Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

Spectacular orchid display on last FOBIF walk

Posted on 8 November, 2013 by fobif

On 20 October Richard Piesse led the last FOBIF walk for the year in the Fryers Ranges. The day was hot and the walk quite strenuous but the wildflowers, particularly the spider orchids at the lunch spot, made the trip well worth it. Beth Mellick took the following two photos.

Walkers picnicking on a hill, with a field of spider orchids behind them.

Richard showing walkers where the walk would take them.

The first walk for 2014 will take place on 16 March. Details will be sent to members and postedon this website in January .

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Jaw breaker

Posted on 7 November, 2013 by fobif

Walkers in the local bush from Fryers Ridge to Porcupine Ridge and up to Castlemaine have recently been noticing a beautiful small moth hovering around spring flowers. Its very challenging name is Pollanisus viridipulverulenta–apparently we can blame the name on the nineteenth century French entomologist Felix Edward Guerin-Meneville. It’s common name is Satin Green Forester.

Pollanisus viridipulverulenta [try saying that quickly!] pn Wahlenbergia flower, Cobblers Gully, November 5 2013

Pollanisus viridipulverulenta [try saying that quickly!] on Wahlenbergia flower, Cobblers Gully, November 5 2013

It’s a day flying moth whose larvae feed on various species of Hibbertia. It’s reasonably common throughout eastern and south western Australia, and this year seems to be a good one for the species. [Our thanks to Tony Morton for identifying this beautiful creature].

Day moths copulating, Sebastopol Creek, November 4: these moths are in abundant numbers in our region this Spring.

Day moths apparently copulating, Sebastopol Creek, November 4: Mating takes place in the afternoon, and apparently lasts till the next morning. These moths are in abundant numbers in our region this Spring.

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Bully

Posted on 5 November, 2013 by fobif

Spring: great for wildflowers—and for weeds. We have a wide selection in our region, and villain of the month this November is Briza maxima. Quaking grass. Blowfly grass. Bee grass. And many other names. It’s a native of the Mediterranean lands—North Africa, the Middle East and Southern Europe. It’s been naturalised widely around the world in tolerant habitats, and seems to have come to Australia with pasture grasses, and as a garden ornamental.

Briza maxima, Cobblers Gully, November 5: it’s an attractive grass–and it’s a pest.

A quick check on Google will yield numerous websites telling you what a wonderful plant it is for the garden, and you can even buy seeds on Ebay, shipped from Canada. This is one of the weird things about our culture: some people plant them, others have to worry about the consequences. Who was it who said gardeners have done more damage to our environment than miners?

B. maxima is serious environmental weed in Victoria, particularly the goldfields. Attractive though it is, it has the same problem as other weeds: it’s a bully. It forms dense clumps of hundreds of plants per square metre, excluding other plants and decreasing the diversity and richness of species. In our region it’s been said to compete with Sweet Bursaria, host plant of the Eltham Copper butterfly. We’re not sure about that one.

It gets into home gardens too. Fortunately, it can be easily pulled out–but it’s best to do it before those attractive seed heads fall.

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Acoustic Celebration of Box-Ironbark Country

Posted on 23 October, 2013 by fobif

The premiere of a new radiophonic work, Jaara Jaara Seasons, will take place in Fryerstown on Sunday 3rd November.

Internationally renowned Sound Artist, Ros Bandt, has been immersed recording the sounds of box-ironbark over a 12 month period, with the kind permission of Uncle Brien Nelson, Jaara Jaara Elder. Her radiophonic work will be spread through the bush and include sound recordings from underwater, in the air and the sounds of multi-cultural musicians.

Performers include Rick Nelson (Jaara Jaara voice), Kinja – Ron Murray (didgeridoo/stories) and Sarah James (violin/voice), Mary Doumany (harp/voice), Le Tuan Hung (dan tranh), Wang Zheng Ting (sheng), and Ros Bandt (tarhu, psaltery/slide whistles/recorders). Continue reading →

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Bushfires: the why and the wherefore

Posted on 21 October, 2013 by fobif

The bushfire season is well and truly on for Australia, as witness the destructive fires raging in NSW. The fires will no doubt be followed by discussion about prevention of such disasters. Readers interested in the subject could do worse than look at two articles from the website The Conversation this weekend.

The first, ‘Sydney fires caused by people and nature’, by Ross Bradstock, canvasses the bushfire problem generally—the nature of our landscapes, vegetation patterns, climate change, interaction of people and nature. It contains a good general overview of the problem. A sample passage:

‘The fires yesterday didn’t start in remote areas and move into developed areas; rather they’re actually fires that started in developed areas. For example the fire at Springwood seems to have started close to property, and similarly the fire at Lithgow.

‘These fires are a combination of natural and human factors. Without pre-empting the authorities, its likely that some of them are human-caused (directly or indirectly) rather than originating from lightning.

‘We know from spatial mapping of ignition patterns over the past few decades that most fires start close to human development or human transport corridors in the Sydney region. The way people live in the landscape now is influencing the fire regime, and that pattern is overlaid on additional natural ignitions from lightning.’

The second, ‘We know what starts fires, are we brave enough to prevent them?’ by Janet Stanley, deals more specifically with questions of prevention, in particular of arson. Here’s a representative passage:

‘Of the up to 60,000 bushfires which occur in Australia annually, it is thought that close to half of these are deliberately lit.

‘Arson is used here in a broad sense – about 30% are known or suspected to be deliberately lit; about 20% are accidental fires, often arising from reckless behaviour; and a large 42% have an unknown cause.

