- 10th Annual Wildflower Walk
When: 10am Sunday 12th October to Sunday 19th October.
Where: At the Dementia Forest and Sensory Trail in Woowookarung Regional Park.
The trail starts at the Rotunda at the Dementia Friendly Forest and Sensory Trail on Katy Ryans Rd. The Field Naturalists Club of Ballarat and FoCC have organised the self-guided pop-up wildflower trail signage. This year wildflowers have already begun to bloom with traditional favourites such as “Eggs and Bacon” bush pea colouring the forest. The walking trail is a gentle walk uphill on formed track. Good footwear is recommended.Location of wildflower walkThe walk has grown from a small guided walk of 20 participants in 2016 into a week-long pop-up walk with signs identifying the wildflowers along the trail. The walk is now in its 10th year and is a joint FoCC and Field Naturalists Club Ballarat project. Last year 800 visitors walked the wildflower path along the Dementia Friendly Forest and Sensory trail in Woowookarung Regional Park.
Golden Bush Pea Sign.
Hopefully the bush pea will be in peak flower during the walk. One of 40 signs along the trail.
Afternoon tea To celebrate the end of the Wildflower Walk, a BYO afternoon tea will be held at the Rotunda at the Dementia Friendly Forest and Sensory Trail Rotunda at 4pm Sunday 19th October 2025. All friends welcome. Just turn up and bring a chair! Part of the celebration is to pick up the signs from the trail!!!
- Seniors Festival Wildflower walk promotion.
Walk details from the 2025 Seniors Festival Program
- “City of Ballarat” Wildflower Walk Seniors Festival promotion.

-
- Bird of the Month XLV (September 2025)
Flame Robin (Petroica phoenicea)
- Bird of the Month XLV (September 2025)
Another month, another unprecedented record of a species at a location within the Corridor! The location? Mount Buninyong Scenic Reserve. The species? Flame Robin (honourable mention to Brown Quail, also observed at Mt Buninyong for the first time!). The context? Following a bushfire in March, Mt Buninyong had been closed to the public for safety reasons, and upon its reopening in early September, multiple Flame Robins of both sexes and different ages were observed foraging about the charred understorey. Now, if the ‘Flame’ name, its plumage of fiery orangey red and ashy grey, or its scientific name being a derivative of phoenix (you know, the mythical bird that rises from the ashes) – don’t all evoke fire symbology, then perhaps the following excerpt from the Australian Bird Guide (Menkhorst et al. 2019) will solidify its affinity with fire:
“… [Flame Robins] readily, but temporarily, colonises cleared or burnt areas.”
That theory certainly seems to be the case here, given the fact the Flame Robin, previous to the bushfire, was not known to Mt Buninyong, and now its presence is strongly concentrated on the burnt side of the mount. What needs to be considered, however, is the possibility that the Mt Buninyong Flame Robins may be representative of the species colonising other areas within the Corridor. If there are Flame Robins newly present elsewhere in the Corridor, I want to test that theory!
Adult male Flame Robin Image Rob Loveband
You may have heard the colloquial moniker “Robin Redbreast”. This is a generic term for reddish-breasted robins (e.g. European Robin, American Robin) in the northern hemisphere. In Australia, we have our own reddish-breasted robins, the Petroica robins, which total five species. All five Petroica species occur in southeast Australia (also southwest WA, in the Scarlet Robin’s case), indeed including Victoria. Ballarat’s, and certainly the Canadian Corridor’s, most common Petroica is the Scarlet Robin (refer to Bird of the Month XX May 2023), with the Flame Robin being the second-most common, and the other species (Rose, Pink, and Red-capped Robins, in order of most to least common) all being recorded at irregular intervals, and either localised or on the extreme outskirts of Ballarat.
The Flame Robin, by Petroica standards, tends to be associated with open country – particularly during autumn/winter (non-breeding season) – which lends itself to the Flame Robin’s western-leaning distribution throughout Ballarat (e.g. Lake Burrumbeet). By comparison, the Scarlet Robin is usually resident at Woowookarung Regional Park, Union Jack Reserve, Mt Buninyong, and other forest reserves throughout the eastern biolink that is our beloved Canadian Corridor. To help with distinguishing between the two very similar-looking species, please refer to the table below.


