Mudgee Microscope Group on a mission to educate locals on landscape
For this week’s catchment corner, we’re shining the spotlight on one of our special interest community groups. The Mudgee Microscope Group!
Born out of a soil health workshop in 2014, the group formed with the aim to look a little closer at our precious landscape and to learn about new ideas, practices and places that are important for living an environmentally conscious life.
Don’t let the ‘microscope’ deter you! This is far from a hardcore science program, our goal is to learn practical skills to improve our land, gardens and lifestyles, to be more sustainable and resilient.
A social group at heart, it is a joy to meet once a month to chat and catch up, taking walks in nature, enjoying morning tea or evening drinks together and sharing in the learning journey. It’s a wonderful platform for our members to share their own knowledge and skills so we all end up going home after every meeting with a head full of new, bright ideas & perspectives.
At our latest meeting, we visited the Wollar cemetery which is home to a collection of native grasses, shrubs and herbs that are nowadays hard to find in the surrounding rural landscape. Cemeteries in the area, with soils that have been left undisturbed by cultivation since settlement, now act as important reserves for native biodiversity that is disappearing. The workshop was led by local botanist Christine McRae, we took a walk and found some of these rare native gems and learned some identification skills before enjoying the Autumn sunshine with a picnic and a cuppa!
The focus topics are chosen by our members based on what’s interesting and important to them. From its origins in soil health, the Microscope Group has evolved to cover a huge range of fascinating topics in the form of workshops and field trips. From Frog identification, earth building and seed collection to farm visits, permaculture and book clubs. We occasionally host expert guest speakers and have additional opportunities to attend different types of events outside the group.
There’s something for everyone and we think more local people would get a lot out of these monthly gatherings. We’d love to see you at our next meeting. It’s a great way to meet new people and get the creative juices flowing. Just get in touch with your local coordinator and we’ll keep you in the loop!
Native Tubestock for Sale
Looking for plants that are grown locally?
Our Landcare Nursery volunteers, Christine, Wendy & David have been nurturing seedlings over the past 9 months.
There are a range of species but numbers are limited. If you’re not sure about what species to plant where, take a look at our planting guide.
Native plants grown with love & care, ready for a good home!
Perhaps your garden, gully or paddock?
Some plants are ready for planting now (N), others will be ready for spring planting (S) eg Acacia decora Western Silver Wattle ( 0-N, 29-S).
Contact Claudia if you would like to make a purchase.
Please email with your quantities and we will advise if they are still available. Payment is required to confirm order and before pick up can be arranged.
All plants $3.00
Financial members discount price $2.50 (what a good reason to renew your membership!)
| Species | Common name (quantity/planting time) |
| Eucalyptus blakelyi Eucalyptus camaldulensis Eucalyptus crebra Eucalyptus viminalis |
Blakely’s Red Gum (13/S) River Red Gum (27/N) Narrow-leaved Red Ironbark (18/N) Manna Gum (60/S) |
N: ready to plant now
S: plant in spring
Future Proof Your Business
We are all experiencing a period of rapid change and huge disruption. On the back of drought and climate extremes, market and policy changes, it is a testing time for all rural people, businesses and communities. It impacts on us personally, our families, businesses, communities and our landscapes.
Resilience is the capacity to cope with change and continue to develop in a desired direction. It does not mean “bouncing back” or ploughing through and doing what we have always done. Applying resilience in practice requires an understanding of how resilience changes over time, what is causing that change and where and how to understand and intervene to influence its future direction.
A free, four part webinar series on resilience thinking with resilience leader, Paul Ryan, will be held in September and October. Participants will build on and develop their understanding and skills of how to manage resilience, how to work to make their own lives and communities more resilient to cope with the challenges that the world throws up.
Paul Ryan is passionate about rural people and places. He is the founding Director of the Australian Resilience Centre, an organisation that builds the capacity of regional communities and agencies facing uncertain futures. He does this through training, facilitation, mentoring, research and developing and supporting a national community of practitioners.
Paul has worked on issues as diverse as poverty and humanitarian relief, climate adaptation planning, disaster preparedness and recovery, sustainable agriculture, water and irrigation futures, community development, biodiversity, domestic violence, gender, cultural and youth issues.
Paul has worked internationally in Africa and South East Asia to apply resilience concepts in developing nations. He has previously worked for the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the Resilience Alliance, CSIRO and regional and state agencies. Paul grew up on a farm in northern Victoria where his family has been farming continuously for nearly 160 years.
The Future Proof Your Business webinar series is being hosted by Central West and Central Tablelands Local Land Services, together with Central West and Central Tablelands Landcare NSW, and will commence on Thursday, 17 September, with follow up sessions held fortnightly.
17 September, 12:00-12:45pm. What is resilience and why does it matter? Framing resilience, language and definitions, and discussing why building resilience matters in a farming business.
1 October, 12:00-12:45pm. Key resilience concepts – Systems, change and identity. The links between people and place. Learn about the ‘stress curve’ and how it can affect you.
15 October, 12:00pm-12:45pm. Understanding resilience in your system. Using the Iceberg model to understand system change, and talking through cycles of change.
29 October, 12:00pm-12:45pm. Designing resilient futures. Discussing resilience design principles, and implementing them.
To register visit: www.lls.nsw.gov.au/regions/central-west/events/cw-events/resilience-webinar-series or Google ‘Future Proof Your Business Local Land Services’ and follow the link.
This project is supported by Local Land Services, through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program and NSW Landcare program.
Powerful predators
As part of our Wild Encounters project, in today’s Catchment Corner we’ll be getting to know another of our region’s vulnerable creatures, the powerful owl.
Like all owls, the powerful owl (Ninox strenua) is nocturnal and due to very soft wing feathers can fly almost silently. They hunt by night and roost during the day, often with the previous nights catch held in their talons.
The powerful owl is Australia’s largest owl. An apex predator, named for its ability to carry prey weighing more than its own body weight. They feed predominantly on arboreal animals, medium to large tree dwelling mammals, but will also take bats, roosting birds and ground dwelling mammals such as rabbits.
The habitat of the powerful owl is tall, dense forests of south-eastern and eastern Australia. It is found along the coast and the Great Dividing Range, extending to the western slopes. Their home ranges are large, at least 2000 to 2500 acres, and can extend even further when food is scarce.
Breeding pairs often mate for life, typically returning to the same nesting site year after year. They utilise large tree hollows to incubate and raise their young. These large hollows, up to 1 m wide and 2 m deep, can take up to 150 years to form. The breeding season is in winter, mainly in May and June, and brooding occurs in September. The male does all the hunting during this time and may aggressively defend the nest.
The young fledge at 6-8 weeks but remain dependant on their parents for 5-9 months, and sometimes into the next breeding season. Once fully independent they leave their parents to find their own home range and a mate.
The survival of this large predator is dependant on the availability of large prey. An in turn, their food source is dependant on the presence of diverse native forests. Clearing and fragmentation of habitat and loss of large, mature, hollow-bearing trees from our landscape mean the species is listed as vulnerable in NSW and threatened nationally.
Have you seen a powerful owl on your patch? Let us know: info@watershedlandcare.com.au
The Wild Encounters project is supported by Watershed Landcare through funding from the Australian Government’s Communities Environment Program and is a part of the NSW Landcare Program, a collaboration of Local Land Services and Landcare NSW supported by the NSW Government.