Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

BirdLife Castlemaine AGM and Geoff Park presentation

Posted on 22 October, 2018 by fobif

The inaugural Annual General Meeting of the BirdLife Castlemaine District Branch will be held on 27 October. This historic occasion includes a presentation by local bird expert and photographer, Geoff Park, and a short guided bird walk.

BirdLife Castlemaine AGM and Geoff Park presentation
Saturday 27 October, 2018 at 2.00 pm
Campbells Creek Community Centre, 45 Elizabeth St, Campbells Creek VIC

Interested people can nominate for the committee. Positions vacant are Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and three general committee members. Nomination forms and proxy voting forms can be obtained by emailing castlemaine@birdlife.org.au or by phoning Judy Hopley (Acting Secretary) on 5472 1156. Nominations will be accepted at the meeting.

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October walk in the Muckleford Forest

Posted on 16 October, 2018 by fobif

The last FOBIF walk for the year was an enjoyable and pleasant 5 km off-track walk led by Geoff Nevill in dry forest near the Red, White and Blue Poppet head. Geoff’s expert and relaxed guiding made for an interesting and informative day. Frances Cincotta and other flora experts were a great help with plant identification.

Noel Young provided the following flora list: Musky Caladenia, Grey Everlasting, Downy Grevillea, Daphne Heath, Sticky Everlasting, ,Chocolate Lily, Rice-flower, Guinea flower, Pink Bells, Many-flowered Mat-rush, White Marianth, Fireweed (Senecio sp), Bluebell (Wahlenbergia), Twining Fringe-lily, Showy Podolepis, Twiggy Bush-pea, Showy Parrot-pea, Beard Heath, Trigger-plant, Yam Daisy, Creamy Candles, Early Nancy, Milkmaid.

He also made this bird list from calls: Golden Whistler, Rufous Whistler, Magpie. Raven, Fantail Cuckoo, Pallid Cuckoo, Spotted Pardalote, Grey Currawong, White-throated Treecreeper, Red Wattlebird, White-winged Chough, Olive-backed Oriole, Grey Shrike-thrush, Weebill, Thornbill sp., Crimson Rosella

Geoff Nevill explaining the workings of a Puddling Machine.

The first photo below is by Di Davies and the rest are by Bronwyn Silver.

Lichen-crusted old boot

Twining Fringe-lily

Trigger-plant

Showy Parrot-pea

Twiggy Bush-pea

Sticky Everlasting

Musky Caladenia

Downy Grevillia

The 2019 walks program will be on the site early next year.

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Creatures show opens

Posted on 15 October, 2018 by fobif

The FOBIF ‘Creatures’ photographic exhibition hosted by Togs Place in Lyttleton Street opened last Friday. It will run till 29 November. There are 24 photos which have been selected from the 125 photos that were sent into FOBIF. Once again thanks to everyone who participated. The photos are online here. We would also like to thank the owners of Togs, Elissa and Jason, and the cafe staff, for their support in holding this exhibition.

Some highlights include the endangered Swift Parrot by Debbie Worland, a group of perching Juvenile Scarlet Robins by Albert Wright and a Red Wattlebird bathing by Vivienne Hamilton. The rest show photos of local fauna including a macro shot of a Grasshopper Nymph by Patrick Kavanagh, a watchful Koala and a curious Yellow-footed Antichinus by Damian Kelly. We encourage everyone to go along and have a look at this impressive show by local photographers.

You can view a PDF version of the catalogue here. All photos are for sale. For enquiries ring Bronwyn silver 0448751111.

Dusky Woodswallows by Geoff Park

Yellow-footed Antechinus by Damian Kelly

Silvereye by Arlen Truscott

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Open house on Forest Fire Management Vic activities

Posted on 10 October, 2018 by fobif

Forest Fire Management Victoria has invited people to come and discuss their management activities including:

The Joint Fuel Management Plan (previously Fire Operations Plan)
Domestic firewood
Planned burning and other fuel management activities
State forest and crown land management

When: Thursday 18 October 2018 from 4.00 – 7.00 pm

Where: Ray Bradfield Room, Castlemaine VIC (next to Victory Park)

For further information visit https://www.ffm.vic.gov.au or email loddonmallee.plannedburning@delwp.vic.gov.au

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TOGS exhibition starts soon

Posted on 1 October, 2018 by fobif

Our ‘Creatures’ Flickr album now has 116 terrific photos. The closing date for submitting photos was 1 October. The collection ranges from small invertebrates such as nymphs and spiders to larger creatures such as wallabies and echidnas.

We are now in the process of selecting photos for the TOGS exhibition which will run from October 12 till 29 November. Thanks to the 21 people who contributed photos to make this a successful project.

Some of the latest contributions.