22 June – Geology Walk in the McHarg Ranges
Posted on 14 June, 2013 by Connecting Country
Have you ever wondered what a “metamorphic aureole” might be? Or where ancient lava flows started and stopped? Or where rivers have cut through some rocks, but have met with more resistance with others? And why this is relevant to today’s inhabitants of the landscape?
On Saturday 22nd June, Dr Neville Rosengren, formerly Senior Lecturer in Earth Sciences at La Trobe University, is going to explain the local landscape in terms of geology and landform, first in a talk at the Baynton Hall and then on a walk on the McHarg Range nearby. This event is being organized by Baynton Sidonia Landcare group.
A view of the McHarg Ranges, which lie on the Eastern egde of the Mt Alexander Shire, between Glenhope and Baynton.
The Fair is Over But Visitors are Always Welcome
Posted on 12 June, 2013 by Connecting Country
The World Environment Day Fair in the Castlemaine Market building on Sunday 2 June was a great success with many local residents (and visitors) stopping by for a chat and taking advantage of the resources on offer. The Connecting Country stall had a strong Landcare theme. It was one of many displays put on by environment ansd sustainability groups working in our region.
If you didn’t make it to the Fair but would still like to access the land management resources available through Connecting Country, visitors are always welcome to our offices in the Hub building – corner of Templeton St and Barker St (above The Good Table restaurant), Castlemaine. We have resources on weed and pest control, native vegetation management, Landcare, native wildlife and much more. We also have Bonnie – a very knowledgable botanist who can help you to identify that mystery plant which ‘sort of looks like a weed, but you’re not really sure’!
Thanks to Jay Smith from the Mount Alexander Shire Council for organising this year’s World Environment Day Fair.
Chris, Max & Jan examine one of the 50 free indigenous plants that were given away to visitors at the Connecting Country stall. Thanks to Frances Cincotta from Newstead Natives for supplying the plants!
Chris Timewell from Connecting Country and Kylie Stafford from the Mount Alexander Shire share the limelight.
2013-14 Grants under GVESHO now open
Posted on 6 June, 2013 by Connecting Country
The federal government has just announced that applications for 2013-14 grants under the Grants to Voluntary Environment, Sustainability and Heritage Organisations (GVESHO) program are now open. These grants provide ‘funds to help eligible community–based, not-for-profit organisations to value, conserve and protect Australia’s natural environment and historic heritage and to promote sustainability by assisting with their administrative costs’.
Guidelines and an online Application Form are available at the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities’ website. Grant applications close on Thursday 20 June at 5pm.
Volunteer Network Workshops
Posted on 6 June, 2013 by Connecting Country
The Mount Alexander Volunteer Network is running a number of workshops this year between June and August. The first one is about Making Meetings Marvellous and will focus on how to make meetings ‘engaging, rewarding, effective and even fun’. This will be held on Wednesday 19 June between 6 and 8pm. The next one is about Community Groups and the Law and will be held on 26 June between 10am and 1pm. Both workshops will take place at the Continuing Education building in Templeton Street.
To find out more about these events and other planned workshops, click here.
Latest edition of chat (May 2013)
Posted on 6 June, 2013 by Connecting Country
The latest edition of the North Central CMA publication chat is now available and can be downloaded here.
Learning About Earthworms in Chewton
Posted on 5 June, 2013 by Connecting Country
On the 27th May, Chewton Primary School’s students from years 2 to 6 were visited by Connecting Country Landcare Facilitator Max Schlachter to do a special class on the importance of Earthworms.
The visit was prompted by World Environment Day which happened on the 5th June and had a theme about food waste called ‘Eat.Think.Save’. One way to reduce food waste is to turn unused food and garden waste into compost. Enter the Earthworm – king of compost and soil improver without peer.
Max and students looking for Earthworms in the revolving compost bin at Chewton primary School.
