Butterflies had been spotted on top of a rise! The group broke formation, scrambling up the hill to take a look, and were treated to excellent views of the butterflies, which may have been flying more slowly than usual because of the overcast conditions. Seeing the butterflies in flight helped us improve our identification skills. When flying, Eltham Copper Butterflies can look dark, almost black, with flashes of copper, compared to other butterflies of similar size.
Elaine informed us that the adult butterflies tend to be ‘plant loyal’ and are likely to stay close to the individual Bursaria plant they were born on. We were treated to more sightings throughout the afternoon, generally finding butterflies at same locations where they were recorded during previous years. We were able to track the locations during the survey on our smart phones using Avenza, a free app available on Apple and Android. For more information on Avenza – click here
If you’re keen to join in and help out with surveys for Eltham Copper Butterflies, there’s still time this butterfly season, which extends from December to March. Please stay tuned to our blog, or contact us for information on further monitoring events.
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 little butterfly – click here. It would be terrific to find some new populations in our region. You don’t need to attend an event 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.
BirdWatch Spring 2019: results are in!
Posted on 23 December, 2019 by Jess
Connecting Country’s long-term bird monitoring program was established to investigate the effects of habitat restoration on woodland birds. This was the first year our sites were monitored by our team of amazing volunteers. The 2019 monitoring season was supported by funding from the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust as part of our Habitat Health Check project.
We’re also on the lookout for more volunteer bird monitors! If you have bird identification skills and are interested in joining our bird monitoring program, please email our Monitoring Coordinator, Jess Lawton (jess@connectingcountry.org.au).
Help Connecting Country thrive in 2020
Posted on 19 December, 2019 by Asha
Dear supporters
Thank you for being part of the Connecting Country community, joining with many others in supporting our shared vision for landscape restoration across the Mount Alexander region. The valuable work we do couldn’t happen without people like you – whether it’s volunteering time to help with wildlife monitoring, joining our education events, or participating in our on-ground projects – making our vision a reality is only possible with community support.
We know that with the combination of our track record of ten years of successful landscape restoration, great plans for the future, and lots of persistence, we can secure funding for projects from governments and grant makers. Just last week we successfully secured a modest grant to continue our important bird monitoring program into 2020. But we also know that lots of small, on-ground projects are not enough to keep us thriving and focused on long-term plans that go well beyond short-term funding opportunities.
This year I am writing to ask you to please extend your contribution to Connecting Country’s work a step further by chipping in some financial support (if you’re not already). Your donation of $20, $50, $100, or whatever you can contribute, will help us thrive in 2020. We are also introducing an ongoing support option, where you can nominate a regular monthly donation amount, and become regular contributor to our restoration endeavours. Your support will help build and maintain the strong foundations essential to our success as a community-driven organisation.
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.
As a Connecting Country supporter, you’ve already contributed to some amazing successes. Over the past ten years we have:
- Restored over 9,500 ha of habitat across the Mount Alexander region, which equates to around 6% of the shire.
- Delivered more than 200 successful community education events.
- Secured funding to deliver more than 50 landscape restoration projects.
- Supported a thriving 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. With your support, 2020 will see us continue to help landholders with on-ground actions, prepare for climate change, maintain our commitment to long-term monitoring, and deliver events that inform, educate and inspire. See our brand-new brochure for more on what we’re doing – click here.
We’d love for you to continue to be part of the Connecting Country story as it develops, including, if you can, chipping in some financial support. Donating is easy – just use our secure online service (click here) or download our form if you’d prefer cheque or cash (click here). All donations to Connecting Country are tax deductible.
Thanks again for your support for Connecting Country. Best wishes from the Connecting Country staff and committee for a safe and happy Christmas break and we look forward to your continuing involvement in 2020.
Thank you
Brendan Sydes
President – Connecting Country Committee of Management
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.

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).
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!
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 see an echidna?
Open the app, go to the ‘submit’ page and select ‘record an echidna sighting’. Your camera will pop up so you can take a photo. Once you have taken a photo select ‘use photo’. A new page will open where we ask you some questions about the echidna, e.g., if it was alive or dead, walking or digging, a juvenile or adult, and a section for you to add any interesting comments if you wish. Then you submit your recording! We will be sent the photo with the GPS location and the information about that echidna.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
Fruit Fly Workshops in November 2019
Posted on 19 November, 2019 by Jacqui
Learn about how you can fight fruit fly at a series of free workshops.
Mount Alexander Shire Council is working with Harcourt Valley Fruit Fly Action Group to raise awareness of Queensland Fruit Fly and steps to prevent an outbreak through a series of workshops for gardeners, backyard fruit and vegetable growers, schools, small scale farms and horticultural enterprises.
The sessions will be held in Maldon, Newstead and Castlemaine in late November 2019. Harcourt Valley Landcare Group will host a session in Harcourt in February 2020.
The workshops will cover fruit fly identification, traps, what to do if there is an outbreak, and more. Guest speakers will also share first-hand experience of the impact of fruit fly.
Session details
Newstead fruit fly workshop
When: 1.00 pm to 3.00 pm, Thursday 28 November 2019
Where: Newstead Community Centre, Lyons St, Newstead VIC
Maldon fruit fly workshop
When: 6.00 pm to 8.00 pm, Thursday 28 November 2019
Where: Maldon Community Centre, 6 Francis St, Maldon VIC
Castlemaine fruit fly workshop
When: 10.00 am to 12.00 noon, Friday 29 November 2019
Where: Town Hall, Lyttleton Street, Castlemaine VIC
For bookings contact: Lynne Meldrum at the Environmental Health team at l.meldrum@mountalexander.vic.gov.au or call (03) 5471 1866.
Mistletoe presentation and Newstead Landcare AGM – 21 November 2019
Posted on 18 November, 2019 by Frances
Newstead Landcare Group is very pleased to announce a presentation by Professor David Watson of Charles Sturt University, who will reveal the mysteries of mistletoes. This is an enigmatic group of plants. Lacking roots, depending on other plants for their survival and relying on animals for dispersal, they’ve inspired a range of beliefs throughout the world. Some people regard them as magical and endowed with special powers, others as destructive weeds that devalue native habitats. Professor Watson will talk about his two decades of research on these plants and share his emerging view of these plants as beautiful native wildflowers that support wildlife and boost
productivity.
The presentation will be followed by Newstead Landcare Group’s brief annual general meeting (AGM) with elections for President, Secretary and Treasurer.
Mistletoe presentation and Newstead Landcare AGM
When: 8.00 pm on Thursday 21 November 2019
Where: Newstead Community Centre, 9 Lyons St, Newstead VIC
All are welcome to attend and gold coin donations would be appreciated. David will also have copies of the newly released second edition of his book ‘Mistletoes of Southern Australia’ for sale.
There is no need to book for this event, please contact Frances Cincotta for further information on 03 5476 2691.