- Mar 30, 2018
Updated: Feb 9
Autumn is here- and so is Boisduval's Autumn Moth- Oenosandra boisduvalii(Family Oenosandridae, super family Noctuiodea)) Only seen during Autumn, this handsome moth rests on fly wire screens and is very happy to have close inspection and photos.
Playing dead is a tactic used by this moth to avoid predators.
Night-flying, these interesting moths come readily to light. The white ear-tufts are a give-away identification and the wings are beautifully mottled with orange and black speckles. The antennae are held back along the wing edges and are difficult to see. This moth hears through thoracic hearing organs- that is,ears in its chest!
24 cm in length, these moths are thought to feed on eucalypts. This is an all-Australian family with 8 named species. All photos taken on 29th March 2018, Carapooee West, Victoria.
- Feb 11, 2018
Updated: Feb 9
Anne Hughes takes a select group on a tour of the wonderful Wax Gardens in St Arnaud October 2017.
View the brochure for more information.
- Feb 5, 2018
Updated: Feb 9
Current News
Bulokes
(Allocasuarina luehmannii) are listed under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and endangered under the Federal Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
In this district, although there are many stands of Bulokes, most are quite old and very few are regenerating. This is mainly due to grazing pressure from stock on farms as well as rabbits and excessive numbers of kangaroos.
I have noticed that many of these trees are suffering from the recent long drought and there is often sever wind damage, possibly due to their age.
On my property at Carapooee, there were 28 old Bulokes when it was purchased in 1999. The property is under a Trust for Nature covenant, to protect it in perpetuity.
Even though there has been no stock on the property since 1995, there was very little recruitment and seemed to be only from suckering in areas disturbed by erosion. In recent years, however there have been hundreds of seedlings of various ages around all of the female Bulokes as shown below.
The only difference that I can see is that the rabbit population has been dramatically reduced by, the drought and constant ripping and fumigating.
I would like to see small areas on farms fenced to exclude stock and allow some regeneration.