Mountain Brushtail Possum at Watsons’ site
Over the past few months, the Upper Goulburn Landcare Network’s Focus on Fauna team has been installing remote motion-sensing cameras to record wildlife at each of the Biodiversity Project sites . This was an attempt to establish some baseline data for future comparison so as to gauge the effects of the project’s revegetation and habitat protection works.
Similar procedures to the Focus on Fauna project were followed, although camera deployments were for longer periods – usually about four weeks. A scent lure of peanut butter, golden syrup and rolled oats was set up near the camera (contained in the black plastic filter that can be seen in many of the images).
A wide range of animals was captured on camera and a sample of those at each of the project sites is shown below – click on any of the photos for a closer look. Unsurprisingly the well-vegetated and relatively remote “Hidden Valley”, comprising the Hubbard and Watson sites, produced the greatest variety of wildlife. As with the Focus on Fauna project, one of the disturbing results was the number of foxes, which were recorded on camera at four out of the six sites.
Site 1 – Joblins:
Black Wallaby
Short-beaked Echidna
Grey Currawong
Red Fox
Site 2 – Kings:
Common Wombat with young
Eastern Grey Kangaroos
Site 3 – Hubbards:
Also see previous posts on the mystery tree markings HERE and HERE.
Unidentified possum
What looks like a Sugar Glider
Look at me !
Large Sambar
Site 4 – Granters:
Well-rounded wombat
Kangaroo with young one
Site 5 – Fosters:
Short-beaked Echidna
A raven takes a liking to peanut butter
Site 6 – Watsons:
Black Wallaby
Young Sambar
Something in the air
Kangaroo distracted by a bird or bat
Strath Creek Biodiversity Project 
Great stuff fella’s.
Just one that thing though, I think the use of lures at the cameras does encourage foxes to investigate which may account for the high number of fox photo’s. Also it could result in predation by the foxes of smaller native mammals also encouraged by the bait. I always just try and look for traces of wildlife and set the cameras up accordingly. Such as feeding signs, tracks, droppings and areas that look like they may be regular thoroughfares.
Regards, Chris Cobern
Landcare Coordinator
Upper Goulburn Landcare Network
Thanks Chris. Lures have been widely used by researchers, Field Nats., etc for some time and we’ve not come across any reports of evidence of fox predation at camera traps – such predation would presumably be caught on camera on at least some occasions. Sorting through the numerous images we record on camera, it is clear that most animals, including foxes, show only a passing interest in the lures, if at all, and we do wonder about the value of them and may discontinue the use of them. We doubt that a fox would be attracted from any distance to the lure, and would be unlikely to hang around waiting for possible prey (again, this would be caught on camera if it were happening). We think the high number of fox photos is actually a reflection of the high numbers of foxes out there!
We of course do try to set up the cameras in likely wildlife spots as you mention – after all, we want to maximise the chances of recording passing animals.
Regards, Macwake
Great to see a wombat and baby in the photos. We have had a young one wandering around near the house now as well. The foxes issue I understand. If there was a balance that would be great! On our side of the Strath Creek we do not have any rabbits! Are the foxes eating the rabbits? – I’m happy if they are. Great work with the recordings all animals in their natural environment … yeah!
Cheers
Susan King