MEET IMPORTANT LOCALS
Come and join us!
Every walk has revealed local treasures.
For photo highlights of previous walks, scroll down & follow the link.
For these seasonally responsive events we focus on particular indigenous plants and animals, often sharing a strong relationship. We discuss ways we, as a community, can restore great health to our environment.
COMPLETED 8.6.2024
THE WORLD BENEATH OUR FEET...
It's that special time of the year when fruiting bodies emerge from damp soil, logs, crevices, moss...
Come along and immerse yourself in a magical world, be thrilled with the diversity of local fungi, and learn about the complexity of ecosystems.
Discover the varied and important roles these mysterious life forms play, and how we can enable their diversity and abundance.
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We welcome all ages. The walks are not strenuous, but are on gravel paths.
If you have queries or access requirements, please contact us.
COMPLETED 5.5.2024
EUCALYPTS & LIVES THEY SUPPORT
Walk with us as we delve into the characteristics of Nillumbik’s majestic Eucalypts. Find out about key features of flowers, leaves, and bark, form and site. You’ll understand how to identify species, practice your skills and access useful resources.
Gleaming fungi with recent rains will also astonish your brains.
Their presence within a healthy ecosystem reveals many details...
We have an 11am and 12.30pm walk - registration is essential to care for people and place.
We welcome all ages, and the walks are not strenuous, but not on sealed asphalt paths.
COMPLETED 18.2.2024
Join us and discover incredible relationships and details of the place we all call home. Develop your skills of observation and identification as the creatures tell us how we can attract and support vibrant life in our local area. Take delight in the great diversity of native bees and wasps, beetles and butterflies, who were all just so busy during our last walk! Come and admire tiny red fuzzies, iridescent jewels, floating pin-shapes and more...
We welcome all ages & levels of knowledge. The walk is not strenuous.
Please contact us if you have queries and/or access requirements.
We will do what we can to support you.
WHO LIVES HERE?
COMPLETED 20.1.2024
NILLUMBIK'S ICON
Plumes of Sweet Bursaria flowers provide food for countless creatures including nectar-feeding flies, beetles, and the endangered Eltham Copper Butterfly. Flowering during these hot months makes Sweet Bursaria a standout in our local ecosystems.
To celebrate this new year, full of love and care for our precious biodiversity, we invite you to join us for a close look at the incredible characters who gather to feed. Come along and get to know some of the smallest creatures in our community...
We welcome all ages & levels of knowledge.
Please contact us if you have queries and/or access requirements.
We will do what we can to support you.
completed 20 & 27.11.2023
NIGHT WONDERS
It's the season for spotting many stunning and surprising creeping crawlies. Some turn into beautiful butterflies like the Moonlight Jewel, others magnificent moths. Some don't change much in their life span but are no less incredible, and important in our ecosystems.
We are going looking in the dark (with the help of torches) as that's when many come out to feed.
We welcome all ages and levels of knowledge.
The walk is not strenuous but is going to be at night, with torches.
Likely to be in Hurstbridge & finish around 9pm.
Please contact us if you have queries and/or access requirements.
We will do what we can to support you.
completed 28.10.2023
Join us to discover details of Nillumbik ecosystems and take part in important restoration efforts.
In collaboration with Friends of Moor-rul Reconciliation Grasslands, we will prevent the spread of weeds and enable the return of indigenous species that support all kinds of butterflies, beetles, birds and more. Walk with us, learn about the grassland biome, hone and apply your plant ID skills. Guaranteed fun and fulfilment.
Bring your mug, drinks and food provided. No prior experience needed, all ages welcome. Thanks to Council & Edendale, we'll show and share a diversity of grassland plants that you can take home :-)
Please contact us if you have queries and/or access requirements.
We will do what we can to support you.
MOOR-RUL GRASSLAND
COMPLETED 3.9.2023
PEAS & ORCHIDS PLEASE
Warming weather coaxes many flowers into bloom, colouring the forest understorey. Various pea-shrubs offer food to foraging insects and orchids are waiting for the tiniest of creatures to pollinate them. During our walk we will discover many treasures of the season, learn about important relationships, and discuss how we can all care for our important pollinators in back yards and beyond.
We welcome all ages & levels of knowledge.
The walk is not strenuous. Please contact us if you have queries and/or access requirements. We will do what we can to support you.
COMPLETED 10.6.2023
FANTASTIC FUNGI & FRIENDS
Pinwheels, Parachutes and Parasols, Ruby Bonnets and Inky Caps... These delightful forms of life are significant characters in healthy ecosystems. Let’s not forget the glistening Emperor Cortinar and Golden Splash Tooth. How about White Punk and Hairy Curtain Crust? What about the dainty and rather unusual fruiting bodies known as Yellow Navels? Come and marvel at the diversity among the various lilies and orchids showing their leaves and heads...
We welcome all ages and levels of knowledge.
The walk is not strenuous, but please contact us if you have queries
and/or access requirements. We will do what we can to support you.
To best care for people and place, we limit numbers, so please register.​
COMPLETED 25.3.2023
SPECTACULAR SURPRISES
The Moonlight Jewel... Sounds dreamy... It is!
One of these beautiful butterflies was spotted by one of our regular Nillumbio folk during last month’s walk. What a thrill.
We also saw a Long-tailed Pea-blue, Two-spotted Line-blue, a Botany Bay Diamond Weevil with its complex turquoise-green markings, three different kinds of Katydid, stunning spiders, and much more.
Want to know what we’ll see this month? Come along!
Register soon as spaces are limited and fill quickly.
We welcome all ages and levels of knowledge.
