The Ringwood Field Naturalists Club hosted a very successful spring 2017 camp-out over the weekend 14 & 15 October.  In all, 135 field naturalists attended and participated in a range of excursions as well as enjoying 3 interesting evening talks.  Most attendees were able to base themselves at the Little Desert Nature Lodge either in the rooms, bunk rooms or utilizing the camping area which was pleasantly crowded.

For the weekend there was a range of excursions including:

• all day excursions to either Mt Arapiles, Snape Reserve or the general Kiata area, and
• half-day excursions to Glenlee Flora & Fauna Reserve, Stringybark Walk, Kiata Flora Reserve, Nhill Lake, Harrow Road, with some excursions in and around the Little Desert Nature Lodge itself.

After each evening meal there was a guest speaker:

• Friday evening was Ben Holmes (Program Manager – Threatened Species & Rewilding Conservation Volunteers Australia) speaking on “Re-wilding the Desert”.  He provided detailed information on the work being undertaken to re-introduce various species of animals considered either locally extinct or threatened.
• on Saturday evening Ian Morgan provided a beautiful photographic display of a variety of birds found in Victoria.
• Sunday evening was Michael Stewart (CEO Barengi Gadjin Land Council Aboriginal Corporation).  Michael spoke on “Indigenous plants as a source of food” providing an insight into the local indigenous people, the work being undertaken at Wail Nursery as well as various uses to which many native plants could be used especially for food.

Thanks go to the members of the sub-committee (who worked on the event for over 12 months), to all the excursion leaders and facilitators, and to all the other helpers whose efforts made for a successful event.