FNCB iNaturalist's Journal

The Field Naturalists Club of Ballarat had their end of year celebration and field trip on 3rd of December. We visited a private nature reserve in Berringa in the afternoon, then had a picnic meal at Clarkesdale Bird Sanctuary. Some members returned to the nature reserve afterwards, to see the nocturnal animals such as bandicoots and bettongs that we had only caught glimpses of during the day.

I'm hoping that some photos of the nocturnal animals will be added, even though the observations would be casual, like this one of a Red-necked Wallaby that we saw during the day.

Here is a link to all the observations made on the day. (This query also picks up a few observations made before the field trip began.)

Best wishes to all, and happy observing, until our regular field trips resume in February 2024.

The time for uploading or identifying observations included in the 2023 Great Southern BioBlitz has now passed. Here is a link to the Ballarat Region project:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/great-southern-bioblitz-2023-ballarat-region

At the official end of the uploading period we had a total of 1003 observations, which put us in 56th position. You can see the whole list of participating groups and their totals at the Umbrella Project here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/great-southern-bioblitz-2023-umbrella

Over 30 people contributed observations to the Ballarat effort, some of them deliberately and some without any awareness of the BioBlitz. We saw over 440 species, and 55% of our observations are Research Grade so far. Thank you everyone who contributed. Special thanks to Elspeth @cygnet for her outstanding contribution, topping the species and observations tables for the 3rd year in a row!

If you would like to compare this year's results with previous years, I have created an umbrella project for Ballarat's bioblitz projects, which you can see here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/ballarat-region-bioblitz
(But remember that this year we had a smaller area, as Castlemaine Field Nats took over Hepburn East - the area around Daylesford.)

The 2024 GSB will be held in September. Hope to see you BioBlitzing then!

Since the focus of this project was reduced to a circle of 50km around Ballarat, observations made by members outside that 50km were more difficult to access. To redress that, there is now a companion project, "FNCB Members At Large":
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/fncb-members-at-large

The intention is for the new project to include observations by members and associates of the Field Naturalists Club of Ballarat as they travel outside the Ballarat region. It will be a way to share observations made while on holiday and at SEANA camps, or for collecting observations made on more distant field trips such as the upcoming trip to Warrnambool.

The project will collect observations made only by people who are listed in the project. If you would like your iNat account to be added to the list, please either leave a comment here or send me a message through iNaturalist (or by email if you have my address).