FOBIF walkers enjoy a sunny August day

Posted on 27 August, 2011 by fobif

Sunny weather made for a great FOBIF walk on 21 August. There were thirty walkers on this excursion to the Muckleford bushlands. Paul Hampton from Muckleford Landcare was the leader with Doug Ralph providing a commentary on the mining history of the area. As usual Frances Cincotta shared her expert knowledge of the local plants. It was wonderful to see early wildflowers, particularly the many massive clumps of Greenhoods.

FOBIF walkers in Muckleford Bushlands. Photo by Marie Jones

During the morning, walkers detoured from the track to view see exclusion zones that were established ten years ago. Viewing the Sticky Boronia Boronia anemonifolia that had benefitted from this protection was a highlight of the day.

Sticky Boronia and Frances Cincotta explaining the history and purpose of the exclusion zone. Photos by Noel Young

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Small birds, part 3

Posted on 26 August, 2011 by fobif

The more noisy and active of the birds are the Honeyeaters, often flying rapidly between trees, calling loudly and chasing one another. The Red Wattlebird Anthochaera carunculatais is the largest and most aggressive, chasing all comers away.

Red Wattlebird. Castlemaine. Photo by Damian Kelly, 30 April 2011


One of the most common honeyeaters in the Castlemaine area is the New Holland Honeyeater Phylidonyris novaehollandiae. WIth a striking black and white plumage with a hint of yellow, it is hard to mistake it for anything else.

New Holland Honeyeater. Castlemaine. Photo by Damian Kelly, 30 April 2011

Another very active honeyeater is the White-plumed Honeyeater. A pale green and grey bird that is often in groups flitting quickly through the foliage.

White-plumed Honeyeater. Bells Swamp. Photo by Damian Kelly, 28 July 2011

The Fuscous Honeyeater Lichenostomus fuscus has a similar colouration to the White-plumed, but has yellow rather than white highlights. Another fast moving bird seen in lower vegetation.

Fuscous Honeyeater. Gowar School area. Photo by Damian Kelly. 19 July 2011

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Kalimna tourist road: in spite of the best intentions…

Posted on 25 August, 2011 by fobif

We have received a reply from the Mount Alexander Shire to our concerns about the incremental widening of the Kalimna Tourist road. We have been assured by the Infrastructure manager and Superintendent of works that road crews are aware of the problem, and conscious of the natural values on roadsides like this one.

We have no reason to doubt these assurances, but the brute fact remains that the road is getting wider. The sad sign half concealed in vegetation at the top of Lyttleton Street, warning us: ‘Danger–Narrow Road’ is a sign of a past era. The road is now over eight metres wide in places, and the widening is most pronounced on slopes, where workers have had to put in gutters to get excess water away.

Kalimna Tourist road: the problem of incremental widening needs to be looked at for unsealed roads generally.

It’s not our business to be telling Council how to do its job, but there is clearly a problem here. A similar problem arose two years ago in the National Heritage Park. When FOBIF complained to Parks Victoria about road widening, Parks responded by drawing up more specific guidelines for road maintenance. This may be an option for Council, and we have written suggesting it as a possible solution.

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Moss and liverwort field guide

Posted on 24 August, 2011 by fobif

A meeting took place recently to plan a new field guide about mosses and liverworts. You can find out more about this project by clicking here. Recording sheets for moss observations can be downloaded here and here.

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Fire operations: have your say!

Posted on 21 August, 2011 by fobif

DSE’s proposed Fire Operations plans and Fire management zones for our region are available for comment until August 29, and FOBIF members are urged to seek them out and have a say about them.

The plans are available at

http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/fire-and-other-emergencies/planned-burning-an-introduction/proposed-fire-operations-plans-august-2011

or they can be seen at the Mathieson Rd Castlemaine office of DSE/Parks Victoria on Fridays from 9 am to 4 pm.

The amount of area proposed to be burned is significantly higher under this plan, presumably as a response to the Royal Commission recommendations.

FOBIF representatives will be attending a DSE briefing on the plans on Wednesday August 24. At this stage we have two main concerns:

First, we have been consistently disappointed by the conduct of burn operations. The photos below show the area burned by DSE at the Wewak track in Autumn last year. While we would love to see an independent expert assessment of this operation, common sense would suggest that the operation increased the fuel load in the area, while destroying a significant number of old trees.

Wewak Tk, August 2011: the management burn was so severe numerous trees were killed, causing this massive regrowth of seedlings. In a few years these will present a greater fire risk than existed before the burn.Photo: Bernard Slattery

Wewak tk, area adjacent to the management burn: the fuel load here seems lower than that created by the management burn. The forest structure also seems healthier and more open.

We are also very concerned about large [500+ hectare] burns planned in the Tarilta gorge and Muckleford forest. We cannot at this stage see the point of the first operation, and are concerned that the second is listed as an ‘asset protection’ burn—meaning that it will be burned more severely than would happen if it were zoned otherwise.

It seem to us that DSE is under political pressure to burn more hectares, and does not have the resources to do this properly. We will publish a more considered view on these operations after Wednesday’s meeting. In the mean time we urge FOBIF members to look at the plans, and to express an interest in them: it is important that DSE is aware that citizens are closely observing what they do.

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