Cornish Hill Daylesford | A prime piece of public land in the heart of Daylesford

Conservation Volunteers

By Site Admin On April 23, 2018 · Add Comment

The age old adage really is true, many hands do make light work; and that’s never more true than when a team of 10 Conservation Volunteers from Bendigo arrived on the 19th of April to give us a lending hand.
It was a case of BYO brush-cutters, walking tracks were cleared and gorse, broom and blackberry and re-emerging woody weed seedlings got the chop. Goodbye to all the willow suckers, these were hand removed by cutting then painting. Walkers on the Hill will be pleased to know that 5 previously undiscovered wasp nests were treated as well. After the rain at the weekend, the weather on the day was perfect, blue sky and a light breeze made it a pleasure to be spending time with such a keen and happy bunch of volunteers. And an extra bonus was that there was enough time to set up a site for a future planting with the Daylesford Secondary College. Thanks to team leader Daryl and his inspirational team!

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Fauna and Flora Walk with Tanya Loos

By Site Admin On March 20, 2018 · Add Comment

How lucky we all were to have the very talented Tanya Loos take locals and visitors alike on a Fauna and Flora walk on Cornish Hill on Saturday 10th March. Billed as part of the program for the ChillOut Festival, we couldn’t be more pleased at the huge turnout we got – 45 people! These were made up of FOCH Committee members, members, locals, interstate and even overseas visitors. Our overseas visitors were from Canada, Belgium, New Zealand and Croatia – just amazing!

We learnt so much in just two hours – we looked at the pupae of the Imperial Hairstreak Butterflies being protected by ants who in turn receive a sugary feed from them, we checked out half eaten pine cones by Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, we saw Whirligig Beetles, a Cherry Ballart tree, tree ferns and visited the picnic area at Smith’s Creek. But wait for it – the highlight of the day, was finding Koala poo! Yes, we definitely have Koala’s in Cornish Hill! We even picked them up, opened them and sniffed them! It’s not as bad as it sounds, honestly – they don’t eat meat!

Anyway, the walk was a roaring success and one that we will definitely repeat next year for the 22nd ChillOut Festival. And talks are afoot to do a few more during the year. Watch this space!

And thanks Tanya, Margie, Jan and all who attended!

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Cornish Hill Newsletter – February 2018

By Site Admin On March 6, 2018 · Add Comment

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Green Army weeklong visit

By Site Admin On March 6, 2018 · Add Comment

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Flora and fauna walk during ChillOut 2018

By Site Admin On March 6, 2018 · Add Comment

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Cornish Hill Newsletter – November 2017

By Site Admin On November 1, 2017 · Add Comment

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One Day Workshop

By Site Admin On October 28, 2017 · Add Comment

The second one day workshop was held on Cornish Hill on Tuesday 17^th October, this time involving a total of 69 students from Yandoit, Bullarto, Drummond and Daylesford Primary schools as well as students from the Daylesford Dharma school. This workshop focused on the precious natural habitat of the Reserve. Students were mixed into 5 groups, with each group experiencing 5 different rotations, the aim being to understand that even the smallest creature plays an important role in maintaining a healthy environment.

John Caldow from Bugblitz presented a ‘hands-on’ session where children were introduced to a variety of spiders including the Mountain Huntsmen spiders named “Precious”. Spider evolution, morphology, behaviours and the roles spiders play in the balance of nature were discussed. The students also explored the local habitat and the creatures they found were identified and photographed.

Erin, also from Bugblitz, introduced the students to the joys of bird watching. A field guide and binoculars were used to find life-sized bird models of water birds which had been placed on a trail, in a local habitat. Bird sounds were played and threats to them were discussed.

Guided by Castlemaine Ceramicist Ann Ferguson, students used natural materials such as sticks and seeds to interpret body parts of insects. Paper clay to connect the parts together to make each student’s unique insect. The finished products will be displayed as an exhibition in the local community bank as part of Daylesford Rotary’s October Art celebration.

Under the guidance of Nicole Howie, students explored the magical world of bird nests, marvelling at the skill of our beautiful native birds. Using a variety of different materials and studying different techniques, individual nests were made and installed in the local habitat.

The final rotation featured frogs and the session began with Christina Renowden from Leap into Nature discussing frogs with the students, their physical features, and what they require in their habitat – both aquatic for breeding and terrestrial habitat for shelter, over-wintering, refuge and finding food. Students learned that frogs are such an important component of many ecosystems, why many are threatened with extinction and what we can do to help protect frogs and their habitat.

This event was funded by the Victorian Government in partnership with Hepburn Shire, The Daylesford Community Op Shop and the Daylesford Community Bank

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Great Day with Sean Dooley

By Site Admin On July 28, 2017 · Add Comment

Landcare Australia Logo What a fabulous morning we had on Sunday 23rd July with Sean Dooley, Editor of Bird Life Magazine. Sean shared with us his childhood memories about growing up near the Seaford swamp where he discovered many water birds. He took us on his journey around Australia as he followed and recorded as many birds as he could in one year and in order to hold the record. Whilst poignant at times, he was entertaining and spoke freely about his care for and love of birds and why protecting their habitat is so important. We partnered with Plastic Bag Free Daylesford for this event, morning tea was provided by Friends members, and sandwiches made by favourite local café Muffy’s. All went down a treat afterwards and we thank them for not using any plastic wrap. On behalf of the 65 people who attended, thank you to Landcare Australia for funding this event.

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Meet the BIRDMAN Sean Dooley

By Site Admin On July 13, 2017 · Add Comment

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Cornish Hill Newsletter – July 2017

By Site Admin On July 13, 2017 · Add Comment

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Friends of Cornish Hill Daylesford Discussion
Daylesford
7^°
broken clouds
humidity: 84%
wind: 1m/s WSW
H 7 • L 5

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