Last Sunday the Slopes to Summit Partnership – a connectivity conservation initiative in the Eastern Murray – celebrated Spring with a bushwalk through a connectivity corridor in Woomargama. The 28 walkers had a wonderful morning. The walk started at Blue Metal Rest Area on the Hume Highway and walk approx. 10km including extensive areas of Box-gum woodland, […]
After the recent rains, many people have noticed the large amount of ant activity in some areas of the bush. Often people comment about increased ant activity before rain events as a “sign” of rainfall – there isn’t scientific evidence for ants detecting weather events, but it is highly likely that they can respond to environmental […]
Birdlife Australia conduct Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater surveys twice a year, with the first one for 2016 held in May. They seek volunteers to assist with the search, to help determine the distribution of both of these Critically Endangered A group of Holbrook Landcare staff and members headed to Nest Hill Nature Reserve (formerly […]
The “Fungi of the Southwest Slopes and Upper Murray” identification guide has been released…..just in time for lots of exciting fungi activity after the rain. This publication brought to you in a collaboration between Dr. Alison Pouliot, the Slopes2Summit Bushlinks project and the Murray Local Land Services. ‘The brochure provides just some of the many species […]
Over 70 people attended Holbrook Landcare’s ‘Bats on the Billabong’ might on Thursday 14th April at “Fellow Hills”, Morven. The night was held in conjunction with the Australasian Bat Night which is a public awareness programme aimed to show people the fascinating world of bats and to promote their conservation. Guest speaker, Dr Helen Waudby […]
I was out on farm near Gerogery the other day and spotted some of these Common (or Indian) mynas hopping around the silos. This is the first time I’ve seen them this far east. Common Mynas are an invasive species that is common in cities and towns but is moving more and more into our […]
Wattles (Acacia spp) blooming herald the start of Spring and we celebrate Wattle Day on the 1 September. Often people complain that wattles only live for 5 -10 years and don’t like to include them in plantings on farms. Wattles have an important ecological role in our local ecosystems. They are a key food plant for many […]
BirdLife Australia’s Threatened Bird Network are looking for volunteers to help survey Swift Parrots and Regent Honeyeaters across Victoria, NSW, ACT and Queensland in 2015. These surveys provide critical long-term data on the movements, habitat use and population size of the Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater. The 2015 survey weekends will occur on May 16-17 and August […]
The rain over the weekend triggered the annual hatching of the Bardi moths, also known as Ghost moths or Rain moths. These moths belong to the family Hepialidae and are of the genus Trictena. This family is known as the Swift moths or Ghost moths, and they are very large moths ( we had ones up […]
What is it about Autumn and orb weaver spiders? I was in a woodland remnant the other day and there were hundreds of webs that made it very difficult to walk through between the trees without walking into the mass of webs. Why don’t I notice them at other times? Orb weavers are in the […]