By Lachlan Ellis<\/p>\n
Two local photographers will have their work featured in an upcoming book published by the CSIRO, including many animals from Moorabool Shire.<\/p>\n
Set to be released in February, \u2018Wildlife of Victoria\u2019s South-West\u2019 by Dr Grant Palmer and Jules Farquhar will feature photos from Moorabool\u2019s own David Whelan and Bernie McRitchie, including creatures such as the echidna, eastern brown snake, and even a white morph grey goshawk, the only bird of prey in the world to be entirely white.<\/p>\n
Mr Whelan said it was a thrill to have his and Mr McRitchie\u2019s work published by the CSIRO.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re both super excited, it\u2019s great. I met Grant Palmer at a Moorabool Environment Group function about six years ago at the Mechanics Institute. Late last year, he put out a request on Facebook post for photos for this book on the fauna of south-west Victoria, and I contacted him. I sent him some samples of my work and Bernie\u2019s work, and it went from there,\u201d he told the Moorabool News.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got all kinds of photos that\u2019ll be in there, about 40 photos each. Bernie\u2019s got a great photo of an Australian fur seal on the beach in Portland, I\u2019ve got a lot of birds, a lowland copperhead I photographed up on Ingliston Road in Ballan, and lots of different species of birds, and some introduced feral animals like a fallow deer I took down at Rowsley.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Whelan said Moorabool Shire was a fantastic place to capture photos of wildlife.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very lucky around here \u2013 there\u2019s so much wildlife and so many landscapes in Moorabool, if you look for it and open your eyes to it. Sometimes with our modern, busy way of life, you\u2019re not really thinking about that kind of thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel like if we\u2019re opening people up to seeing something they\u2019ve never seen before, we feel like we\u2019ve made a bit of a difference. Some of the photos I took were in Lake Wendouree, and places across Moorabool Shire, like Bacchus Marsh, Ballan, Rowsley, Balliang\u2026so most of our photos were taken fairly close by.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wildlife of Victoria\u2019s South-West will be available in paperback form for $49.99 on the CSIRO Publishing website.<\/p>\n
Mr Whelan has also offered for him and Mr McRitchie to sign copies of the book \u2013 you can contact him at www.wildpix.com.au\/contact to arrange a signed copy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Lachlan Ellis Two local photographers will have their work featured in an upcoming book published by the CSIRO, including many animals from Moorabool Shire. Set to be released in February, \u2018Wildlife of Victoria\u2019s South-West\u2019 by Dr Grant Palmer and Jules Farquhar will feature photos from Moorabool\u2019s own David Whelan and Bernie McRitchie, including creatures […]<\/p>\n