Acknowledgement of Country
Friends of the Box Ironbark Forests would like to acknowledge the elders of the Dja Dja Wurrung community and their forebears as the traditional owners of Country in the Mount Alexander Region. We recognise that the Dja Dja Wurrung people have been custodians of this land for many centuries and have performed age old ceremonies of celebration, initiation and renewal on their land. We acknowledge their living culture and their unique role in the life of this region.
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Recent posts
- Fire: paying attention to the detail 25 August, 2024
- Wild discoveries: an exhibition of nature photography 23 August, 2024
- A Winter Walk in Black Hill Reserve 19 August, 2024
- A huge thank you to retiring committee members 17 August, 2024
- FOBIF 2024 AGM 16 August, 2024
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Twenty Bushwalks in the Mount Alexander Region
Mosses of Dry Forest book
Eucalypts of the region book
Wattles of the region book
Native Peas of the region book
Responding to Country
Responding to Country Greeting Cards
Categories
Category Archives: Nature Observations
Where’s the heritage?
The photo below shows old sluicing pipes in the Fryers Forest. As they decay, they provide shelter for the growth of seedlings which will eventually hasten their destruction. Is this decay the gradual fading of our heritage? Maybe–if we identify … Continue reading
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Garden birds in Castlemaine
Damian Kelly has contributed this article on birds in his Castlemaine garden. To see previous posts by Damian on garden birds, click here and here. This summer has seen a much reduced number and range of birds in my garden … Continue reading
Posted in Nature Observations, News
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Koala
The satisfied looking individual above was photographed by John Ellis at Golden Point last week. He was ‘a friendly chap, who didn’t mind posing at camera height.’ Koalas are not uncommon in our area, with some landholders reporting sightings every … Continue reading
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Rosella fledgings display their colours
Several Eastern Rosella fledgling recently fell out of a nest box in John and Marie’s yard at Golden Point. They landed in saltbush below where the adults fed them for a week before they finally flew off. A week or … Continue reading
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State of the forests, 1870
Doug Ralph has supplied us with the text below, as evidence of 19th century attitudes to forest use. The report is from the Argus newspaper, and can be found on the National Library’s Trove website: “The following report of the … Continue reading
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A Spectacular Orchid
Three FOBIF members recently went to Old Coach Road in the Fryers Ranges to have a look at the Giant Sun Orchid Thelymitra aristata. In contrast to our normal small orchids this one was 81 cm (32 in) and can apparently reach … Continue reading
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Honeyeaters raise the alarm
Sitting quietly in my garden I get to watch Silvereyes as they go about their foraging. These beautiful little birds are quite common in local gardens. If you remain still you can often be rewarded with very close views. Silvereyes … Continue reading
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Woolley Bear munches on a Greenhood
Doug Ralph has taken another terrific photo of a Woolly Bear, this time upon a Greenhood. The two holes you can see suggest feeding has begun. The caterpillars of the Arctiidae are mostly covered in dark hairs, which gives them the name … Continue reading
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Garden birds around Castlemaine
Damian Kelly was the guest speaker at the FOBIF AGM in August. His presentation was about observing local birds in our gardens and he included many excellent photos, including the three below, of birds from his Lyttleton Street garden. Damian … Continue reading
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‘The only effective way of measuring change’
The August meeting of the Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club featured a talk by Ern Perkins on systematic environmental monitoring over time: ‘the only effective way of measuring change.’ The following report is based on a more detailed account in the … Continue reading
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