Tuesday, April 19, 2011

LANDHOLDER CANE TOAD FIELD DAY
Find out how to keep cane toads out of your farm dams and fish ponds.
When:  Sunday 1st May 2011
Where: Cervalli's Place
            267a Mororo Rd, Mororo
Time:   10am - 12 noon (followed by cold lunch).
            BYO chair!

Come along to this exciting field day to hear talks by CIA toad coordinator Sharon Lehman and Clarence Landcare CSO Julie Mousley on topics such as:
  • How to reduce the breeding success of toads on your property
  • Control methods and options for cane toads
  • Vegetation suitable to hinder toad movement
  • Tour of 3 dams, find out which dams are more likely to be used by toads and why
  • Hear about the launch of the exciting new CVCIA Landcare Toad Target Property Project
  • Time provided for questions and to hear from other property managers
  • Suitable for any resident, landholder or property manager. All welcome.

Please RSVP for catering purposes to CVCIA Landcare on 0411 020 394 or sharon@cvcia.org.au. See you all there! Cheers, Sharon.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Top Myna trappers so far this year

Frederick, our Myna Data Collection Officer, has reported that the top three Common Myna trappers so far this year are:
  1. Bevan (I'll kill anything non-native) Pugh - 187 mynas
  2. Graham Wilson - 70 mynas
  3. Pop Austin - 42 mynas
Great effort guys! Keep that data coming. Cheers Sharon.

Mynas crowded around Bevan's trap fighting each other to get in.
Captured on Scoutguard camera.

15/4/11 - Mororo Toad bust

Rob, Bevan and I headed out on a cloudy Friday night. Rob has been itching to get back to Glen's dams at Mororo and we were not disappointed (re toad numbers that is). First we headed up to Nicola's and checked the 3 dams. This is sort of an unofficial research site for us now and the site of our landholder cane toad field day in a fortnight, so it was good to see what was going on. no toads in the house dam, tadpoles and two toads in the shed dam but we snagged 12 males out of the bottom dam.

We then picked up a few off Peter's place, especially around the shed, but from the entrance road into Peter's and the road, orchard and bottom dam of Glen's we bagged over 350 toads. Bevan caught this big guy below (look how happy he is) and all up we bagged 422 toads. The cool nights have not affected our tough Mororo toads yet!

Bevan is over the moon about catching this big boy - 325g of toad.
This has tipped CIA over the 4,000 toads picked up this season, and the entire tally has just tipped 10,000 toads (with Yamba roundup, NPWS, landowner and Russell all combined). Well done guys.

Only a few more toadbusts to go this season (check the calendar) but all my energy focused right now on our Landholder Cane Toad Field Day Sunday 1st May - all welcome. RSVP to sharon@cvcia.org.au . Cheers, Sharon.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

9/4/11 - Brooms Head Family Toad Night

Well Brooms Head Family Toad night was well promoted in the media and locally at Brooms Head but we still only picked up two local lads for the night - Tom and Brock. But these guys made up for the lack of interest from the rest of the community and I predict they are going to be great toadbusters into the future!

Mel and I did our bit for "family toad night" by dragging the rest of our households out and Rob had a particularly anti-family night by coming out on the night of Carol's birthday! I chidded him suitably Carol (even I am not that keen!).

Tom, Rob, Brock, Izzy, Steph and Tom enjoyed family toad night.
We hit the village hard and found water lying in places I have never seen it lying before. People welcomed us into their yards (thanks Brooms Head!) and others praised our efforts. Rob, Tom, Brock and I did a trip up Sandon Rd and found a large male right up near wire fence gate, which is quite concerning.

Funniest moment of my night was when we found a roadside culvert on Sandon Rd with a male floating in it. We were trying to work out to get at him without getting wet when Rob started telling us he could see eels in the water. Tom, Brock and I were squinting saying "where?". "There!" he kept calling, "baby eels". They were leeches. Needless to say I did not get in, but we got the toad.

All in all we bagged 128 toads and really mucked up some male toads' night by dragging them mid-croak from ponds. It was lovely to only have to drive 2 km back to our campsite at LA and have a glass of wine with my hubby around the campfire. Family night is the best!

Friday, April 1, 2011

01/04/11 - The Northern NSW Landcare Awards

What a fabulous day - the Northern NSW Landcare Awards.

Well, we came second in the Community Group award today for Northern NSW Landcare Awards. That's pretty awesome considering the competition and we have only been a Landcare group for 2 years (well done to all our wonderful CIA volunteers). I could not believe how excited I was - I even put on makeup! That's a once in a year event. Laura cursed me for having to wear shoes that were gorgeous, yet painful.


Over 100 people attended the Northern NSW Landcare Awards
But the star of the day was our young Bethany - the only Clarence recipient of an award today - well done Bethany - you are a star!! I had a tear in my eye and Ant said he was unable to speak as he was all choked up. That made my day.


Bethany recieves her award for Junior Landcare Leader Northern NSW.
Laura, Kevin, Pop and Deb P came along to cheer Bethany on and I saw Kevin, Laura and Pop leave, then mysteriously reappear when dessert was announced! As always, I love hanging out with CIA members.

The fabulous Laura, Kevin and Pop
I was a little disappointed we did not win (I am finding red wine eases the pain slightly) but mostly because I wanted to get up and thank the fabulous Clarence Landcare crew (Julie, Deb and Sue) who have welcomed the kooky and unusual CIA group to their family with open arms and incredible enthusiasm. You guys are the best. Lastly, thanks again to all the fabulous CIA volunteers and members. Even if you are not out there picking up toads and trapping mynas, we appreciate your support and know you are there - thank you. Cheers, Sharon. 
All the winners - well done Bethany!!