Fencing begins on Striped Legless Lizard site

The 1st of February saw Terry out again on his trusty Fiat, going where only eagles dare. The land holder, Kay, couldn’t bear to watch, but Terry is well acquainted with his machinery and ability in hill country. This is the last property in the Project to be fenced and is also the property where Kay discovered the endangered Striped Legless Lizard last year (see our sister site Focus on Fauna for more) – what possessed her to pick up a creature that resembles a snake, we still wonder. And if anyone else sees these animals in our district, please let us know.

Terry put in all the end assemblies and gate posts as a volunteer again on this site and was kept refueled by the best blueberry muffins in the Valley. This effort was followed up by a Strath Creek Landcare Group volunteer day on 17th of February which saw 9 of our group join Neil and Kay in an effort to put up a fence of around 560 metres across steep slopes. It was great to see 4 new Landcarers involved and included 5 other Landcarers helping out who also have sites in the Project. In typical Strath Creek Landcare tradition we were treated to a beaut morning tea in a gully shaded by silver wattles and a couple of magnificent Yellow Box that are being protected by stock exclusion. This was just an entree to a banquet that followed when we finished at midday in 36 degree heat after 4 hours of hard slog. The volunteers are to be congratulated for completing around 2/3rds of the fence, and I think I heard them say they were keen to come back later in March to finish what they started?!

When complete, this property in the Strath Valley will protect around 7 ha of remnant and revegetated habitat. It will be really interesting to see if the Striped Legless Lizard expands it’s range across this protected area.