Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

The diversity of water bodies in and around Castlemaine provides the opportunity to view a variety of birds. One of the largest is the Great Egret. This bird can be seen along the edges of swamps and larger dams such as Cairn Curran. Watching one in flight is a sight to behold!

Great Egret. Photo by Damian Kelly, 2012

Although somewhat cryptic and hard to see, the Black-fronted Dotterel is actually quite common in this area. Next time you are near the water’s edge have a scan along the edge and you might be surprised to find a few of these beautiful birds.

Black-fronted Dotterel. Photo by Damian Kelly, 2012

The Chestnut Teal has quite a difference between the sexes, with the male standing out. Although not a common species in this area, these birds can be seen in pairs, sometimes mixed in with other species. But on a sunny day this bird is quite a sight.

Chestnut Teal. Photo by Damian Kelly, 2012

Don Watson will be the guest speaker at this years Muckeford Landcare Annual General Meeting. ‘Xartec’ from the Lancare Group writes that

Don Watson is one of Australia’s wittiest, original thinkers and raconteurs, and is currently completing a book on the Australian bush. He will be revealing some of his insights into the Australian landscape as a prelude to the Muckleford Catchment Landcare Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 10 October. Don’s presentation will commence at 6pm, will be accompanied with soup and refreshments, and will be followed by the AGM at 8.15 pm

This landmark event is being held at the Castlemaine Golf Club, Pyrenees Highway, Castlemaine. Continue reading →

A DSE forum on the draft North West Region Fire Operations Plan has been postponed from mid September to early October to allow DSE to process the exceptionally heavy response to the plan: more than 200 submissions have been received, more than three times that received last year.

This degree of public interest in the Plan is on the face of it good news. Not so good news is that participants at the meeting will not be supplied with information requested by environment groups regarding fire history, monitoring, and effects of management burns. We will report on the meeting in due course.

Thirteen hardy walkers braved dire weather forecasts of rain and cold to do a circuit at the very south end of the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park on Sunday. The weather turned out, in fact, to be mild. The walk made a circuit along Amanda’s Track to Middleton Creek, with a return via the Goldfields Track along Brown’s Gully. All the area covered is part of a large proposed management burn in the draft Fire Operations Plan.

Walkers were rewarded with excellent displays of Baeckia ramossissima, not common in our district, and plenty of other wildflowers–plus lots of views of Cup Moth caterpillars, the most likely culprit in the devastation of eucalypts from Irishtown to Daylesford. The caterpillars even congregated in numbers on track signposts. Walkers produced a couple of common names for them: ‘Stinging joeys’ and ‘Chinese junks.’

The nice and the not so nice: Baeckia ramossissima along Amanda's Track...

The walk highlighted the variety of environments in this section of the Park south of the Wewak Track: grassy woodlands, dense low grade eucalypts, creek valleys with fine large trees, and some excellent wildflower sites.

...and Cup moth caterpillars on a Great Dividing Trail signpost in Brown's Gully.

The October walk will in the Fryers Ranges, held by some to be the premier wildflower part of the region. Check our Walks section for details.