Monthly Meetings

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 […]

Professor Tim Entwisle is an author, botanist and former director of botanic gardens in Melbourne, Sydney and London. He also lived for a few years at Yapeen and completed his final years of secondary school at Castlemaine High School. In 2022, Tim published a memoir called “Evergreen: the Botanical Life of a Plant Punk” (Thames

The 2024 AGM will be held at 7.30pm before the usual monthly meeting on March 8th. The AGM agenda will include the Annual Report and the Treasurer’s Report for 2023, and the election of office bearers and committee members for 2024. All positions on the committee will be open, so you are strongly encouraged to

The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest virtual library of biodiversity literature and archival material, all freely accessible and discoverable online. Nicole Kearney manages the Australian branch of the BHL. In 2023, BHL Australia received a grant from the Public Record Office Victoria to include the publications of Victoria’s Field Naturalist Clubs in

What was a highlight of your nature sightings this year?  Please share it with us at our end-of-year monthly meeting.  Do you have a photo, a video, a sound recording or just a story to tell.  Would you like to recite a poem or sing a song to capture your impressions of this year’s Field

The Central Victorian Biolinks Alliance’s vision is to restore and reconnect large landscapes across public and private land in Central Victoria to halt environmental and species decline. Partnerships with community environment groups extend from the Grampians across to the Australian Alps and from the Dividing Ranges to the Murray River. Executive Director Sophie Bickford will

The Gariwerd National Park is renowned for its significant diversity of fauna species – 50 species are classified as threatened, including the Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby. Introduced predators potentially have an enormous impact on the wildlife of the park. The Gariwerd Ark project aims to deliver predator animal control and reintroductions of native animals such as

Combined Castlemaine Field Naturalist Club and BirdLife Castlemaine District annual presentation Going bush, watching and photographing birds and then making art about them, is talented local nature artist Jane Rusden’s idea of the perfect day. Jane will talk about her time in remote desert landscapes, namely Nature Foundation’s Witchelina Reserve in outback SA, studying and

Skylos Ecology Co-Founders Tracy Lyten and Fiona Jackson will discuss the specialised use of detection dogs in the conservation world.  They will explore how dogs are providing a valuable service in helping protect Australia’s flora and fauna. From endangered species detection, fox and feral cat management to the detection of invasive weeds, Tracy and Fiona

Matt will talk about his research studies into the Chytrid fungus that is causing a serious decline in our frog populations.  Matt is identifying factors that influence frog disease susceptibility and strategies for protecting frogs from this fungus.  He will also describe projects to translocate healthy populations of frogs, including the Growling Grass Frog, to