COMPLETED 4.2.2023
Mistletoe Birds and Pintail Beetles, Dusky Blue Butterflies and Blue Banded Bees, these are a few of our favourite things...! A walk in this warm and lively season will reveal the private life of many locals, including our hardworking builder the Mud Dauber Wasp and the Flower Wasp who flies and feeds while intimately joined to their partner. Learn a bit more about them and their relationships with local plants and birds and simple ways you can provide them with an excellent home.
We welcome all ages and levels of knowledge.
MISTLETOE BIRDS & BUTTERFLIES
COMPLETED 17.12.2022
We were planning for our next walk to be next year... but have changed our plans in response to our community’s queries and requests.
On December 17, join a walk/workshop with a focus on identifying some of Nillumbik’s native grasses & weeds. Come along, learn what's what, and discuss various methods of control to suit your needs.
There’s still time to reduce the weedy seed bank and increase the indigenous one!
We welcome all ages and levels of knowledge.
NATIVE GRASSES & WEED ID
COMPLETED 26.11.2022
PREGNANT ORCHIDS & HIDDEN TREASURES
Abundant rains of this extraordinary season have given many plants a huge boost in growth. Sun orchids are seen twice their usual size, while lilies of all kinds - from milkmaids and bulbines to twining fringed and chocolate - have been flowering prolifically.
These all provide vital food for many insects, with some sharing distinct relationships. The busy work of insects is evident in pregnant plants. Dragonflies & butterflies are more active and many caterpillars are feeding. Come and find out more about local fauna & plants on which they rely.
We welcome all ages and levels of knowledge.
COMPLETED 21.8.2022
SPINEBILLS SIPPING & MORE
As the season warms, plants, animals, and fungi respond.
Activity is increasing along with available food.
Plants that are invisible above ground for much of the year are now emerging. Some native orchids - such as Nodding Greenhood - are flowering, while others are waiting. Brilliant clusters of Pink Heath’s long flowers provide vital nectar for birds. A Spinebill’s impressive tongue has evolved to be a perfect fit. A local wonder! Walk with us to marvel at these tiny local wonders and discover important connections.
We welcome all ages and levels of knowledge.
POSTPONED...
We are excited to be partnering with Friends of Bunjil Food, Fibre and Medicine Garden for our upcoming walk on July 2nd at 11am.
Join us as we explore the abundance of Ironbark forest and its complex understorey, filling with seasonal colour and activity. Tall Ironbarks are currently flowering, attracting and nourishing many creatures, causing a bit of mayhem in the canopy!
Each walk we've offered has delighted participants. July’s walk will be in Bulwidj Reserve - register to book your spot and receive details.
We welcome all ages & levels of knowledge.
COMPLETED 30.4.2022
ENIGMATIC EUCALYPTS
As the cool days settle in, we see dynamic change. Some orchids will be emerging from their ‘sleep’, and acacias preparing their vibrant flowers.
Join us for our April walk and discover something fabulous about Nillumbik’s flora and fauna.
We will focus on eucalypts, with some key points to help you identify which of the many hundreds of species you are looking at! Come along and delve into the wonderful world of flowers, buds, bark, adult and juvenile leaves and more…
We welcome all ages and levels of knowledge.
completed 6.3.2022
Following a wonderful walk on February 20th, we are excited to
invite you to another great gathering with a different focus.
On March 6th we will delve into the wonders of wetland plants.
We’ll focus on some outstanding ones such as Australian Gypsywort
and controversial Purple Loosestrife.
Hone your eyes and ears to help us spot the delightful Blue Banded Bee, the Chequered Cuckoo Bee and Golden Drone Fly.
There’s always something wonderful to discover about the area’s biodiversity!
We welcome all ages and levels of knowledge.
*Please note: this is an ‘in person’ event and numbers are restricted.
We encourage you to register soon.
We will be meeting in Hurstbridge, details will be sent when you register.
The walk is not strenuous, but please contact us if you have queries and/or access requirements. We will do what we can to support you.
COMPLETED 20.2.2022
Join us for an informative walk with Michael Smith as we explore the incredible qualities of Sweet Bursaria - its white, sweetly scented flowers attract a wide range of insects, many of them colourful and wonderfully patterned such as Pintail and Chafer Beetles, Two Spotted line Blue Butterfly and Bright Copper Butterfly... and of course the endangered Eltham Copper Butterfly.
You may have noticed Sweet Bursaria flowering prolifically this time of year, which it will continue to do for some weeks, providing food when many other shrubs and herbaceous plants have finished flowering.
With age, Sweet Bursaria can develop a wonderfully gnarly form, making it a beautiful addition to any backyard and conservation reserve.
As a plant that attracts insects, Sweet Bursaria supports insectivorous birds, as well as vital pollinators for your garden and the broader ecosystem, and predatory insects to control insect populations from getting out of control.
It is much loved by small birds seeking shelter, and its unusual little fruit are enjoyed by yellow tailed black cockatoos, rosellas and more.
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Come along on the 20th, at 2pm, learn more, share your observations and knowledge, and hear about our plans to make
Nillumbik the Sweet Bursaria capital of Australia 🙂
SATURDay FEBRUARY 15 2025
WETLAND WONDERS
Come along and explore the bounty and beauty of a local wetland and its connection to the broader landscape. Learn and observe its plants and creatures, their relationships and changes in seasonal cycles.
Focusing on indigenous insects will tickle your antennae. We’ll also discuss how simple actions can support better outcomes for our environment.
We are always thrilled by what we see here..
The walk starts at 2pm and will be held in the Hurstbridge area.
Details will be sent to registrants closer to the date.
Numbers are limited to look after people and place.
All ages and levels of knowledge are welcome.
If you have specific accessibility requirements please email us.
While we take all care to ensure your wellbeing (and encourage you to do the same for others), you remain responsible for yourself :-)
