All Events

Monthly Meeting: Friday 9th May 2025, 7.30pm, Uniting Church Fellowship Room, Lyttleton St.

Graham is President of Turtles Australia Inc. A retired train driver, he has been devoted to freshwater turtle conservation for around 15 years. His talk will cover the three species of freshwater turtles we have in Victoria and will outline some of the conservation work Turtles Australia is engaged in. To allow attendees to get […]

Monthly Meeting: Friday 9th May 2025, 7.30pm, Uniting Church Fellowship Room, Lyttleton St. Read More »

Speaker: Graham Stockfeld - "Talking turtles"

Excursion: Saturday 10th May 2025, 1.30pm, “Photographing flowers, grasses and insects for effective iNaturalist identification”, Red White and Blue Mine

An opportunity to join with expert field naturalists to gain experience in photographing fauna and flora species including key characteristics to maximise the likelihood of getting your observations identified from photos submitted to iNaturalist. Whether you prefer to use a smart phone, a point and shoot digital camera or a digital SLR camera with interchangeable

Excursion: Saturday 10th May 2025, 1.30pm, “Photographing flowers, grasses and insects for effective iNaturalist identification”, Red White and Blue Mine Read More »

Leader: Jill Williams

Roadside Clean-up: Monday 12th May 2025, 9am

Join us for a pleasant walk along some interesting roadside bush as we check our section of the Pyrenees Highway. This will be the second of our four clean-ups for the year. Meet: 9am near Tait’s Decorative Iron, corner of Willy Milly Rd and Pyrenees Highway, Castlemaine. Bring: Gloves, water, sturdy footwear. Garbage bags and

Roadside Clean-up: Monday 12th May 2025, 9am Read More »

Time to check our stretch of the Pyrenees Highway!

Monthly Meeting: Friday 11th April, 7.30pm, Uniting Church Fellowship Room, Lyttleton St.

Steve calls himself a “mothylated spirit”, meaning he studies moths. He records moths on a light sheet every night at home and rears moths from their eggs. These activities help him answer questions like: What is there? What and where is it feeding? What and where is it at each stage in its life cycle?

Monthly Meeting: Friday 11th April, 7.30pm, Uniting Church Fellowship Room, Lyttleton St. Read More »

Speaker: Steve Williams, “Mysteries of the Life Cycles of Moths”

Excursion – Saturday April 12th, 1.30pm, “Forest Creek Restoration by Castlemaine Landcare Group”

This excursion is rescheduled from March due to the high temperature. Christine 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 gorse-infested, tree-less valley to a productive native riparian strip following over 20 years of work by

Excursion – Saturday April 12th, 1.30pm, “Forest Creek Restoration by Castlemaine Landcare Group” Read More »

Leader: Christine Kilmartin (President, Castlemaine Landcare Group)

CANCELLED: Excursion – Saturday March 15th, 2025, 1.30pm, “Forest Creek Restoration by Castlemaine Landcare Group”

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

CANCELLED: Excursion – Saturday March 15th, 2025, 1.30pm, “Forest Creek Restoration by Castlemaine Landcare Group” Read More »

Leader: Christine Kilmartin (President, Castlemaine Landcare Group)

AGM and Monthly Meeting: 7.30 pm, Friday 14th March, 2025, Uniting Church Fellowship Room, Lyttleton St.

The 2025 AGM will be held before the usual monthly meeting on 14th March. Meeting papers are available from the following links:2025 AGM Agenda and Minutes of the 2024 AGMPresident’s Report and Financial Report 2024/25CFNC Committee Nomination form All positions on the committee will be open, so you are strongly encouraged to consider joining the

AGM and Monthly Meeting: 7.30 pm, Friday 14th March, 2025, Uniting Church Fellowship Room, Lyttleton St. Read More »

Speaker: Christine Kilmartin (President, Castlemaine Landcare Group) Learnings and leanings from two decades of Landcare

Excursion – Saturday March 15th 2025,1.30pm, “Forest Creek Restoration by Castlemaine Landcare Group”

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. 

Excursion – Saturday March 15th 2025,1.30pm, “Forest Creek Restoration by Castlemaine Landcare Group” Read More »

Leader: Christine Kilmartin (President, Castlemaine Landcare Group)

Monthly Meeting:  Friday 14th February, 7.30pm, Uniting Church Fellowship Room, Lyttleton St.

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

Monthly Meeting:  Friday 14th February, 7.30pm, Uniting Church Fellowship Room, Lyttleton St. Read More »

Speaker: John Walter (Malmsbury Landcare), “Our native pollinators – beyond the honeybees”

“We remember Richard Piesse”, Saturday 15th February, 3pm. Tea Rooms, Castlemaine Botanical Gardens

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

“We remember Richard Piesse”, Saturday 15th February, 3pm. Tea Rooms, Castlemaine Botanical Gardens Read More »

Champion Castlemaine Naturalist and Volunteer