Local DPI Staff Members Jane Moorfoot and Annette Taylor and their partners Rick and Bill recently trav elled to the top of Australia (Cape York) on a camping trip. They kept a list of bird sightings and also took
some photos where birds co-operated! Some of the highlights, mostly from Queensland, were listening to
the mournful calls of Bush Stone-curlews at night at Seaforth, Jabiru (Black-necked Stork), Bustards, Brolgas, six White-bellied Sea Eagles together at Salt Creek, Palm Cockatoos and Major M itchell’s Cockatoo.
Their total species list was 55 but it concentrated on larger birds and was confirmed sightings only.
Brian McCutcheon discovered a drowned sugar glider in his swimming pool recently. The house abuts the
Ararat Hills Regional Park on the west side of Ararat.
On the farm a pair of Restless Flycatchers have once again taken up residence in the garden. They spend
a lot of time hovering at about head height around our fruit trees. I suspect they nested nearby in the na tive vegetation last year and are aiming to do so again this year. They have a range of calls including one
that sounds like scissors grinding, hence their common name. Not to be confused with more common
Willie Wagtails which have more black and a white eyebrow. Restless Flyca tchers are often seen on farms
and I noticed a pair at Peter and Rosemary Oddie’s farm last time I visited.
Another regular spring visitor is a pair of Horsfield’s Bronze Cuckoos. They are very well camouflaged
and difficult to spot even in a deciduous tre e with no foliage due to the horizontal bronze bars on the
breast and greenish brown back. It is much easier to listen for their presence as they have a repetitive de scending whistle “fee-ew”.
Now is the time to look for non-resident migratory species entering the district as the weather warms up.
Saturday night (12 September) four native hens arrived and took up residence in the creek next to our
house. When this has occurred previously, similar sightings were noted over the whole district.
Spring is the best time to bird watch as most species are more active, their colours highlighted (breeding
plumage) and they often call throughout the day. We have a singing Bushlark calling all day. He has a de fined territory in which he moves around. Around the distr ict I have noticed Common Bronze-winged Pigeons and Crested Pigeons are often around Yalla -y-poora and along the Old Geelong Road.
Irene Sturt checked Lake Buninjon on 8 September, a cold and windy day. The highlights were a small
flock of Black-winged Stilts and two Black shouldered Kites.
Green Hill Lake has some water and many bird species are spread across the Lake. Black -winged Stilts
feed in the shallows on the south and east side, a large colony of Silver Gulls is nesting on an Island on
the west side and hundreds of Fairy Martins are criss-crossing the open water. There was a small flock of
Hard Heads and a large flock of Grebes on the south side. Pairs of Plovers dot the grasslands towards the
Gaol. Well worth a visit with your binoculars and note pad.
A Landcare Groups Planning for Climate Change workshop will be held Friday 16 October at the
Tatyoon Hall. This 3 hour workshop will give you a better grasp of what Climate Change will actually
mean to your local natural resources a nd your farm business, and give you an improved understand ing of what you can do about it.
The workshop will be presented by Martin Dunstan, DPI and Karen Wales, SWCCF and covers weather
patterns, policy and community trends and explores options for adapt ing to and moderating these
changes.
Please RSVP to Una by 14 t h October T: 5350 4244 M: 0419 891 920 E: unaa@netconnect.com.au
Southern Farming Systems
A members paddock walk will be held on Tuesday 15 September. The tour commences at Stoneleigh
and travels to Woorndoo via Mininera, Willaura and Wickliffe. The tour will look at seeding machinery,
new canola varieties, and phosphorous and nitrogen agronomy. This day is for all SFS members and
sponsors and any non-members are very welcome to join on the day.
The Pulse Group will hold a paddock walk on Wednesday 23 September and the main Streatham
Branch Spring Field Day will be held on Friday 30 October.
The Soil2Grain workshop “Extracting more crop per drop from your crop canopies” at Lake Bolac was
most successful. This valuable workshop looked at N requirement in cereal crops and influence of
sowing date and variety on success of in -crop N; disease control in cereals; consequences of grazing
early sown wheat; canopy management in canola and barley.
SFS members who attended the recent Herbicide Mode of Action Day had the opportunity to see how
a range of herbicides work and the effect that they have on a range of crop species. Also on the
agenda was a look at the po tential for development of herbicide resistance and what growers can do
to prevent it.
A new Sustainable Farm Families program will commence in Lake Bolac on 1 & 2 March 2010 . Anyone wanting to participate in this highly recommended workshop can contact V ee Fay at the Lake Bolac Bush Nursing Centre (5355 8700) or Una (0419 891 920) for more information or to register.
The recent Indigenous Seed Collection Workshop led by Anne Ovington and Dan Frost from Seeding
Vic was a most informative day. Anne expla ined Seeding Vic’s role in maintaining indigenous seed
storage banks (at Creswick and Nyah), providing seed for sale, collecting seed for projects, providing
technical information and training, and offering a germination testing and seed cleaning service.
Seeding Vic will also buy seed on consignment.
Anne discussed the importance of collecting and using local indigenous seed for revegetation pro jects. Indigenous seed is likely to be well adapted to the local soil type and climate, able to cope with
local pests and diseases, and plants grown from local seed will preserve the genetic character of local
flora. When collecting, only a small amount of seed should be collected from any one tree or shrub.
At least 10 or more trees should be sampled to ensure gene tic diversity.
The group looked at the wide range of fruit and seed types – capsules, pods, follicles, berries, nuts,
grains and cones. It was noted that Blackwood (A. melanoxylon) is one of very few species that retains
seed in the pods, but for most other species timing of collection is critical with pods, capsules etc be ing collected just before they open and disperse the seed. The best way to determine when to collect
is by observation of flowering and regular monitoring. Timing the collection of indig enous grass seed
needs particular care because of their variable maturity.
The day wound up with a field trip to Peter and Christine Forster’s property to inspect a revegetation
area on Captain’s Creek where we were able to see a wide range of trees and sh rubs, inspect the varying types of pods and capsules, and on some trees follow their development from flower bud to seed.
This field trip also highlighted the need for accurate identification of trees and shrubs before collect ing any seed.
Upper Hopkins Landcare Newsletter September 2009