Ditchfield Bushland Reserve and Nerrina Historic Area

On Sunday 7th April 2024 at 9.45am, eighteen FNCB members assembled at the carpark at the end of Ditchfield Lane, Brown Hill. Under leaden skies, Emily guided the group to the Yarrowee River Trail east of Ditchfield Lane.

This area is a popular birding area, and the group were soon rewarded. Sightings of Superb Fairywrens Malurus cyaneus in their “brown suits”, Grey Fantails Rhipidura albiscapa dancing around the branches and, for the more experienced eye, the White-naped Honeyeaters Melithreptus lunatus and Yellow-faced Honeyeaters Caligavis chrysops frequenting the upper branches. A Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax kept an “eagle eye” on proceedings.

Green Shoots Emerging

On 28 February 2024 a fire burnt 110 hectares in and around Dereel Nature Conservation Reserve. Fortunately there was a very quick response by firefighters. Damage to built infrastructure and fire extent was minimised. On Sunday we went for a short walk up Swamp Road to see how the vegetation is recovering.

Long Forest Nature Conservation Reserve

On Sunday 3^rd March at 10.30am seventeen FNCB members and a visitor convened at Merrimu Reservoir Picnic Ground, cuppas in hand, keen to hear about Long Forest from our esteemed guide, Marilyn Hewish. Marilyn is a life member of the Geelong FNC and was awarded the Australian Natural History Medallion in 2013.

Photos: Grey Box amongst Bull Mallee, Maryilyn Hewish under a Yellow Gum, Mantidfly eggs, Bull Mallee along Long Point Track, Spyridium eriocephalum, Two-spotted Sandalodes Jumping Spider

March Mothing

A few of our members have been captured by the mothing bug. It takes the form of hanging up a white sheet in the garden just before it gets dark. A UV light is suspended in front of the sheet, turned on and the fun begins. It is not just moths that appear on the sheet. You will see a range of insects and the occasional frog. We use iNaturalist to assist with identification.

Protecting our living legacies

The Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) has produced a report for public land managers and anyone who wishes to advocate for the protection of significant trees on public land. It addresses the growing concern among forest scientists, community groups, tree advocates and nature lovers over the loss of significant trees across the public estate. Last week the VNPA hosted a webinar for members to highlight and launch their new report.

Nomination of gold related historic sites, water races, dams and market gardens

Over the past three years club members have shown interest in research on the historic water races, dams, market gardens and other historic aspects of the alluvial goldfield between Creswick and Ballarat. This note outlines the results of studies that have now been used in the nomination of the Creswick Goldfield Water Distribution Heritage Precinct for the State Heritage Register.

Photos : Eaton Dam wall, Bird Orchid, Fungi, mine shaft, path along dam wall, Blue Waters Dam, Chinese market gardens & Pink Bells.

The proposed Heritage Precinct covers an area of 27.3 sq km of crown land southeast of Creswick. It lies in State Forest (13 sq km), Creswick Regional Park (12 sq km) and Central Highlands Water catchment (2.3 sq km).  While most of the Precinct is in Hepburn Shire, nearly 20% is with the City of Ballarat municipal boundary.

Lal Lal – Bungal Historic Area

A visit to the blast furnace is interesting if you have been to view Lal Lal Falls and want something else to see. Upright Guinea-flower, Hibbertia riparia is flowering and so is the Messmate, Eucalyptus obliqua. Parks Victoria rangers have been busy in the Lal Lal – Bungal Historic Area and erected new fencing around the picnic and toilet area since we were last there on a club excursion.

Take Ironmine Road off the Lal Lal Falls Road to reach the picnic area. There are no seats or tables so take your own. It is accessible by 2WD vehicles but don’t go beyond the here unless you have a 4WD because it gets a bit rugged on some of the tracks.

Summer Walks

As summer has been milder than expected it opened the opportunity to explore bushland that would have been personally off limits due to the risk of fire. Near Dayleford we saw a Bright Copper butterfly which was a first for us and the larval food plant, Sweet Bursaria, was in full flower. It is also a good time to see Spotted and Rosy Hyacinth Orchids flowering. Yellow-striped Hunter (Austrogomphus guerini) or other dragonflies and damselflies are hovering around. You may see a wallaby, skink or echidna close up.

Bright Copper, Paralucia aurifera

The nature of lists

Some people love to keep lists of what they see and it is a very useful activity for naturalists. It aids the memory, shows seasonal changes and more. There are many notebooks stored away containing valuable sightings of species seen at certain spots over the years. Such notebooks are gold for some researchers but many never see the light of day.

Campion sp. Mantis Fly

These days lists may be kept electronically as in eBird, and accessed more easily for those inclined to use an app. If you use iNaturalist, which is slightly more work than a written list as it involves taking a photo, there are hundreds of projects where your records may contibute further information.

Taking a close look at nature

As 2023 ended our club finished another year involved in many interesting activities, listening to a wonderful range of guest speakers including Leon Costermans and visiting lots of different places in the wider Ballarat area. A highlight for some was the visit to the Ballarat Mechanics Institute to see the herbarium of Ferdinand von Mueller, for others it may have been the trip to the Werribee Treatment Plant for the birds.

We contributed to Ballarat’s Draft Biodiversity Strategy, worked with the Friends of Canadian Corridor on the self guided wildflower walk on the Sensory Trail, added records to FrogID and learnt more about frogs, lichens, mosses and fungi.

Work continued on the revision of our book on places to visit around the Ballarat region, which we plan to reprint this year. Many records of sightings were added to iNaturalist and a few members participated in the iNaturalist Great Southern Bioblitz (GSB), where 34 people (club members and others) contributed over 1026 records of 440 species.

We said farewell to people who had a great influence on our club and we welcomed new members. We look forward to what this new year brings and finish with a few photos taken on the the last day of 2023 in the Wombat Forest, on Nolan’s Creek Road, Blakeville. The highlight was seeing a pair of endangered Gang Gang Cockatoos.