Category: From the Editor

Ballambar – Season of the Butterflies
followed by
Kooyang – Season of the Eels

Welcome to the summer edition of our newsletter. I am writing this on a beautiful cool morning. The radio tells me that the overnight low on Mt William was three degrees and the expected maximum in Stawell will be 27. That’s the sort of summer weather that I just love. I actually went up Mt William last night to watch the sunset and it was so beautiful. Lots of daisies and peas out, grass leaf trigger plants too. On the summit the rosy bush pea was beginning to flower. And the late evening views were superb.

It’s been a very flowery spring again. The seedlings that have come up since the Mt Lubra fire are all now mature enough to flower, but not tall enough to hide each other. Although it has been another dry winter … Read the rest

Larneuk – season of nesting birds. As I walked this morning a female wood duck was boasting on a low branch of a stringy bark, a couple of cockatoos were squabbling and the wattlebirds are getting edgy. The blue wrens are frantic and the pardelotes are inspecting the banks. Halls Gap has continually been damp, misty and cold. It is lovely to see how green it looks, and the gentleness of the rain and the many fogs mean the water is at last soaking in. But the totals are still not high. Mt William is good, 513mm from May 1 to Aug 24; Stawell is also above the average, but not hugely, receiving 201 mm over the same period; Horsham however is still below average. Lake Bellfield is still at only 16% compared to 22% this time last year and over the whole Grampians Wimmera Mallee system storages are at … Read the rest

Chinnup – season of cockatoos – and is it ever! I saw an enormous flock of long billed corellas in a paddock at Pomonal this week. Strange to think that not so long ago they were listed as rare and maybe threatened. But we also have the sulphur crested cockatoos around the towns, while the black and the gang gangs are more in the hills at this time of year. It is also the season of common heath and the display in the burnt areas is so colourful this year.
I am writing this on a beautifully damp morning. After a scarily dry few months we had a good rainfall in Halls Gap about a month ago, although the Northern end once again had less. And now this week we have a good soaking. But after so many dry years we need much more. Lake Bellfield is still at only … Read the rest