Feathery Festival Events

Saturday 5 September – Bird Walk – Campbells Creek Trail

The program of events kicks off with a guided bird walk along Campbells Creek Trail starting at Lewis Drive (next to the Salvage Yard) at 9:00am. The Trail is now home to a diverse mix of birds.

Following the walk, everyone is invited to a free morning tea kindly donated by The Good Op Shop, and there will also be a pop-up plant sale by Newstead Natives, who specialise in bird-friendly habitat plants.

The walk is free and there is no need to book – you can find further details on the Connecting Country website here.

ALL WELCOME!

Sunday 6 September – Nature Journaling and Sticky Beak Property Tour – Moonlight Flat

This event offers the opportunity to visit a local property that is in the process of being restored for bird habitat, and you can spend some time with local artist Jane Rusden learning the art of nature journaling (no experience necessary). The nature journaling session commences at 9:30am for around 2 hours, followed by the Sticky Beak Tour starting from 11:30am.

This event is also free and there is no need to book – further details are here.

Thursday 10 September – In the Company of Birds –Castlemaine Goods Shed 

This very special event brings together nature, art and conversation, followed by an immersive soundscape experience with Nature Art Soundscapes.

Join Kirsty Costa, host of Weekend Birder podcast, award-winning nature artist Kate Gorringe-Smith, and our very own beloved local artist Jane Rusden in conversation as they share stories about the birds that inspire, connect and shape their lives.

This is a paid event with profits going towards Connecting Country’s restoration projects. The ticket price also includes dinner from local restaurant Melody, specialising in delicious Middle Eastern cuisine.

More details and a link to book tickets can be found here.

Friday 11 September – Impact of Litter on Birds –  Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club Talk 

Hannah Farone from Federation University will discuss her research into the impact of litter on bird behaviour and survival. Start time 7:30pm; address Castlemaine Uniting Church Hall, 24 Lyttleton St, Castlemaine.

No bookings required.

Acknowledgment of Country

BirdLife Castlemaine acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands on which the Feathery Festival will take place, the Dja Dja Wurrung people, and we pay our respects to their Elders past and present. We recognise and are grateful for the immense contribution of Indigenous people to the knowledge and conservation of Australia’s birds.

Birding Weekend – Mallee / Little Desert National Park – 23-25 October 2026

Our 2026 Birding Weekend will be in and around the Little Desert National Park and the Dimboola area in the Mallee. Due to the recent fires in the National Park, much of it has been burnt and at this stage closed but some areas are still accessible, with a number of good birding spots close to Dimboola.

The area has a number of different types of habit including mallee, dry forest, red gum areas and riverside. Recent interesting sightings and for October last year include Spiny-cheeked and Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters, Horsfield’s and Shining Bronze-Cuckoos, White-browed Babbler, Rainbow Bee-eater, Sacred Kingfisher, Gilbert’s Whistler, Restless Flycatcher, Jacky Winter, Hooded and Red-capped Robins, Inland Thornbill, Purple-backed Fairy-wren, Southern Whiteface, Common and Brush Bronzewing, Blue-winged Parrot, Purple-crowned Lorikeet, Diamond Firetail, Rufous Fieldwren, Southern Scrub-Robin, plus various others including Malleefowl seen as recently as late August.

We will centre ourselves where possible at Dimboola. There are a couple of holiday parks offering accommodation from unpowered sites to cabins. There is a motel and the Victoria Hotel does a reasonable room but the bathroom facilities are shared. There are also some B&Bs, etc. in the area. For those wishing to camp in the National Park itself, the Horseshoe Bend and Ackle Bend camp sites are open and not far from Dimboola. We believe all others are closed at this stage but it may change closer to the event. Don’t forget you need to pay for these sites. Nhill and Jeparit which are not far from Dimboola also have accommodation if you cannot find anything suitable at Dimboola. If you intend on going, we suggest you book your accommodation as soon as possible.

As usual we suggest driving up on the Friday to get settled in if you can. There will be walks organised for Friday afternoon, Saturday morning and afternoon and Sunday morning. If enough people are interested, we may look at doing a night walk on Saturday night. A communal dinner will also be arranged for the Friday night at a hotel or restaurant in Dimboola.

For those interested in the weekend, please advise Bob Dawson, by email to bobadawson@hotmail.com so that you can be notified of the details as they become available. Please provide the names of all going, and a mobile number. Please also let Bob know whether you intend on joining us for dinner on the Friday.

For more information regarding the area, click here:
https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/parks/little-desert-national-park
https://vnpa.org.au/parks/little-desert-national-park/
https://www.wimmeramalleetourism.com.au/little-desert/
https://www.hindmarsh.vic.gov.au/Visit-Hindmarsh/Visit-our-towns/Dimboola

National Park camping area links:
https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/parks/little-desert-national-park/where-to-stay/horseshoe-bend-camping-
area#change-of-conditions
https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/parks/little-desert-national-park/where-to-stay/ackle-bend-camping-area