14 June 2013 – Love Thy Spider
Posted on 31 May, 2013 by Connecting Country
The Castlemaine Field Naturalist Club’s guest speaker on 14 June 2013 will be local resident, Lynne Kelly, who will give a talk entitled ‘Love thy Spider‘. Lynne comments that ‘We all live up close to lots of neighbouring spiders. They live amazingly interesting, often traumatic, lives, all played out on multiple stages around your house. Spiders are the only animal you can get to know as individuals and watch over the long term in their natural habitat of web or burrow. ‘
This talk will include sequences of photos of individuals in a Castlemaine backyard and house and is suitable for kids as well as adults. Lynne says that ‘observing spiders is easy to do, safe and genuinely adds to our scientific knowledge. Long term behavioural studies of our spiders in their natural habitats have not been done – not even black house spiders! But – be warned – there will be some very revealing photos of a pair of huntsmen. We’ll then talk about “The Spiderblogger” and the way we can share Castlemaine spider notes.’
Lynne Kelly
Lynne is the author of 14 books, her most recent being “Spiders: learning to love them“. When her arachnophobia was getting out of control, she decided to cure the irrational fear by learning about the horrible hairy beasts. She overdid the cure and is now ‘obsessed by the gorgeous little critters’.
Lynne is an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at LaTrobe University, working on the way indigenous peoples memorise masses of information about animals, plants and other natural sciences. She then applies this research to the archaeological record.
The talk will be held at the Uniting Church Hall in Lyttleton St, Castlemaine (building behind the church), and will commence from 7.30pm. Everyone is welcome.
2 June – Say G’day at the World Environment Day Fair
Posted on 28 May, 2013 by Connecting Country
Community members are invited to attend a World Environment Day Community Fair on Sunday 2 June, ahead of World Environment Day on Wednesday 5 June.
Established in 1972, World Environment Day has grown to be the United Nations key annual event to promote worldwide awareness of environmental issues and encourage positive environmental actions.
The Community Fair will be held at the Market Building in Mostyn Street, Castlemaine from 10.00am – 12.30pm on Sunday 2 June, coinciding with the Castlemaine Farmers’ Market.
The event will be a mini expo where residents can talk with representatives from local environmental organisations, community groups and local and state government, all of whom will be showcasing the exciting environmental projects underway throughout the Mount Alexander Shire. There will be plenty to see and do, including giveaways and activities for all ages.
Connecting Country will have a stall at the Fair, which will include a section on local Landcare groups, so please come and say hello.
The Fair is being organised by the Mount Alexander Shire Council which is working towards a sustainable future through many activities including the Community Grants Scheme’s Sustainable and Natural Environment category, improvements to waste management practices and the implementation of the 2011-2014 Environment Strategy and 2011-2015 Greenhouse Action Plan.
26 May 2013 – Cactus War Continues
Posted on 22 May, 2013 by Connecting Country
The Tarrangower Cactus Control Group will be holding its next field day on a property on the eastern side of Cairn Curran.
The Control Group would like to make this a record year in the War on Wheel Cactus. Over 50 volunteers attended the first field day for the year and everyone is welcome to participate this month (26 May from 10.30am). Click here to download the flyer which has a map and directions.
What Does Successful Landscape Restoration Look Like?
Posted on 20 May, 2013 by Connecting Country
“What does successful landscape restoration look like?” was the question posed on a recent Landscape Restoration Bus Tour run by Connecting Country.
Participants in the tour were given a rare opportunity to ‘jump the fence’ into well-established landscape restoration projects on private land to hear the property owners talk about what they had done, why they did it, and how successful they considered the project to be. The tour was led by Geoff Park from the North Central Catchment Management Authority who did a great job of helping participants to interpret what we were seeing and hearing.
Peter Skilbeck adressing the group.
The first site visited was a revegetated ridgeline on a grazing property at Joyces Creek (south-west of Newstead) owned by Peter Skilbeck and his family.
Peter told the group that he began his restoration work because he wanted to grow some trees and shrubs on his property and the site he chose (on a stony ridge) was the “hungriest bit of country” he had. The area, which included some large old Yellow Gum and Grey Box trees, was fenced off and sown with indigenous trees and shrubs using direct seeding about 12 years ago. Peter considered that the project had been quite successful because the plants were growing well and there has been some natural regeneration of native herbs, shrubs and trees in between the planted rows. He considered the most successful area of direct seeding to be where germination had been least successful -leaving more room between plants for natural regeneration. Continue Reading »
18-19 May 2013 – Swift Parrot Survey Weekend
Posted on 17 May, 2013 by Connecting Country
On the weekend of the May 18-19, BirdLife Australia are coordinating the first of this year’s bi-annual mainland surveys for Swift Parrots and Regent Honeyeaters. These occur across south-eastern mainland Australia. This year marks the 19th consecutive year for these range-wide volunteer surveys and they continue to provide insights into the movements and habitat requirements of these two charismatic and highly threatened bird species. Regent Honeyeaters are extremely rare visitors to the Mount Alexander Shire and surrounds, whereas at least some Swift Parrots migrate to (and through) the local area each year in the cooler months. One of the few inland areas to be visited by Swift Parrots so far in 2013 is the Muckleford-Maryborough area where birds have been seen foraging in Yellow Gum and Grey Box vegetation.