A small (11-14cm) insectivorous passerine (songbird), Flame Robins are typically viewable owing to their habit of persistently pouncing from a low perch to the ground, in habitats characterised by an open understorey or clearings (i.e. grassy ground covers). Their disposition is generally not flighty, providing encouragement that if they are occupying an area, their habits in theory are conducive to their presence being revealed.
Flame Robins breed in uplands/ high country, in eucalypt forests (including wet forest/ rainforest), woodlands, and scrubland. An altitudinal migrant, most individuals depart the breeding habitat in autumn/ winter (there’s also an annual migration to and from the mainland by Tasmanian Flames), for open woodlands and farmland, where – unique among Petroica robins – it flocks in groups of up to 20 individuals (another characteristic conducive to high visibility). The Flame Robin’s flexibility is typified by the wide-ranging conditions in which it can occupy, from sea level to altitudes of 1,800m; closed canopy overstorey communities in breeding season to open or absent canopy in non-breeding season; and pristine, undisturbed reserves to intensive agricultural contexts.
Breeding season is August through February. Adding to their flexibility, the nest sites vary widely, ranging from tree hollows (often charred or burnt out) or hollowed stumps; behind peeling bark; a deep-forked branch (up to 20m off the ground); amongst exposed roots; woodpiles; a cavity in earthen embankment or rock fissure; mineshafts; and even sheds. The nest is an untidy bowl or bulky rough cup of bark, grass, moss, lichen, fur/ hair, loosely bound together by spiderwebs. The female is responsible for nest-building and incubation duties – the clutch size being 3-4 eggs, and hatching occurring ~14 days after laying.
Flame Robins have a geographic distribution endemic to southeast Australia, plus Tasmania, with a northern limit of southeast QLD, and a southwestern limit of Kangaroo Island (SA). The species-wide (granted, there are no subspecies/ races) conservation status is ‘Least Concern’ (global) with a decreasing population trend. Federally and in Victoria, the species’ extinction risk is classified as ‘Secure’.
Next time you wander through Woowookarung RP, and the Corridor’s other patches where forest meets open farmland – please run a watchful eye over the grassy ground covers and low perches, ready for any opportunistic sightings of the avian symbol of fire that is the Flame Robin!
Author note: FoCC Committee member and co-admin of FoCC’s Facebook and webpage, Joel Ellis is the resident bird nerd, amateur Powerful Owl researcher, and editor of FoCC’s (co-funded) ‘Indigenous [Species] of Southern Ballarat’ brochure series.
-
-
- Soapy’s Dam
-
The Urban Ripple plantings at Soapy’s Dam have been a huge success. Originally the plan was to plant 1000 trees, shrubs and grasses at Soapy’s Dam during 2025 according to the Urban Ripple project plan. Due to some problems at other sites an extra 1200 plants were available for planting, making a total of 2200 planted. Of these 1800 were planted by students from Damascus College, Mt Clear College, Mt Rowan College and Woodmans Hill College, all along the south side of Soapy’s Dam. Next year the students are set to continue planting to complete more of the reserve’s habitat restoration.
Want to know more about Soapys Dam? A draft brochure has been produced by the FoCC telling the story of Soapy’s Dam as the FoCC knows it. It has been posted on the FoCC website. At: https://www.focc.asn.au
The FoCC welcomes new information about Soapys Dam or feedback on the brochure. The FoCC is keen to document as much as possible about the reserve’s history. Hopefully some of the information will be incorporated onto public information signage at the reserve.
-
-
- Surprise grasstree find.
-
Much to the surprise of students and staff at Soapys Dam Reserve two small grasstrees were found growing in the middle of the designated schools planting area. In the 1960’s the land was covered in shallow mine holes. These were filled in around the late 1960’s and are shown on the FoCC’s 1970 aerial Images as disturbed land. Since then, grasses and weeds have grown across the area leading to the reserve being regularly mown by the CoB for fire fuel reduction reasons. Fast forward to August 20th 2025 and two small Xanthorrhoea Minor grasstrees were found growing in the middle of the reserve.

