A short walk in Long Forest

Whist 2 car loads of Field Nats visited Trench Reserve last Saturday, two of us went for a 3km walk along Old House Track in Long Forest, near Bacchus Marsh. If you don’t know the site is it the only patch of mallee south of the Great Divide. The mallee is Bull Mallee, Eucalyptus behiana.

There a several walks to choose from and well worth considering. We came across a biological release site for a rust to control Bridal Creeper and it seems to be working well, as many plants were nearly leafless.

Old Farm machinery hinting at past use

areas of moss

Trim Greenhoods

view to Mt Anakie

view to Western Highway across market gardens

old house site

wattles in flower

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Into the Trench

Following the excursion to the Melton Botanic Gardens some members headed off to the Trench Reserve in Bacchus Marsh. It is located in Tramway Lane and is listed as a geological reserve and is highly significant. Here are some photos I took back in May.

 

view from top of reserve

Melton Botanic Gardens Excursion

Despite windy weather we had an interesting time being shown around the Melton Botanic Gardens by the friends group last Saturday. Their knowledge and involvement in working in the gardens gave us great insight into the amount of work that has been involved.

Whilst the display gardens are the big attraction, there are some beautiful red gums, quite a lot of regeneration works to view and a many birds to observe. On each visit there is something new to see and always something spectacular in flower. Find the Melton Botanic Gardens on Facebook and the Plant Nursery and Depot are also on Facebook. A report on the excursion will be in our next newsletter for club members.

a patch of wildflowers

Acacia denticulosa

Eucalyptus camaldulensis

a carpet of eremophila

Acacia rostriformis

 

 

Lichens

Out at Linton recently on the BEN Reserve at Flagstaff Hill, there was an interesting collection of lichens. They were mainly on rocks but some of the plants were covered as well.

Looking for Dereel Orchids

Field Nats Bill and Paul, visited several sites at Dereel on Tuesday – the Dereel Stone reserve,  Swanson Road and Bliss Road reserve (east side). Unfortunately there are several gorse plants, some gladiolus and at least one plant of boneseed along the northern section.

Corybus incurvus

Pterostylis concinna

There was little out in flower at the Stone reserve, only two wattle species – Acacia paradoxa and A. myrtifolia and leaves and buds of helmet and mayfly orchids.

The other two sites had good flowering examples of two orchid species plus flowers of nodding and trim greenhood orchids.

Sunshine at Linton

While it might have been cold and wet early in the day yesterday, we managed to have lunch in the sunshine at the Linton  Reserve. The Ballarat Field Naturalists have kept an eye on this reserve since Trust for Nature added it to their estate many years ago.

Sunshine at the entrance

We completed the usual fence check to see what branches had fallen in the recent storms and a chainsaw will be needed next time to remove some branches. We removed a bridal creeper from under a Cherry Ballart and had time to admire the correa and a few wattles in flowers. Over fifty kangaroos seem to be spending a bit of time in the reserve and we also spotted a fox and a wallaby.

 

Friends of Canadian Corridor Update

Epacris impressa

Here is the link to the latest Friends of Canadian Corridor update. Our Field Nats Club is a member of this group but you may like to take out individual or family membership as well.

Note that there is a planting day in Woorookarung Regional Park on 13 August and that you need to register if you are interested in taking part. Details are in the update. FoCC July 2017 update

Ghost fungi by night

Here are two photos of the same ghost fungi taken in daylight then at night.  The luminescence is seen at night. On film and in digital cameras the light from the fungus is recorded as green, while our eyes will see the fungus at night as stark white. It does not actually “glow” like a light bulb. Thanks to Carol for the photos. Click on a photo to enlarge and see the luminescence.

Omphalotus nidiformis

Omphalotus nidiformis

Ghostly Fungi

While some say they have seen better years for fungi, there are still a lot to see. Here are some Ghost Fungi from near Mt Egerton. They would be impressive if I took these photos at night, because they glow, but that is not going to happen.

Afternoon light on Canadian Regional Park

panorama of the regeneration area north of Recreation Road

Yesterday afternoon we had a quick visit  into Canadian Regional Park and the common heath is looking beautiful. Don’t forget if you are interested in the latest on what is happening in our newest park come along to the meeting at the Earth Ed Centre, Olympic Ave Mt Clear  at 7pm on Wednesday night. FoCC Woowookarung Regional Park forum

eucalypt canopy

Cortinarius rotundisporus

sunlight through the trees

grass tree

fungi

Epacris impressa

moss

Scented Sundew

afternoon light

Epacris impressa – Common Heath