Growing trees and creating new environments is a slow process. Those who work closely with an area rarely notice the changes as the vegetation grows and the fauna move in. It is not until you compare photographs of ‘how it was’ and ‘what it is now’ does the magnitude of the change become apparent.

The picture above shows an aerial shot of the Arboretum looking north towards Euroa taken in October 1996 from a light aircraft. Almost twenty years on technology has changed also. The picture below is almost the same scene, but it was taken by a remote-controlled drone last week. Key trees have been indicated with arrows.

There is no doubt that the employees, Friends and all concerned with the Arboretum have made a major change on the landscape. Just ask the family of endangered Diamond Firetails that have taken up residence in the new woodlands.

What a difference a planting or six makes! Try it.…

The Butterfly Festival Family Fun Day was held under overcast skies at the Euroa Arboretum on Saturday 22 November as part of the Strathbogie CMN Wild Strathbogie Festival. Seen in the Arb were a piano-playing platypus, an acrobatic wallaby and a joke-telling kookaburra (courtesy of the kids and their Puppet Theatre). But where were the hosts? There was not a butterfly to be seen!

Proceedings got underway with the Violet Town Primary School Puppet Theatre performing The Big Tree (pictured left). In the show, Australian animals competed in a talent contest…but the sly fox’s trick was to turn a lovable wombat puppet into blood and guts! The happy ending saw the nasty fox get trapped in a cage. All the adults and children alike loved it.

Not to be outdone, the puppets were followed by Carmelina the Connie (right) belting out a song to lament the demise of Melbourne’s tram conductors. I’m sure some of the audience were young enough not to even known what a conductor was. Carmelita continued to entertain throughout the day distributing swap cards featuring Australian fauna and sharing great stories about each of the animals.

For those young or young at heart, there were a variety of activities to try. Jen the Face-painter turned kids of all sizes into the garish and the gruesome. Rod the Kite-man showed us how to build simple kites, and fly them. Kids coloured in nylon butterfly kites, and Rod gave handy hints for how to fly them with almost no wind.

Over in the ‘Hilton’ marquee, Janet, Cathy, helpers and kids bashed bits of pipe of all sizes and materials into wooden boxes to make ‘insect hotels’ to hang in the garden. There will be no shortage of bug accommodation in Euroa’s backyards now.

And there were butterfly nets for catching butterflies! But since all the butterflies stayed at home, catch of the day has to go to William, pictured left, with his prized Anolpognathus (Christmas Scarab).

And for a more scientific look at butterflies, Andrea Canzano presented a very colourful and informative slide show of the species found in our area.

But where had those Euroa butterflies gone? I don’t know, but on the Landscape Discovery (geology) tour run by Bertram Lobert and Neil Phillips the very next day over at Swanpool, there were butterflies galore.…

Everyone needs to drink – whether you are human, cow, sheep, bird or frog. Unfortunately, not everyone likes to share their water with all of the listed animals! Longwood Plains Conservation Management Network have started their farm dams for wildlife project – fencing a selection of farm dams across the Longwood Plains from stock and improving habitat values for wildlife. This includes creating some shallows, placing logs and rocks, adding aquatic vegetation and some surrounding shrubs to improve conditions for birds and frogs, amenity and water quality.

A group of Longwood landholders came to visit the Euroa Arboretum on Monday night, 18th November to have a look at a wetland in progress, (built in October 2012). Some of the key features noted were the shallow scrapes that are wet through winter, but dry throughout summer. While they look less appealing without water, mud flat provide a great place to forage if you happen to be a wading bird, and allow a whole sequence of new plants to grow as the mud dries. Of note at the Arb wetlands is the Old Man Weed, (Centipedia cunninghamii) that has taken off on its own – a favourite of Traditional Owners for its healing ability. Semi submerged plants provide refuge for invertebrates and frogs, and adjacent shrubs are great for small birds. With the Common Tussock Grass, (Poa labilliadiera) in seed at the moment, Diamond Firetails are periodically visiting to make the most of the seed.…