Anyone can undertake one or more surveys for these threatened birds – whether this be in your backyard, your favourite local patch of bushland or along a well-vegetated roadside.
For further information, click here to the BirdLife Australia website – the link to the powerpoint display at the bottom of the page is particularly useful. Attached is also a copy of the datasheet (click here). If you undertake a survey at a particular area and find none of the two target species, it is still important to complete the datasheet and return it to BirdLife Australia. Knowing where the bird isn’t occurring is almost as important as knowing where it is occurring. (If you see either of these species at others times, Birdlife would still be very interested to hear about these sightings).
A hungry Swift Parrot. Photo by Geoff Park.
Reconciliation Week Activities in Mount Alexander Shire
Posted on 15 May, 2013 by Connecting Country
National Reconciliation Week will take place this year between 27 May – 3 June 2013. A range of activities will be held in the Mount Alexander Shire that the community can become involved with, including an indigenous food planting event with Castlemaine Landcare. Also on National Sorry Day (26 May) there will be a gathering in Castlemaine next to the Market Building between 9.50am to 11.45am where people can add their thoughts to the Sorry Tree. This flyer has the full details, as well as the website address for the recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our Constitution. While Connecting Country is not directly involved in this year’s program, we are very supportive of this initiative and of efforts towards reconciliation.
Connecting Country Introduces New Work Crew
Posted on 7 May, 2013 by Connecting Country
It is with great pride that Connecting Country introduces its inaugural Work Crew. Over the past few weeks, this team of five willing workers – Alex (crew leader), Daniele, Jack, Jules and Teresa – have set to work fencing, planting, weeding and controlling pest animals across the shire. They will also receive on-the-job training in Natural Resource Management over the next few months. The crew was formally ‘launched’ at a special lunch-time event on Thursday 18 April at their depot in Castlemaine. You can find out more about the crew on the Connecting Country staff page.
Workcrew cutting the ribbon at the launch. From left Alex, Teresa, Juliet (Jules), Jack and Daniele.
Funded by the Federal Government’s Biodiversity Fund, the Works Crew will carry out these works on private property as part of Connecting Country’s ‘Connecting Landscapes Across the Mount Alexander Region’ programme. Programme manager Jarrod Coote said at the launch, ‘Over the next 4 to 5 years, the programme aims to connect large areas of remnant bushland through the establishment of habitat corridors and scattered plantings on private land. These works are vital if our wildlife is to have somewhere to go in a changing climate. If successful, these works will also reverse some of the native fauna population declines that have occurred as a result of historic habitat modification, fragmentation and loss.’
The Works Crew will implement ‘Connecting Landscapes’ projects on private land. Within particular areas throughout the shire, native bushland on private properties will have their pest plants and vermin treated, and in some cases, missing components of the vegetation re-planted. In addition, many hundreds of hectares of new plantings will be established to form new connections between isolated bush blocks on public and private land.
To express an interest in taking part in the programme, contact Jarrod at Connecting Country on 03 5472 1594 or jarrod@connectingcountry.org.au .
10 May 2013 – CFNC Talk on Invasive Species
Posted on 6 May, 2013 by Connecting Country
The May Castlemaine Field Naturalist Club guest speaker will be Matt Sheehan who will talk on “Reflections on the importance of invasive species research, policy development and action for the protection of native ecosystems”.
Matt currently runs a business in Castlemaine called ‘Wild Matters’. He is the former National Chilean Needle Grass Facilitator, and still regularly works on a variety of invasive species issues for all levels of government.
Matt will talk about his interest in botany, starting from Castlemaine Secondary College (including field classes with Ern Perkins), and his journey from there through his degree, honours, PhD and the then his professional experiences at Catchment Management Authorities, state agencies and now as a consultant. His talk will focus on invasive species and draw on examples from his research, policy and community work to show the importance of this work in protecting native vegetation and supporting the work of community groups like the field naturalist clubs.
