Cohuna Irrigation Channel report

2014 VHS Reptile and Amphibian Expo

 Royal Melbourne Showgrounds

Saturday 22nd February 2014

9.00am – 5.00pm

Adult $10

Child $5

Family (2 adults/2 kids) $25

VHS members admitted FREE

There has been lots of publicity organized for the two events at Wangaratta this weekend, With at least two news paper articles one in the Border Mail the other in the Wangaratta Chronicle.  There should also be an interview on ABC Golburn Valley on 7 June at 7:20 am.

We should be a great event with have many locals attending over the two days, it looks like  the weather will be good to us also.

Two nest protection kits were provided to farmers in the Gunbower area today by Turtles Australia Inc. These farmers have expressed and interest in helping us and the turtles they see on their farms while they go about their work.

Both farms have had Broad-shell turtle nesting on them in the last couple of weeks and due to the actions of these farmers three additional nests have been protected from fox predation.

With the nest protection kits we have provided we anticipate many more nests will be protected over the coming years. Each kit contain enough equipment to protect 10 nests, most of the items can be reused after the hatching have emerged from the nest.

The purchase of the kits was made possible by the use of the $200 Bunnings Voucher provided by V/line. Should you wish to sponsor and kit please contact us, $100 will protect 10 nest or around 150 baby turtles.

On April 10 Turtles Australia Inc.'s President Graham Stockfeld and Vice President Dylan Hill made a quick two day trip to Gunbower Island to meet Heidi Stricker a student from the University of Western Sydney that we will be assisting with her work on the Island over the next few weeks.

On a beautiful sunny Sunday four members headed north to check out some 
turtles nesting sites, below is a brief report from Rolf.
 

We visited Madowla Lagoon and Broken Creek  (274 Kennedy Rd, Picola) for turtles nests. Madowla Lagoon was visited in 2012 and a concentration of nests (probably Emydura) were found on a small area of unploughed land on the verge of the wetland. The intended future land use was for a lucerne crop, so we had hopes of an expanded nesting area for turtles in 2012-13.

 

On the date of our visit the Madowla Park sandhill was being ploughed, so any nests that may have been established there were obliterated (obviously the planned lucerne crop of 2012 was not successful, the paddock seemed to be predominately Skeleton Weed). The unploughed water frontage did not contain any recent nests.  Three (3) nests containing 2012 markers were relocated and an additional nest of the same vintage was identified.

Madowla Lagoon

Photo: Ian Levy          

No evidence of turtle nesting was found on the section of Broken Creek examined.  However we did see a legless lizard at E:324151 N:6010683, Picola Broken Ck/274 Kennedy Rd.  The specimen was not handled to verify species but was most probably Delmar inornata (Olive Legless Lizard).

 

One Eastern Long-necked Turtle was located on the roadside at Bunbartha (estimate E: 351150 N:5990350).  Morphometric data for this specimen was recorded and the turtle released 100 metres from the highway near a farm dam.

A few photos from the expo - I'm to tried to write a report... Thanks to all the helpers today you did a great job.

The Turtles Australia Inc. stand at the Melbourne Pet and Animal Expo, held over the weekend, proved to be quite popular with a steady crowd checking out the display on both days.  The Murray River Turtle hatchlings were a real draw card.  Being able to compare day old hatchlings with mature 3kg adults was, to some people, a real eye opener resulting in quite a few members of the public now making plans to purchase larger tanks for their “Penny Turtles”.

We gave four presentations on freshwater turtles which seemed to go over well, despite us having to compete with the dogs demonstrating “fly-ball” which resulted in some extremely loud barking.

We were also interviewed for a new TV program, featuring veterinary surgeon Dr Kevin Foster, which is in production at the moment.  Keep an eye on our website for details of when it is to be aired.

Our thanks go to Tuff Turf ‘N’ Co who so kindly donated the synthetic grass that we used both in and around the “wet and dry tubs”.  The tiles really added to the display and enabled the kids to comfortably get up close and personal with the turtles.

Most importantly though I’d like to thank Turtles Australia members Dylan, Natalie, Lynette and Mark for their invaluable help over the weekend – without their hard work and enthusiasm the exhibit would never have happened.