h3. Saturday September 11: AGM and orchids.
_Meet at Cherrypool, on the Horsham – Hamilton Rd._
It feels so long ago, but it was a great day. Wet, of course. We had intended to go to the Black Ranges but had to settle for the Glenisla end of the Victoria Valley. We didn’t find the Brilliant Sun-orchid we were looking for, but plenty of others. We then went and looked in an old cemetery nearby, and it was just so hard to leave there was so much to see. We elected a new committee, as you will see below. It was good to see some hard working people able to retire and fresh ones take on their roles.
A brief verbal report was given by Proo remembering the important contribution that Stan Parfett volunteered over the years both as his time as President and member of FOGG. He is greatly missed.
President: Proo Pyke
Secretary: Wendy Bedggood
Treasurer: Mabel Brouwer
Public Officer: Kathy McDonald
Webmaster: Frank van der Peet
Editor: Margo Sietsma
Committee Members: Kathy McDonald, Alison White & John Fischer, Ewen Johnson, Rob Lucas, Jan-Bert Brouwer, Leigh & Ben Gunn
Frank van der Peet to be thanked once again for his professional attention to our website & assistance with other computer-based necessities.
h3. Thursday September 29 to Sunday October 4: Grampians Wildflower Show Halls Gap
Once again a successful show, which couldn’t happen without the dedicated help of our FOGG members. Our stage display this year was a tribute to Ken Woodcock and a retrospective of his great posters over so many years. We also hired “The Connie” environmental educator /entertainer.
h3. Saturday November 13: Insects of the Grampians
Unfortunately this activity had to be cancelled. We hope to be able to reschedule some time reasonably soon. Just to whet your appetite, I’ll pinch a bit from the Australian Plant Society’s newsletter:
bq.. APS Grampians group visited member Denis Crawford’s property in Pomonal on November 28th for an afternoon of insect identification. Despite the windy and chilly weather many insects were found.
Denis showed the group the amazing variety of insects which live on Eucalyptus and Corymbia species. Various life stages of several species of leaf beetles of the beetle family Chrysomelidae were found, including eggs, larvae and adult beetles. Denis commented that there are over 2000 species in this leaf beetle family found throughout Australia.
Eggs and small larvae of emperor gum moths (Opodiphthera spp.) were found on the leaves of Corymbia maculata. It has been in the news of late that there is a decline in the population of emperor gum moths, one theory suggesting it is due to predation by European wasps on gum moth larvae. Denis will rear the larvae through to adult moths to determine which species was found.
Other insects found on Eucalyptus included leafblister sawfly (Phylactophagea sp), weevils, lerps, leafrollers, and galls formed by wasps, psyllids and coccids. Lots of leaves were damaged by other insects including weevils and caterpillars. Denis commented that a Professor of Entomology at Latrobe University used to take students into bushland and asked them to find an undamaged eucalyptus leaf. This task usually took quite some time! ……..
….. Denis used a sweep net through some native grasses which yielded a couple of species of robber fly (Asilidae), three types of ladybird beetle (Coccinellidae), a type of hover fly (Syrphidae), several species of small flies(Diptera), thrips, spiders, and a male thynnid wasp (Tiphiidae). Denis explained that male thynnid wasps are species-specific pollinators of native orchids and their wingless females are parasites of scarab grubs. …….”
h3. January 8: Ptilotus Erebescens Count
This activity went ahead as scheduled on January 8. A report will follow in the next issue.
THREATENED SPECIES GROUP
Quite a few excursions were planned for spring and early summer, Quite a few excursions were planned for spring and early summer, but with the erratic weather there were more than a few changes.
Wendy reports on a few she attended:
On September 1st about eight of us braved the cold wet weather to hunt for spiral sun orchids. We looked in a section of the Victoria Valley Road where they are known to occur and growing on the roadside often up against the bitumen we found many leaves. As it was wet and not very warm there were no flowers but there were in the vicinity of a hundred plants along several hundred metres of the road. Hopefully they will survive the grader. (photos on the web site)
On November 18th again another wet day and five of us hunted along the Sheep Hills track to find Sphaerolobium acanthos ,which had been recorded from the area several years ago. We found what we had been led to believe was the correct plant and the newly forming fruit were globed shape, which is the distinguishing feature for Sphaerolobium. We found a few populations along the track and dutifully counted them. However the specimen sent to the herbarium was identified as a variant form of Daviesia ulicifolia which has globed shape fruit to start before they turn into triangular shaped pods. So we will have to try again next year for Sphaerolobium acanthos.
December 4th and this time a very hot day and 6 of us met along the Golton South track to try to find a new population of Grampians duck orchid. However we could only find the small duck orchid and an apomictic form of it, the mosquitoes were particularly bad and the weather got too hot so we had lunch together and called it a day.