The talk will be held on Friday 13 July at the Uniting Church Hall in Lyttleton St, Castlemaine (building behind the church), and will commence from 7.30pm. Everyone is welcome.
Latest edition of Innovative Farming available
Posted on 6 May, 2013 by Connecting Country
The fifth edition of the North Central CMA’s Innovative Farming newsletter is now available. This edition includes:
- An interview with Joel Salatin (Time Magazine recently labelled him ‘the world’s most innovative farmer’)
- Upcoming events for the Farming for Australian Conditions project
- An update on the Kilter Agroforestry venture
- A recap on the recent events that the Farming for Australian Conditions project has delivered throughout our region
You can download the newsletter here. This is a large file (8.6 MB) and may take a while to download on your computer depending on your internet connection. If you would prefer to have a hard copy, contact Joel Spry at the NCCMA (0407 835 973, joel.spry@nccma.vic.gov.au) to arrange to have the newsletter mailed to you.
Have you seen any sick wildlife?
Posted on 6 May, 2013 by Connecting Country
The Faculty of Veterinary Science at The University of Melbourne has been working on a Wildlife Health Surveillance project since July 2008. The aim of the project is to better understand baseline wildlife health and patterns of disease, detect changed patterns and investigate factors involved. Their website can be found here.
You can report sick or dead mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibian to Pam Whitely on 0400 119 301 or pamw@unimelb.edu.au. Further information is contained in this flyer.
Nest Box Installation at Pilchers Bridge Reserve
Posted on 6 May, 2013 by Connecting Country
Trust for Nature held a nest box installation workshop on Sunday, 21 April on a private property neighbouring Pilchers Bridge Nature Conservation Reserve (NCR), south-east of Bendigo.
The workshop is part of a larger project being run by the Trust, which provides nest boxes to 13 private properties that border Pilchers Bridge NCR. Four of these properties already have a Trust for Nature conservation covenant in place. The Trust is also placing nest boxes within Pilchers Bridge NCR itself, to help create better habitat for hollow-dependent wildlife. With more nest boxes on more properties, it is hoped that this combined effort will lead to more wildlife using the Box Ironbark forests of northern Victoria.
Miles Geldard from Wildlife Nestboxes, ran the workshop and taught 34 private landowners how to install the nest boxes and where best to place them. Each attendee received a number of nest boxes at the end of the session. Continue Reading »
26 May 2013 – Reversing the Decline in Woodland Birds
Posted on 3 May, 2013 by Connecting Country
Beginning at 10am on 26 May, Trust for Nature are hosting a Biodiversity field morning at Pigeon Hill, near Maldon. Landowner Jeanne Daly will talk about her conservation work over the last 20 years on her convenated property on ‘Pigeon Hill’ and Chris Tzaros from Birdlife Australia will speak about Woodland Bird conservation. Many of you will know of Chris Tzaros from his ‘Wildlife of the Box Ironbark Country’ book, and his recent evening talk at Newstead on Bird Photography. Find out all the details about this Trust for Nature event in this flyer.
Latest edition of chat (April 2013)
Posted on 3 May, 2013 by Connecting Country
The latest edition of the North Central CMA publication chat is now available and can be downloaded here. The issue contains a list of the successful applicants for funding under the Communities for Nature program as well as other funding and events news.
4 May 2013 – Woody Weed Control Demonstration Day
Posted on 29 April, 2013 by Connecting Country
Do you want to know more about woody weeds and some of the most effective ways to manage them? Come along to the free Barkers Creek Landcare Network demonstration day and learn more!
See the revolutionary ecoBlade machine – which cuts and paints woody weeds such as blackberry and gorse at the same time!
Also included on the day:
- On-site demonstrations of other relevant woody weed control techniques
- Useful information on how to get the best weed control results
Drinks and a light lunch will be provided (no charge).
Midday – 2.00pm, Saturday 4th May 2013
End of Hagues Road, Barkers Creek – click here for map
Information about the Barkers Creek Clean-up Project: www.connectingcountry.org.au/barkers-ck/
email: michael@connectingcountry.org.au or call 5472 1594
The event is also supported by the Victorian Blackberry Taskforce and Victorian Gorse Taskforce.