Author Archives: fobif

Celebrating Doug Ralph’s Life

There will be a gathering to celebrate Doug Ralph’s life next Saturday (March 7) at the Rotunda in the Botanic Gardens, Castlemaine. The group organising the event have provided the following information: The celebration will start at 12 noon & the … Continue reading

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Golden Orb Weavers are about

The Golden Orb Weaver Nephila edulis is reasonable common in our local bush. At this time of year the females are mature and able to construct large wheel-shaped orb webs. In certain lights these strong webs look golden, thus the name. Their egg sacs … Continue reading

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Autumn Fungi Workshops

Alison Pouliot has been sharing her fascination with fungi in workshops and forays across Central Victoria for many years. This year she has put together another wonderful program with several workshops in our Shire and others not far away. To view her 2015 … Continue reading

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Launch of Woodland Bird brochure

The Woodland birds of Central Victoria brochure was recently launched at a late afternoon event in The Hub garden, Castlemaine. The large gathering was addressed by Connecting Country director Chris Timewell, Connecting Country’s Habitat for Bush Birds Project Coordinator Tanya Loos, and Geoff Park … Continue reading

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New MAS grant for holiday program

We are very proud to announce that we have successfully gained funding through the Mount Alexander Shire 2014/15 Strengthening Our Community Grant to run a school holiday program in June 2015. The FOBIF School Holiday Program for Winter 2015 is aimed … Continue reading

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Saving the Long Swamp

Trust for Nature has launched an appeal to protect the Long Swamp wetland which stretches almost 200 ha on the Moolort Plains, east of Maryborough. As the TFN site points out, it was once the jewel in the crown of the … Continue reading

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Over 15 years of FOBIF walks

We are not quite sure of the exact year FOBIF walks began but it was sometime in the late 1990s. Doug Ralph, one of the founders of FOBIF, initially led all the walks but later other locals shared this task. For many years … Continue reading

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Last FOBIF walk for the year

Alex Panelli led the last 2014 walk on 19 October in the Fryers Ranges around the Sugarbag Track area. Noel Young wrote the following piece on the walk and included an extensive flowering plant list: On a day of glorious weather, the walk for … Continue reading

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The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost wrote a famous poem called ‘The Road Not Taken’ that begins with the line ‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood’. Had he been writing about Kalimna Park he might have added ‘then diverged again, and again, and … Continue reading

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Six seasons – not four! A journey through the six seasons of the Wombat Forest

Tanya Loos will be giving a one-hour presentation on her recently published Daylesford Nature Diary at the next Newstead Landcare Group meeting on this Thursday (16 October). The evening will start at 8pm and take place at the Newstead Community Centre. The talk will be … Continue reading

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