Jackson Adcroft spotted this Koala in his backgarden in December on Lisbeth Avenue, Donvale - on Hillcrest Forestway
If you woul like to lend a had in the community, take advantage of one of the opportunities below.
Frog Watch 2011
The Friends of Yarran Dheran are involved in a regular frog walk as part of the Melbourne Water Frog census to help monitor the health of the local frog populations and to promote community awareness. Everyone is welcome to participate (no special knowledge is required).
Next Frogwalk details
When: Sunday September 25th 2011, 6.30pm Meet at Yarran Dheran Information Centre (Information Centre is close to the Ashburton Drive entrance)
Duration: approx. 30 minutes
Note: Children are very welcome to attend but should be accompanied by a responsible adult
What to wear:
-
stout, enclosed footwear for walking
- suitable clothing including long trousers
What to bring:
- a torch
- mp3 recording device if available
For further details on this or future frog walks e-mail Gay Gallagher gay.gallagher@bigpond.com
Results from previous Frogwalks
- 28/12/09 21.00 : 3 frogs recorded (Southern Brown Tree Frogs, Litoria ewingi)
- 29/05/10 19.30 : no frogs recorded
- 25/09/10 19.15 : 3 frogs recorded (2 Southern Brown Tree Frogs, Litoria ewingi , 1 Eastern Common Froglet, Crinia signifera)
- 26/03/11 18:20 : 3 frogs recorded (3 Southern Brown Tree Frogs, Litoria ewingi
Weblinks:
|
Volunteers needed for Platypus Count on the Yarra River
The Australian Platypus Conservancy (APC) is currently getting a new program underway (christened Platypus Count), which aims specifically to collect community platypus sightings data for the Yarra in order to develop an ongoing platypus monitoring program for the Melbourne area.
The APC are looking for volunteers who walk or cycle along part of the Yarra on a reasonably frequent basis - at least once a week on average would be good, preferably in the morning and/or late afternoon/evening - who are prepared to stop at a few places within their stretch where they can consistently and conveniently scan the river for 1-2 minutes for platypus and then record their sightings (or lack of) on a simple data sheet that the APC will provide.
10-20 keen, reliable people are needed, mainly concentrating on the City-Warrandyte section, for what will be a trial phase until techniques are refined and the program can be extended to a wider area and other rivers.
For more information you can contact the APC at platypus.apc@westnet.com.au |
Leadbeater's Possum Adopt-a-nest box Project
Are you interested in helping save Victoria’s State faunal emblem, the endangered and unique Leadbeater’s Possum? With numbers of Leadbeater's declining in the wild here is your opportunity to help by becoming a nestbox sponsor as part of ‘Project Possum’ (the Australian Geographic Nest Box Project).
Leadbeater’s Possums are forest dwelling animals that require numerous tree hollows in an area to provide daytime den sites safe from predators and weather. Decades of timber extraction coupled with intense bushfires have left them little high quality habitat, and suitable tree hollows have become extremely scarce.
The aim of this project is to provide additional den sites for Leadbeater’s Possums by installing nest boxes at strategic localities throughout their range. Our goal of installing 200 nest boxes should provide dens for a significant proportion of the approximately 2,500 Leadbeater’s Possums remaining in the wild. An innovative new design of nest box has been developed for this project. They are made out of recycled plastic which should help them last a long time (30+ years) in the forest, but this also makes them expensive to produce, this is where we hope you can help. Each nest box will cost close to $200 to produce so we are hoping to raise $150 towards the manufacture of each box. Nest boxes will be monitored annually by volunteers with Friends of Leadbeater's Possum and the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (let us know if you are interested to be a part of field teams that check the boxes).
If you sponsor a nest box you will receive membership to our group for 2008 and a certificate with the number of the box on it. When information is learned about your box we will send you an update. Hopefully, your nest box will house a Leadbeater’s colony that you will be able to track over time!
We hope you are able to support this exciting initiative. If you not, we would appreciate it if you could pass this information on to people or groups you think may be interested. For more information contact Emma Campbell, Shire of Yarra Ranges on 9294 6391, e.campbell@yarraranges.vic.gov.au |
Volunteer Rain Gauge Operators Sought
Melbourne Water (MW) currently maintains a network of about 350 rain gauges across metropolitan and rural areas operated on a voluntary basis by local residents, bowling clubs, golf clubs etc. This is in addition to the 120 telemetered rain gauges monitored from MW’s office. With the recent geographic extension in MW’s area of responsibility, they are currently looking to extend their network of volunteer rain gauge operators to complement upgrades to the telemetered rain gauge network in the Maribyrnong and Werribee catchments.
How the data collected is used: MW uses the rainfall information collected by volunteer rain gauge operators to plan its strategies for flood warning services and drainage system planning and investigations. The rainfall records are also available to many other external parties such as universities, schools, members of the public, consulting engineers etc. Opportunities also exist for volunteers to have their data displayed on a webpage currently being developed by MW if they wish. Rainfall readings are taken once a day and recorded on observation sheets provided by MW. These observation sheets are sent back to MW at the end of each calendar year in a reply paid envelope also provided by MW in its annual Christmas mail out. MW will also provide a rain gauge and instructions to volunteers. All personal information of rain gauge operators are kept in confidence and will only be used, disclosed or handled in accordance with MW’s Information Pri vacy Policy.
More information: to volunteer for the program or become a private rain gauge operator contact Peter Waugh (MW) tel: 9235 2219, email: peter.waugh |