‘Indeed, recorded incidents of arson have grown 2000% since 1974, doubling every eight years since 1964.’

About 40 % of arson events are caused by adolescents, Stanley claims: and a concerted effort at understanding the reasons for this would be one constructive approach to bushfire prevention. ‘Our knowledge about arson attacks and about how to prevent them is extremely poor.’

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What was it like, way back then?

Posted on 14 October, 2013 by fobif

The idea of ‘land restoration’ suggests that the land can be restored to a better condition than the one it’s now in. The question is, what qualities might that ‘better condition’ have?

For a partial answer to that question for our region, have a look at Forgotten Woodlands, Future Landscapes, on Ian Lunt’s ecology blog. Using a number of resources, including the 1852 Selwyn map, Lunt points out that in the early 19^th century Silver Banksias and Casuarinas were far more common than they are now, and that their destruction has severely impoverished our treescape. What’s more, their disappearance has led to a severe decline in some bird species.

Mount Alexander: its granite ridges were once covered with a variety of trees, especially Banksias and Casuarinas.

The Selwyn map recorded the ridges of Mount Alexander, for example, as covered with ‘sheoak, gum box and honeysuckle [ie, Banksia]’. An 1875 geology report observed that Casuarinas and Banksias were ‘especially characteristic’ of higher granite ridges in Victoria.

Now, a single banksia survives on the Mount, and casuarinas are uncommon in our bushlands.

If you want to find out why, this provocatively interesting article is a must read. You can find the Selwyn Map via our March 2013 post.

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DEPI responds to fire submission

Posted on 14 October, 2013 by fobif

We have received a detailed response from the Department of the Environment to our submission on the 2012 Fire Operations Plan. The response can be seen here.

DEPI’s letter clarifies a number of questions we posed in our submission, but is puzzling on others. In particular, we asked how sundry burns planned for the catchments of Tarilta and Middleton Creeks would ‘complement’ recent burns in that area, which we had seen as environmentally damaging. The DEPI response makes it clear that any ‘complementing’ would be in the matter of fuel reduction only. The burns in question are all ‘Landscape Management’ [formerly ‘Ecological Management’] zones: according to the Code of Practice they are supposed to have the triple aim of bushfire protection, ecological resilience and forest regeneration/catchment protection. Unfortunately it is only on the first of these objectives that DEPI seems able to be specific.

Secondly, the lack of useful detailed information on how burns are conducted continues to be frustrating. We are assured that ‘DEPI conducts an environmental assessment for every planned burn’: we would dearly love to see these assessments, especially for large scale burns, but none of them are public documents, in spite of the Code of Practice requirement that such information will be ‘publicly accessible’. It’s to be hoped that continued public pressure, together with more detailed enquiry by the Royal Commission Implementation Monitor, will see these documents come to light.

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Daylesford Nature Diary launched

Posted on 10 October, 2013 by fobif

On September 29 a new publication, Daylesford Nature Diary: six seasons in the foothill forests, was launched before a large gathering in Daylesford. The author, Tanya Loos, is a naturalist and journalist and the diary includes many of her monthly nature columns published in the Hepburn paper, The Advocate.

A special feature of the diary is the arrangement of the articles in a six seasonal context. Tanya writes that she was ‘inspired by a calendar format that moves away from the traditional four seasons and into a multi season format that more accurately reflects the Australian experience.’ In her introduction, she discusses the connections with Indigenous weather knowledge.

Sample page. Click to enlarge.

This incredibly attractive publication is illustrated throughout with watercolours by Anne Maxon. Although the diary is based on the Wombat Forest region, it includes photographs of least 3 photographers from our region. The cover folds out into a poster of the Wombat Forest Calender.

For further information contact Tanya on 0400 458 910. To find out more about the diary and/or to place an order have a look at the publisher’s website.

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The future of our rural land

Posted on 7 October, 2013 by fobif

As we reported in March, the Mount Alexander Shire has been in the process of producing a Rural Land Study. The draft study is now out for consultation, and is well worth a look. You can find it on the Shire’s website.

FOBIF has made a brief submission on the study, which can be read below:

‘We congratulate the authors of this comprehensive rural land study.

‘There is however one issue that has barely got a mention and needs more attention given to it. The issue is the interface issues that arise with proposed new rural living areas near public forested land.

‘We fully support the report’s emphasis that any new rural living areas must have the ability to create defendable space around new housing. But there is more to this issue. If a rural living area is proposed near public forested land, there could immediately be a demand on the public land manager to carry out Asset Protection Zone burns adjoining any new rural living areas.

Continue reading →

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Culprit

Posted on 7 October, 2013 by fobif

The photo below shows cup moths congregating on a Goldfields Track post at the Castlemaine town edge, presumably taking a break from munching through nearby eucalypts.

Cup moth conference, Etty Street Castlemaine, September 2013: the second infestation in two years is patchy, but in some places devastating.

As we predicted in April, the infestation is back. Bushland at the north end of the Fryers Forest is in a pretty dire shape, facing its second attack in two years, as are trees in other parts of our region. The bush in the Diggings Park south of Vaughan Springs doesn’t seem to be so badly affected.

For some interesting recent thoughts on insect infestations, cup moths and cuckoos, check Geoff Park’s Natural Newstead blog here. Also for some very pertinent observations on long term effects of drought stress and insect attack in our region and elsewhere in Victoria, check out Ian Lunt’s excellent Ecology Blog.

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