At midnight tonight, local time, the general public around the Southern Hemisphere will join scientists for a four day intensive data collection event to gather critical information needed by scientists to better understand biodiversity, namely the hugely complex intertwined ecosystems of plants, creatures and other life forms, and the roles each of them play in […]
The Great Southern Bioblitz 2025 Starts Tonight! Read More »
Our Wednesday Wildflower Wanders will continue this week with a visit to the Muckleford Forest. In addition to a magnificent show of different wildflowers including several orchids, we hope to see the rare Grevillea micrantha. Meet: in the Car Park north of the Railway Goods Shed in Kennedy St ready to car-pool and leave at
Wednesday Wildflower Wander, 8th October 4pm, 2025, Sinclairs Lane, Muckleford Read More »
Drawing on a biography she is translating, club member Cathrine Harboe-Ree will talk about the extraordinary efforts the Norwegian field naturalist and polar explorer Johan Koren made to study fauna in north-eastern Siberia in the years 1909-1919. Koren survived shipwrecks and other maritime disasters, winters as cold as minus 65 Celsius, frostbite and isolation. He
The Mount Alexander region is generally quite dry, but Chewton residents Mikael and Helle Hirsch have transformed a dry, weedy paddock of about one hectare into a biodiverse wetland in a remarkably short period of time. Drawing on the expertise of local ecologist Karl Just and others, and making use of a natural spring supplemented
Excursion: Saturday 11th October 2025, 1.30pm,“Creating a wetland environment”, Chewton. Read More »
The South East Australian Naturalists’ Association (SEANA) “camps” are an excellent chance to meet fellow naturalists from around SE Australia and explore a new region under the guidance of local experts. The Field Naturalists’ Club of Ballarat Inc. warmly invites you to attend the SEANA Spring camp for 2025. The camp will be based at
SEANA Spring Camp – Ballarat, 17-19 October, 2025 Read More »
Unfortunately, due to the high temperatures forecast for Saturday, we have decided to postpone our walk along Forest Creek with Christine to 12th April 2025. However, members and visitors are reminded of our AGM and Monthly Meeting as detailed in our previous update. Friday 14th March, 2025, 7.30 pm, Uniting Church Fellowship Room, Lyttleton St
Following Christine’s talk the previous evening, she will take us for a walk along the Great Dividing Trail path beside Forest Creek (now named Leanganook Track) to see first-hand the remarkable transformation of a broom- and gorse-infested valley to a productive native riparian strip following over 20 years of work by CLG and supporting agencies.
The word “Pollinators” immediately conjures up images of honeybees in the mind of most people, however this presentation takes you beyond the honeybees with an up-close look at our native pollinators. Australia has 2000 species of native bee, but what about the impact of the flies, beetles, butterflies and moths. Let’s not forget the birds
In place of our usual club excursion, we will join with staff and volunteers from the Visitor Information Centre to jointly host an informal gathering to remember Richard Piesse, who died on 28th December, 2024. Richard was a long-term active member of CFNC and loyal volunteer with the Castlemaine Visitor Information Centre. He knew our
Come along and help us with our first clean-up for the year. Our club has been allocated a section of the Pyrenees Highway to keep clean, west of Castlemaine from the top of McKenzie’s Hill to Woodman’s Road. We do this four times a year. It is always a pleasant walk along some interesting roadside
Roadside Clean-up: Monday 17th February, 9am Read More »