Issue 48 - June 2019 Newsletter Welcome to our winter edition. Read about the VEAC final recommendations, the Australian Hobby and get up close and personal with several spiders. Gayle Osborne (editor) and Angela Halpin (design) A WIN FOR CONSERVATION A new National Park recommended for the Wombat Forest Wombat Forest lovers celebrate. Photography © Sandy Scheltema By Gayle Osborne We all know that the Wombat is rich in biodiversity: Greater Gliders, Powerful Owls, Brush-tailed Phascogales, Wombat Forestcare members are celebrating the significant bird migrations for spring and summer breeding, Victorian Environmental Assessment Council (VEAC) and now we see that this is scientifically confirmed. recommendations for public land in the Central West Investigation. The United Nations recent report warned that an astounding million species are threatened with extinction. VEAC has recommended that the Wombat State Forest The creation of these parks would give the Andrews be reclassified as a series of parks. If the Victorian State government the opportunity to protect a number of species Government accepts the recommendations a new that are threatened with extinction. Wombat-Lerderderg National Park would be created as well as a number of regional parks and a conservation park VEAC also highlighted the importance of the Wombat to the north of Daylesford. Forest as a water catchment with the headwaters of seven major river systems contained in the forest, and the value VEAC noted, “The recommended Wombat–Lerderderg the forest provides in terms of ecosystem services and National Park captures a large part of the highest-ranking carbon sequestration. areas of rare and threatened species habitat. The statewide analysis shows the area to be among the most important We call on our readers to contact the Premier, Daniel for Victoria’s biodiversity with large and mostly contiguous Andrews, and show your support for these important areas of high value.” recommendations for biodiversity conservation. n 1 Wombat Forestcare Newsletter - Issue 48 Beating around the Bush By Gayle Osborne The United Nations global assessment of environmental health is grim: biodiversity declining at an unprecedented rate, one million species at risk of extinction, human populations in jeopardy if the trajectory is not reversed. There are no signs that Australian governments are taking this seriously. In Victoria, in spite of campaigns by environment groups, timber harvesting of native forests continues, further endangering many threatened species. The Regional Forest Agreements, which failed to protect threatened species, fulfil its legal obligations or to provide certainty to the forestry industry, are to be rolled over. Exemptions for the protection of threatened species under the EPBC Act are to remain in place. In March 2016, the Victorian government invited submissions to the development of a biodiversity strategy. Powerful Owls sometimes roost in the edges of pine plantations Protecting Victoria’s Environment – Biodiversity 2036, Photography © Gayle Osborne described as a long-term strategy for stopping the decline of Victoria’s biodiversity and improving our natural Governments seem to think that throwing a bit of money at environment so it is healthy, valued and cared for. some hard working, over-extended community groups will stop species extinctions. Hopefully the volunteers will not This resulted in a disappointing document. The new go extinct, crushed by the weight of their responsibilities. strategy has two goals; Victorians value nature and Victoria’s natural environment is healthy. Also in 2016, there was a review of the Native Vegetation Clearing Regulations. It would seem that the resulting The plan concentrates on the value of biodiversity for updated regulations failed to improve the protection of humans rather than a properly constructed strategy to native vegetation. Victoria’s State of the Environment 2018 protect and enhance Victoria’s flora, fauna and fungi, report states: “Native vegetation continues to be lost at improve habitats and restore functioning resilient approximately 4,000 habitat hectares per year. Native ecosystems. vegetation clearing has created fragmented and degraded habitats across Victoria. Reduced extent and quality of The strategy has a target of five million Victorians acting native vegetation increases risk, vulnerability and exposure to protect the natural environment by 2037. This has been of native animals and plants to other pressures and threats.” followed by Victorians Volunteering for Nature, a recent government initiative. The state government estimates that How has it come to this? A department that has the charter currently 100,000 people volunteer for nature. So we have to protect Victoria’s biodiversity produces aspirational, feel- 18 years to convert 4.9 million people. I really don’t think good statements and looks for ways to wriggle out of their this is possible and it definitely is not a serious