Around the Network - Winter 2023
Here are some highlights of recent events and site visits in the Yarrilinks Landcare Network area!
If you’ve got something to share, whether its flora, fauna, farming or just a beautiful Wimmera landscape, we’d love to hear from you!
Flying a drone at Rupanyup
A drone image taken over the old reservoir at Rupanyup.
In July Alicia visited the old reservoir at Rupanyup to take some drone photos of a previous planting site, thanks to drone pilot Cobba Harrison from the Wimmera CMA.
This site is an ongoin project of the Rupanyup Landcare Group, and was planted during Covid thanks to funding and works crews from the Wimmera CMA. Rupanyup Landcare group member Adrian Tyler continues to undertake maintenance keep the weeds down. Adrian is really keen to get some native grasses established at the site, which will reduce the need to spray the weeds. We are hoping to get some native grasses sown on the site in autumn 2024. Watch this space!
What’s blooming in the Wimmera?
As we come to the end of winter more and more wattles are starting to bloom in cheerful yellow. The gold-dust wattle (Acacia acinacea) is just starting at the moment and the golden wattle (Acacia pycnantha) is in full swing. Some of the other species we’ve observed flowering over the past few months of winter are the Wimmera riceflower and of course, the eucalypts.
The critically endangered Wimmera riceflower (Pimelea spinescens ssp. pubiflora) flowers in winter and is known from only a handful of sites across the Wimmera. One of those sites is in Minyip, where a population of plants grows at the Minyip wetlands.
Eucalypts can flower year round, but one of the species currently in bloom is one of the sweetest! Yellow box (Eucalyptus melliodora) is known for its sweet scent and is a favourite for honey production.