The sparkle still at Spargo

A trip to Spargo Creek Mineral Springs for a drop of mineral water is just the thing to do on Christmas Day. Here are some photos from a recent trip. This is a lovely reserve managed by the Shire of Moorabool. It has very diverse ground flora.

Dwarf Boronia

Blue Pincushion

Blue Pincushion

Milkmaids seed head

Chocolate Lily

cicada shell

Button Everlastings

Billy Button

Trailing Goodenia

Dwarf Brooklime

Small Scurf-pea

Murnong

Murnong

Showy Podolepis

Trailing Shaggy-pea

Prickly Starwort

Trigger-plant

Tall Fringe-lily

Slender Speedwell

 

A word from the VNPA

As we all struggle to come to terms with what is happening with so many fires burning across Australia here is a message from the Victorian National Parks Association. It contains some useful references for those who want ‘measured commentary’ in preference to some of the more prevalent rhetoric currently circulating.

Peregrine Family in the Devil’s Kitchen

We hope you enjoy this beautiful series of photos of a family of Peregrine Falcons taken by our club member Carol Hall. After discovering that the Peregrines were nesting last spring, these photos are taken over the period October 23-December 16, on  regular visits to Devil’s Kitchen, near Linton.

From the female incubating eggs to the three youngsters feeding, fledging and flying, this series shows the family “at home” high on the escarpment of rocks. On December 16 Carol only found one youngster – they had stopped gathering together and were presumably  learning how to catch their own prey.

Putting the shine on La Gerche

We held our final excursion for the year in the Creswick area yesterday. The first stop was at the indigenous area that is part of the Park Lake Botanical Reserve. Most of us were unaware of the existence of this area. We were met by Kevin and Rosemary Tolhurst and were led on ‘an indigenous walkabout’.

The history of the reserve dating from 1869, was outlined by Kevin and then we investigated the replanting of the northern end of the reserve and learnt about the ongoing restoration plan and how the plantings are laid out. Thanks to Kevin and Rosemary for taking time out of their weekend to show us around.

It is interesting to see the variety of native grasses and other plants are gaining a foothold on the harsh site. The plantings have been chosen for the site with care and most are making good growth.

Riddells Creek Excursion

Ballarat field naturalists at Conglomerate Gully

Plants List observed during excursion of Field Naturalist Club of Ballarat, 3 November 2019.

Scientific name	Common name	Conglomerate Gully	Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Acacia genistifolia	Spreading Wattle		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Acacia mearnsii	Late Black Wattle	Conglomerate Gully
Acacia paradoxa	Hedge Wattle	Conglomerate Gully
Acacia stricta	Hop Wattle	Conglomerate Gully
Acacia verticillata	Prickly Moses	Conglomerate Gully
Acaena echinata	Sheep’s burr		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Acaena novae-zelandiae	Bidgee widgee	Conglomerate Gully
Acrotriche serrulata	Honeypots	Conglomerate Gully	Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Adiantum aethiopicum	Maidenhair	Conglomerate Gully
Aira caryophyllea	Silvery hair grass		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Amyema pendula	Drooping mistletoe	Conglomerate Gully	Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Arthropodium strictum	Chocolate lily	Conglomerate Gully	Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Asperula scoparia	Prickly Woodruff	Conglomerate Gully
Astroloma humifusum	Cranberry heath	Conglomerate Gully
Billardiera mutabilis	Common Apple-berry		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Bossiaea prostrata	Creeping Bossiaea		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Bracteantha viscosa	Sticky everlasting	Conglomerate Gully
*Briza maxima	Large quaking grass	Conglomerate Gully
Brunonia australis	Blue Pincushion	Conglomerate Gully
Burchardia umbellata	Milkmaids	Conglomerate Gully
Bursaria spinosa	Sweet bursaria	Conglomerate Gully
Calochilus robertsonii	Purplish Beard-orchid	Conglomerate Gully
Cassinia longifolia	Shiny Cassinia	Conglomerate Gully
Cassytha glabella	Slender Dodder-laurel		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Cheilanthes austrotenuifolia	Rock Fern	Conglomerate Gully
Chiloglottis valida	Common Bird-orchid	Conglomerate Gully
Clematis aristata	Mountain Clematis		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Comesperma volubile	Love Creeper	Conglomerate Gully	Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Correa reflexa	Common correa		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Coronidium scorpioides	Button Everlasting	Conglomerate Gully
Daviesia leptophylla	Narrow-leaf Bitter-pea	Conglomerate Gully	Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Dianella revoluta	Black-anther Flax-lily	Conglomerate Gully	Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Dichondra repens	Kidneyweed	Conglomerate Gully
Dillwynia sericea	Showy Parrot-pea	Conglomerate Gully	Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Diuris sulphurea	Tiger Orchid	Conglomerate Gully
Drosera auriculata	Tall Sundew	Conglomerate Gully
Eucalyptus dives	Broad-leaved Peppermint	Conglomerate Gully
Eucalyptus obliqua	Messmate	Conglomerate Gully	Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Eucalyptus radiata	Narrow-leaved Peppermint		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Exocarpos cupressiformis	Cherry Ballarat		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Gahnia radula	Thatch Saw-sedge		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Galium gaudichaudii	Rough bedstraw	Conglomerate Gully
Goodenia ovata	Hop Goodenia	Conglomerate Gully
Hardenbergia violacea	Purple Coral-pea		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Hydrocotyle hirta	Hairy Pennywort	Conglomerate Gully
Hypericum gramineum	Small St.John’s Wort	Conglomerate Gully
Leucochrysum albicans	Hoary Sunray	Conglomerate Gully
Lomandra filiformis	Wattle mat rush	Conglomerate Gully
Lomandra longifolia	Spiny-headed Mat-rush	Conglomerate Gully
Microlaena stipoides	Weeping Grass	Conglomerate Gully
Microceras walteri	Yam daisy, Murnong	Conglomerate Gully
Olearia argophylla	Musk Daisy-bush		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Olearia lirata	Snowy Daisy-bush		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Ozothamnus obcordatus	Grey Everlasting		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Pelargonium rodneyanum	Magenta Stork’s-bill	Conglomerate Gully
Pimelea humilis	Common rice flower	Conglomerate Gully	Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Poa sieberiana	Grey Tussock-grass	Conglomerate Gully
Pomaderis aspera	Hazel Pomaderis	Conglomerate Gully
Poranthera microphylla	Small Poranthera	Conglomerate Gully
Senecio glomeratus	Annual fireweed	Conglomerate Gully
Senecio odoratus	Scented Groundsel	Conglomerate Gully
Solenogyne dominii	Hairy Bottle-daisy	Conglomerate Gully
Stylidium armeria subsp pilosifolium	Hairy-leaf Trigger-plant	Conglomerate Gully	Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Thysanotus patersonii	Twining fringe-lily		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Triptilodiscus pygmaeus	Dwarf (Common) Sunray	Conglomerate Gully
Viola betonicifolia	Showy violet		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Viola hederacea	Ivy-leaf violet		Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Wurmbea dioica	Early nancy	Conglomerate Gully	Gap Rd, Riddells Crk
Xanthorrhoea australis	Austral Grass-tree	Conglomerate Gully	Gap Rd, Riddells Crk