biodiversity legal obligations. This will not change until we can firmly strategy. place the environment on the political agenda. n Extract from ‘The Insect Apocalypse is Here’ - The New York Times In addition to extinction (the complete loss of a species) and extirpation (a localized extinction), scientists now speak of defaunation: the loss of individuals, the loss of abundance, the loss of a place’s absolute animalness. In a 2014 article in Science, researchers argued that the word should become as familiar, and influential, as the concept of deforestation. In 2017 another paper reported that major population and range losses extended even to species considered to be at low risk for extinction. They predicted “negative cascading consequences on ecosystem functioning and services vital to sustaining civilization” and the authors offered another term for the widespread loss of the world’s wild fauna: “biological annihilation.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/magazine/insect-apocalypse.html 2 Wombat Forestcare Newsletter - Issue 48 A Hobby is better than a pastime Prey is usually taken in flight and it is believed the Australian Hobby kills its prey with a bite to the neck, Words and images by Trevor Speirs while still in the air. Hobbies have noticeably large eyes and this characteristic probably enables them to hunt prey You have to go back 40 to 50 years to find any recorded like small insectivorous bats well into dusk, especially with sightings of the Australian Hobby Falco longipennis in the the assistance of artificial light. The Peregrine Falcon Falco Wombat and Lerderderg Forests, a bird that is widespread peregrinus is another raptor that is a known crepuscular in Australia but by no means common. I was lucky enough hunter. Australian female diurnal raptors are always heavier to see the pictured bird down near Werribee but as yet have and larger than the males, and the juvenile male Peregrine not been as fortunate in the Wombat. The specific name Falcon can sometimes be mistaken for a female Australian longipennis means long-winged and it is these long wings Hobby. Although similar in length and plumage, the and slender body that give the hobby its manoeuvrability young Peregrine Falcon has broader wings and a much and speed, often hunting just above the canopy or swerving stouter body than a hobby. The falcon also has a more between trees, low over the ground. This would be one of complete black helmet covering the head as opposed to the the reasons the hobby is more often found in woodlands partial helmet on the hobby. and farmlands, generally avoiding denser forests. As with all six members of Australia’s Falconidae family Hobbies, along with a few of our other raptors, have the Australian Hobby doesn’t build its own nest but uses profited well from the various exotic bird species (and old stick nests of other raptors, like that of the Little mammals) that have been introduced to Australia since the Eagle. Hobbies also have a particular liking for the nests early days of European settlement. Starlings, in particular, of ravens and crows and have been known to use these have probably become one of the hobby’s favourite prey. nests after driving the larger birds away. The female hobby They are in the ideal weight range, under a third of a does the majority of the incubation while the male does hobby’s weight, perfectly suiting its hunting capabilities. the hunting, and both sexes are aggressive nest defenders, Unfortunately hobbies, and other raptors such as goshawks, attacking and repelling birds, even as large as the Wedge- don’t seem to be making much of an impression on starling tailed Eagle, from their immediate breeding area. n numbers. Sparrows are regularly taken, and they will also Reference: hunt medium-sized parrots down to smaller birds like pardalotes, thornbills and fairy-wrens, as well as large flying Marchant S., and Higgins P. J. (1993). ‘Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 2: Raptors to Lapwings.’ insects, and occasionally mammals the size of mice. (Oxford University Press: Melbourne.) Australian Hobby Falco longipennis Photography © Trevor Speirs 3 Wombat Forestcare Newsletter - Issue 48 Who likes Spiders? the modern spiders as they can bite their prey with a simple movement of the fangs whereas the primitive spiders must Words and images by John Walter raise their forebody up high, project the fangs forward and then blindly strike downwards in order to effectively bite. My apologies to those among us who have a fear of all in the arachnid world, I understand if you decide to skip this article. I have a great respect for spiders and their potential to inflict a serious bite, but I do not fear them or dislike them. There are many occasions however when the unexpected appearance of a large spider, such as the huntsman that dropped off the sun-visor onto my lap while driving the car, has caused a high level of anxiety and a rapid increase in my heart rate.