Yep! The arrows point to two small grasstrees growing in the middle of a mown reserve. Further searching around the reserve site discovered three more older and larger grasstrees, one in amongst the gorse along Soapy’s Creek.
-
-
- Koala Sightings
Mt Buninyong Koala.
Image: Courtesy of Cathy, 5th Sept 2025.
- Koala Sightings
-
A koala spotted by Maggie on the west side of the Fern Walk between York St and Wilson St Ballarat East. 23rd September 2025.
October to March is Koala breeding season and peak sightings time. If you see, hear or find scat from a Koala, please send the information containing the when, where, and how to: foccinfo@gmail.com. Images are gold (even if a little blurry). All Koala sightings are entered into the iNaturalist online data base. The complete list of sightings can be viewed at https://www.focc.asn.au/koalas/
-
-
- Great Aussie Bird Count 2025
Woowookarung Regional Park spotting locations
The FoCC map of suggested bird count sites in the park is below.
- Great Aussie Bird Count 2025
-
To participate download the app: https://aussiebirdcount.org.au
-
-
- Murnong
Murnong is traditional food of the Wadawurrung people. Before the squatters and gold rush, Murnong was widespread in the Ballarat region.Murnong in flower, east side of Mt Clear College. Image: Courtesy of Ash, 9th September 2025 - ‘WETLANDS RESTORATION: Prescriptions and Practice’
Mullawallah Wetlands
- Murnong
-
Invitation to a presentation by:
Peter Gell, Emeritus Professor, Federation University
On Tuesday 14th October 2025 at 7.00pm
At Lucas Community Hub, 17 Coltman Plaza, Lucas. (Enter via Coltman Plaza) Tea/Coffee and light supper Enquiries: Friends of Mullawallah Wetlands
Email: mullawallahwetlands@gmail.com
-
-
- Rubbish dumpers, thieves and vandals The FoCC urges Park friends to report vandals as well as rubbish dumpers, wood thieves and other suspicious activity to Parks Victoria on 13 1963 or email: woowookarung@parks.vic.gov.au
-
In emergency situations please call 000. If an offender is spotted, please note vehicle registration details as vehicle identification is most helpful, plus location and details. All information is treated by Parks Victoria Rangers professionally and confidentially.
-
-
- Useful information
Parks Victoria Woowookarung email address: woowookarung@parks.vic.gov.au
City of Ballarat wildlife information:
https://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/me/pets-and-animals/wildlife
Wildlife Victoria (03) 8400 7300
DEECA wildlife issues reporting information Report wildlife crime to Crime Stoppers Victoria on 1800 333 000. Report any wildlife at immediate risk of deliberate harm or neglect to 136 186. Other matters relating to wildlife and wildlife management should use the 136 186 too. The Help for Injured Wildlife tool will help you locate and contact the closest relevant wildlife carers and rescue and rehabilitation organisations to help the injured wildlife.
- Useful information
-
- Membership Membership runs from 1st January to 31st December each year, Membership fee is $20 per year. New members and renewals after July 1 are credited to the next year. Membership is available online or email foccinfo@gmail.com
-
- FoCC Facebook and webpage
www.facebook.com/friendsofcanadiancorridor/
Rob is overseeing the webpage webmaster@focc.asn.au
The FoCC has over 1300+ friends following us on Facebook and growing. Welcome to all new friends. Feel free to pass on to other friends and press the Like button.
- FoCC Facebook and webpage
-
- 2025 Proposed Calendar
-
Spikey News is published monthly for the Friends of Canadian Corridor Incorporated. Registered No A0097535B. The FoCC is a Landcare group registered with Landcare Victoria Inc and a member of the Yarrowee Leigh Catchment Group. The purpose of “Spikey News” is to link the community to Woowookarung Regional Park and the Canadian Corridor. Circulation this issue is to 1278 1306 subscribers. Welcome to all new friends.
Any opinions expressed in Spikey News are made by the editors in good faith and do not officially represent Parks Victoria or the FoCC. Previous issues of Spikey news can be found at our web site, here. We are proud to walk this land with the Wadawurrung people and all other First Nations people. Friends wishing to add articles to the FoCC update may do so by emailing foccinfo@gmail.com