Leucochrysum albicans Hoary Sunray

Stylidium armeria subsp pilosifolium Hairy-leaf Trigger Plant

 

Making Room for Nature in Our Urban Future

Our land is becoming more urbanised as more houses, roads and infrastructure is built to accommodate a growing population. Developments eat into the remaining native vegetation remnants. The challenge is to make these urban areas liveable and although some wildlife disappears, there areas are hotspots for other species.  Dr Amy Hahs, an urban ecologist, spoke at our October meeting about ‘Making Room for Nature in our Urban Future’. Amy is a specialist consultant who works on a diverse range of projects to develop green, healthy cities and towns, and conserve resilient ecosystems.

Urban development on previously degraded land

October Excursion

Scarsdale – Enfield area, Sunday October 6 2019

Our day started at with a tour of building progress at our hosts Peter and Emily’s property ‘Lilwarre’, set in eucalypt woodland amid a carpet of spring flowers.

Golden Bush-pea was flowering prominently throughout, with some Narrow-leaf Bitter-pea. Small Spider-orchid, Waxlip, Leopard Orchid, Nodding Greenhood, Tall Greenhood, Maroon-hood, Common Bird-orchid, Small Gnat-orchid and leaves of several other species yet to flower. Rabbit-ear Orchids were just opening. Emily told us that the orchid list on their 40 acres is 50 species, a remarkable total indeed.

Brachyscome decipiens

Flowering now in Creswick Regional Park

If you have a spare few hours it is worth a trip to Creswick Regional Park. Here is a selection of flowers that are out in the area near Eaton’s Dam.  Only a breached stone wall remains of the dam and rainbow trout may be seen circling in the creek that flows through the broken wall.

Sticky Everlasting

Pink Bells

Bossiaea prostrata

skink

Tall Greenhood

Sacred Kingfisher

Bird Orchid

Yam Daisy

stone in the dam wall

stone in the dam wall

stone in the dam wall

Narrow-leaf Bitter-pea

Beard Heath

We heard a Sacred Kingfisher make its kek, kek, kek, call near the bridge on Jackass Road and there were severasl skinks enjoying the sunshine. Bossiaea buxifolia, Matted Bossiaea, which we saw on an excursion earlier in the year, is covered with yellow flowers and makes a very pretty ground cover.

Take care if walking away from the many and varied tracks and roads, as there are quite a few deep holes, some filled with people’s discarded rubbish. The area also has a few historic water races. Given all the activity that took place during the gold rush era the native vegetation has made a remarkable recovery.

Ballarat Gardens for Wildlife

At our October meeting where Amy Hahs spoke about ‘Making Room for Nature in our Urban Future’ she also mentioned a new program that is about to be trialed in Ballarat.

Gardens for Wildlife is a free program designed to support local residents to provide wildlife friendly habitat in their gardens. This community based program began in 2005 as a partnership between the Knox City Council and Know Environment Society aims to encourage and recognise the benefits of wildlife-friendly gardens and environment-friendly practices in urban areas. Many Councils now support the program.

Long-nosed Lycid Beetle

SEANA Autumn visit to Port Fairy

The South East Australian Naturalist Association (SEANA)  Autumn gathering was held in  Port Fairy on Saturday 23 March 2019. Part of these events always include tours to area of local natural interest. One guided tour covered aspects of the geology, natural history and history of Griffiths Island, Port of Port Fairy. Excursion notes and follow up research by iur club member Andy Arnold.

Griffiths Island

Some of our club members attended the SEANA meeting at Port Fairy before continuing to the FNCB autumn camp at Apollo Bay. On Saturday morning the Hamilton Field Naturalists Club provided a very interesting tour of the coastline including features of the Port infrastructure with a guided walk around Griffiths Island. The excursion was ably led by HFNC member Diane Luhrs who focussed on the intertidal zone and was assisted by Rod Bird who identified the bird species.

Basalt shoreline of Griffiths Island showing Halocene sand deposits and marram grass covered dunes.

We gathered near the causeway to the island at 9.30 am for a 10.00 am departure. Between these times we had the opportunity to look at an excellent small display in the rotunda at the start of the causeway which interpreted features of the island especially its geology. Diane provided us an overview of our walk and the essential safety aspects we needed to observe.