STAGE TWO AT SCOTIA

After some time off and a few thousand kilometres its back to Scotia Sanctuary to release and then monitor numbats from Perth Zoo. I was delayed a little while the car got new tyres and new brakes, not sure why as I never use the brakes. The weather was extremely hot and I pulled up the first night beside Benanee Lake, near Euston. I put up a mosquito net and left the van doors open. A cool breeze blew across the lake and through the van, it was the coolest night sleep I had had for a while. In the morning I awoke to birds chirping. It was a very pretty place and I spent a few hours here swimming, having breakfast and photographing birds.

A wood swallow at Benanee 

Then it was on to Manildra for groceries before heading out to the sanctuary. Once there I unpacked and then headed out for the night-time mala monitoring and feeding. It was very hot at Scotia. During the monitoring in my little tent the sweat was rolling down my face and despite the Aeroguard the insects gave me no peace. Monitoring only went until about 2 in the morning. Back at camp it was too hot to sleep and I found that the electricity in my block was blacked out. This wasn't good preparation for a 5am start.

An emu, spotted on the approach to Scotia.

The mala being fed at night.

The next morning we headed out to find two numbats. A young one, Nicolas, was being monitored to see if he was coping by himself. He had a collar so we located where he was sleeping and then put a camera to see if he was by himself or still with his mother. After this we looked for a female called Nana. She had not been sighted for a while. We tried to find her signal but without success. After returning to camp I was loaded up with equipment and then dropped back in the area where Nana was last spotted. I had a back pack with water and food and a snake bandage. I had a hand radio, a satellite phone, a GPS and the telemetry box and aerial. I also took my camera. The next few very hot hours were spent walking transects through the bush scanning for the missing numbat. I didn't have any success.

A sand goanna.

In the afternoon the rest of the volunteers went out to set up logs and water dishes for the new numbats arriving. I was left at camp because I had just come back and was due to do telemetry for the mala that night. Unfortunately an electrical storm came over and the telemetry had to be called off. 

Birds using a favoured watering point

Early next morning we again set out and found Nicholas and put a new camera at the entrance to the burrow he had slept in. Then I joined the team doing numbat surveys as they were one member short. Louise and Megan drive around the dirt roads at 10 to 15 km/hour and try to spot numbats and goannas. They record the position of any they find. This goes on for about 4 hours. This morning we saw a lot of goannas but no numbats. Usually they do see at least one each day, and one day they saw some juveniles playing and were able to take some good pictures. More storms and the monitoring was again cancelled, though we still had to go out and feed the mala. Despite the storms it is still extremely hot here during the day and the night. Sleeping is difficult.

SURVEYSl

I came to Scotia to help with the pit fall surveys. The plan was to do a 9 day cycle, have 4 days off and then do another 9 day cycle with a different group of volunteers. In a cycle each team erects the pits at three different sites and monitors them over three nights. The sites are physically checked each morning and afternoon and any wildlife in the traps are identified and measured. Then the traps are taken down and put at a different site. This is repeated three times during the cycle.

My monitoring station: home in the desert.

Arriving at Scotia I found the team monitoring the mala at night were short a member so I volunteered to do this job as it wouldn't interfere with the pit fall surveys. The mala monitoring went through the night. Each session of taking telemetry readings on twenty mala would take about 40 minutes. There was a break between each session of at least an hour, but sometimes two or sometimes three hours. This is when sleep happened. The monitoring would last all night.

I have completed the first 9 day survey and thoroughly enjoyed my time here. It was hot, though reasonable. Although at times the work was constant it wasn't in any way excessive or difficult. Although we were monitoring snakes and spiders we were never in any danger and the only problem I had was with a certain spinifex plant. Doing the surveys was a very worthwhile experience. The staff were friendly, knowledgeable and dedicated to their work. Many, but not all, of the volunteers were working or studying in an ecology related field so knew the wildlife we were coming across. While I was grasping the difference between a Royal Ctenotus skink and a Jewelled gecko they were all using their latin/scientific names. This wasn't a problem. I came to appreciate the remarkable variety of reptiles that we have in Australia and especially in spinifex country.

A mala with a radio collar

I also learnt about the mala, an animal I had never heard of before. I saw and learnt about a number of other small mammals, reptiles and 'bugs'. Although I didn't get a photograph (yet) of a bilby they were certainly good to see in their natural state; and I still haven't seen a numbat, but I am sure this will happen when I return. I also learnt a lot about AWC, Scotia and conservation work being done in Australia and in particular pit fall surveys. I would recommend doing a 9 day cycle to anyone......it is a valuable experience.

My plans did change. Now I am regrettably not doing the second pit fall survey cycle but instead will be taking a longer break away from Scotia before returning to do a release of numbats into the wild. These numbats are from Perth zoo which have a numbat breeding program operating with Scotia. There is some preparation to do before the animals arrive to ensure sufficient food sources and nesting sites and then, when they are released, monitoring to make sure they are surviving in the wild.

So here ends phase one at Scotia. I will return in a few weeks for phase two: the numbat release. Surely this will bring me closer to 'the wild ferret'.

Gehyra variegata, a small gecko.