Field Nats

Monthly Meeting: Friday 9th August, 7:30pm via Zoom

Fire ants could potentially inflict a multi-billion dollar hit to Australia’s economy. They are three times more venomous than other stinging insects. They threaten iconic Australian wildlife populations like koalas, platypus and echidnas. Overseas, fire ants are causing agricultural land to become unviable. As expert stowaways they have crossed oceans and continents in cargo. These invaders […]

Monthly Meeting: Friday 9th August, 7:30pm via Zoom Read More »

Speaker: Reece Pianta (Invasive Species Council), "Fire ants – their threat and eradication"

Excursion – Saturday August 10th,1.00pm, “Restoring leaky landscapes”, Spring Plains, Heathcote (Biolinks Alliance project)

As we heard from Executive Director Dr Sophie Bickford at our November Monthly Meeting last year, the Central Victorian Biolinks Alliance aims to work with partner organisations to restore and reconnect large landscapes across Central Victoria.  For our August Excursion, we now have the opportunity to visit a Biolinks Alliance project site in the Spring

Excursion – Saturday August 10th,1.00pm, “Restoring leaky landscapes”, Spring Plains, Heathcote (Biolinks Alliance project) Read More »

Leader: – Cameron O’Mara (Biolinks Alliance Ecologist)

Roadside Clean-up: Monday 12th August, 9am

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 bush. Come along and help do our bit for the community.  Meet:

Roadside Clean-up: Monday 12th August, 9am Read More »

It’s time to check our stretch of the Pyrenees Highway!

Monthly Meeting: Friday 12th July, 7:30pm by Zoom

We are privileged to have A/Prof Jonathan Plett from the Western Sydney University Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment address our July monthly meeting on the topic of how fungi communicate with their host plants. Jonathan will tell us about his research to identify the protein signals that coordinate symbiosis between soil-borne mycorrhizal fungi and plants

Monthly Meeting: Friday 12th July, 7:30pm by Zoom Read More »

Speaker: Assoc. Prof Jonathan Plett (Western Sydney University) “Translating the Language of Mycorrhizal Fungi”

Excursion -Saturday 13th July, 1.30pm “Street trees of Castlemaine”

This excursion provides the opportunity to appreciate the interesting collection of trees in Goldsmith Crescent and Yandell, Forest, Kennedy and Campbell Streets. Our guides both have botanical expertise and will help us identify at least 20 different indigenous and introduced species, including several forms of Yellow Gum (Eucalyptus leucoxylon). Two of the trees are historically

Excursion -Saturday 13th July, 1.30pm “Street trees of Castlemaine” Read More »

Leaders - Rosemary Turner and Susan Luke

SEANA Spring Camp – Marysville, 25-27 October, 2024

The second South East Australian Naturalists’ Association (SEANA) camp for this year will be held from Friday 25th – Sunday 27th October in Marysville.  This is an excellent chance to meet fellow naturalists from around SE Australia and explore a new region under the guidance of local experts.  The Ringwood FNC is hosting this camp

SEANA Spring Camp – Marysville, 25-27 October, 2024 Read More »

Hosted by the Ringwood FNC Inc.

Monthly Meeting:  Friday 14th June, 7.30pm by Zoom

The June meeting will be the first of our 3 winter meetings by Zoom for 2024, with our guest speaker being Dr Don Fletcher, an ecologist with the National Parks Association of the ACT. Don will describe a Citizen Science research project on Rosenberg’s Goanna (Varanus rosenbergi) in Namadgi National Park, ACT that has been

Monthly Meeting:  Friday 14th June, 7.30pm by Zoom Read More »

Speaker: Dr Don Fletcher (Threatened Species Recovery Hub) “Citizen Science Unlocking the Natural History of Rosenberg’s Goanna”

Excursion – Saturday June 15th,10.00am, “Fungi search”, Leonards Hill

For our June excursion, we will search for fungi with Joy Clusker who will give us tips on identification and where to find fungi. Since autumn has been dry, we will travel south to cooler, damper forests for a better chance to find a good range of fungi. So we will meet earlier than usual

Excursion – Saturday June 15th,10.00am, “Fungi search”, Leonards Hill Read More »

Leaders – Joy Clusker and Jenny Rolland

Monthly Meeting:  Friday 10th May, 7.30pm, Uniting Church Fellowship Room, Lyttleton St.

Our guest speaker for May will be Dr Greg Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne. Greg specialises in arboriculture.  He introduces his talk to us as follows: “Climate change will place new and extra demands on trees growing on both public and private land. There will be

Monthly Meeting:  Friday 10th May, 7.30pm, Uniting Church Fellowship Room, Lyttleton St. Read More »

Speaker: Dr Greg Moore (Uni Melbourne) “Native trees and their benefits during climate change”