Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

Leanganook/Mount Alexander has suffered catastrophic fire damage in the January Harcourt fires, especially at the North End. Some areas were thankfully spared.

Photos: Bronwyn Silver

This grid shows just some of the damage.

I wanted to illustrate the way the Harcourt fires have changed the Mount so I thought of re-visiting the location of a photo that I took about ten years ago.

The moss tells us that it was taken in winter and I remember a foggy morning, just after dawn. This time I went on a warm spring afternoon, so I expected many differences.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the extent of the changes. First of all it is now physically impossible to stand in the same place as I did before. A large tree has fallen from behind and now lies in a tangle. Beyond that, the number of badly burned and fallen trees was far more than I expected, and even though the mossy rock remains it isn’t so easy to orient yourself in the landscape. The widest tree in the above photo now appears to have fallen and many others have almost disappeared. The fire must have been intense here.

The photo below doesn’t do justice to the amount of destruction, and the angle is different, but at least the mossy rock hasn’t gone away. Plenty of weeds have seized an opportunity though. I think the two burned half-trees in the middle are most likely the two prominent trees on the left of the original photo. The fact that I can’t be sure even though I know this place says something. 

Bronwyn Silver 

Invertebrates are “flavour of the month”! Newstead Landcare is hosting a presentation on native bees six days before FOBIF’s presentation on what Alison Pouliot calls “the spineless”.

Sweat bees in a Digger’s Speedwell flower

Ecologist Lynda Wilson has developed a deep knowledge of native bees and has photographed over 70 species on her property near Drummond. Lynda is guest speaker at Newstead Landcare’s AGM on Tuesday 13th October at Newstead Community Centre, Lyons Street Newstead at 7.30pm. The AGM will be brief then Lynda will introduce us to these beautiful, gentle and extremely important insects. 

Gardeners in Shire of Mount Alexander hate introduced Oxalis,
but did you know the flowers provide sweat bees somewhere to doss down for the night?

Patrick Kavanagh, who is stepping down as Secretary after 20 years on Newstead Landcare Group’s Committee, provided these three beautiful images of native bees. 

Blue-banded Bee on Rosemary flower

Friends of the Box Ironbark Forests Annual General Meeting

6pm Monday 19^th October at the Ray Bradfield Rooms, 33 Forest Street Castlemaine.

Michael  will show us over 500 slides that he has taken of critters from the Whipstick Box-Ironbark Forest. They depict the beauty and variety of invertebrates that are of vital importance and an often overlooked part of our environment. 

Free entry. A brief AGM at 6pm, will be followed by Michael’s talk and then supper, all welcome.

We are also keen to invite anyone interested in joining our committee to get in touch. Email Lisa Hall Secretary: info@fobif.org.au or phone 0488 102 191