30/03/12 - Brooms Head Family Toad Night

Well, Brooms Head family toad night ended up being 5 CIA toadbusters and 2 Brooms Head Landcare members, so well done to Robyn and Paul Sharp for coming out to help us. It was wonderufl to pick up some local knowledge (like where to stand to get phone service) and a nice joint activity for two Landcare groups from the area.

Paul & Robyn Sharp from Brooms Head Landcare with CVCIA Landcare member Sharon Davidge

We picked up 68 toads for the night but most concerning was the large females we collected right near the Brooms Head shop.

Sharon Robbins with large female cane toad collected in Brooms Head village.

I lost my voice at the end of the night which made everyone very happy and Bevan, Rob and Sharon R saw a lovely carpet python at Lake Arragan to top the night off. Thanks to the 4 CIA vols that came all that way and thanks to Paul and Robyn for coming out with us. Sharon.

Carpet Python at Lake Arragan. Photo: Bevan Pugh

Brooms Head Toad Bustin' - 16/03/12

The same Magnificent 7 cane toad busters from the Yamba Roundup (so proud of myself for thinking of that one!) set out last Friday night to do some new areas in Brooms Head. Bevan's rent-a-crowd took the village and saw a beautiful Carpet Python (who did not want his photo taken!).

Photo: Carpet Python at Brooms Head. Taken by Bevan Pugh.

They also bagged 63 cane toads around the village including 46 juveniles at the back of the shop. That is at least twice they have bred in the drain behind the village in the last month.

My group visited some new properties on Brooms Head Rd which was exciting. We think we can accurately map the line of the front as we found all males who were sitting in their new areas and calling the ladies in loudly.

Glenis and Max with some of the males caught from one dam on Brooms Head Rd.

We saw a Brown Tree Snake (well, Max saw it first as I was too busy gasbagging and nearly trod on it) but my photo was too fuzzy. He was a lovely size but the landowner was a bit freaked out.

Bucket of male toads from the frontline. No fun for you tonight boys!

All up we got only 84 cane toads but visited some new areas and gathered a wad of juveniles. Everyone gather your strength for the Family Cane Toad roundup at Brooms Head Friday 30th March. Cheers, Sharon.

Woombah Wildcats bagging record numbers of toads

The Woombah Wildcats volunteers are finding so many toads around Woombah that it is very concerning. In 2 nights they have collected close to 200 cane toads in the Woombah township alone. if there is anyone in the Woombah area that can help out, please email sharon@cvcia.org.au so I can put you in touch with the Woombah toad coordinator. We don't want to see cane toads in the Iluka World Heritage Rainforest so come on, help out please! Cheers, Sharon.

Yamba Roundup Results - 4/03/12

Well this was the first year Wetlandcare have undertaken the Annual Yamba Toad Muster and what a wonderful success it was. With Marty from Clarence Council, Nigel from CMA, Dell, Steve and Geoff from NPWS and no less than 7 CVCIA volunteers working alongside Wetlandcare, it was a real joint effort.

Glenis and Max help out in community education at the Yamba Toad Roundup.

Bevan, Rob and Sharon R took the bus to Yamba Sportsground to help out while Max and Glenis kept watch on the golf course and helped people out. Kath and I stayed back at the gold club and helped with the mammoth task of processing toads people brought back in.

The event attracted a total of 270 participants. The total number of Cane Toads collected on the night was 2,521. The most caught by any one group was 130, and the heaviest toad weighed 277g. I was so proud of the 7 CVCIA volunteers that attended to help run the event. I don't think the night would have been such a success without us so thank you all so much. The gas bottle was without a fitting and Max was able to find a mate there on the night who was a plumber and fixed it. Kath was so wonderful weighing and processing toads for hours and I had to drag Rob and Bevan away at the end of the night. You guys are awesome and I know Wetlandcare really appreciated your help. Cheers, Sharon.

24/02/12 - Warregah Island drain of doom

Well 8 toadbusters braved the storm just before 7:30pm to check out what was happening at Warregah Island. Unfortunately we collected a whopping 263 toads but there were 6 times that many mosquitoes on each of us at any one time.

Bevan, Sharon L and Sharon R tackled the drain of doom near Graeme's place with little action (mind the eels!) and poor Sharon R had a hole in her gumboot. Max and Glenis, David and Kaleb were back after last week so wonderufl to see some keen new toadbusters. Kaleb had about 10 toads in one hand at one point during the night.

No photos (the mosquitoes stole my camera) but thank you Rob and Bevan as usual and the rest of the crowd. I have 4 vols for next Sunday night (Rob, Bevan, max and Glenis) so please let me know if you can make it as well. Cheers, Sharon.

17/02/12 - Brooms Head Wildlife Night

With a rip-snorting 13 volunteers turning up for Brooms Head last Friday night, we only bagged 112 cane toads, but saw a heap of wildlife. All up we saw 1 Barn Owl, 1 Dingo, 1 Bandy bandy, 1 Water Rat, 1 Samll-eyed Snake and 2 White crowned Snakes. How cool is getting out in nature at night??

White crowned snake at Brooms Head

Not many toads, but the boys picked up a pile of 2-3 week old juvenilles that had obviously just hatched behind the shop and RFS station. Good catch guys! Next weekend Warregah and then the Yamba Roundup. Thank you to everyone that turned up - great effort! Cheers, Sharon.

Caleb has a maths lesson in counting cane toads.

3/02/12 - Mororo toad central

Six intrepid explorers set out for a night of big toad at Mororo. Bevan, Rob, Kath, Julio, Sharon and Bethany picked up 265 toads and met new CIA volunteer and owner Annie on Mororo Road. Sharon R sent a long a note from her mum excusing her from toading as the Lawrence ferry was out and she was not up for the swim. And you call yourself committed, Sharon?!

Processing our toads at Mororo

Bethany fell asleep all the way home (poor poppet) but the worst part of the trip was waking the next morning to find a horrible leech bite on the back of my legs. My husband and I stripped the bed but were unable to find the leech! He's out there somewhere....

Saturday 7th January 2012 - Woombah Wildcats launch their toad season

Bob and I had our first Toad outing on Saturday 7th Jan 2012. There were four volunteers and we were out for two and half hours. Our catch was a total of 75 Toads. There has been an increase at Woombah Woods since last season.        

It was a good result for our first outing. We have also found 5 one year old females in our own backyard which we haven't had before.

Cheers for now, Bob and Marie.

Woombah toad doing pushups.

Two toads caught recently at Woombah.

Can you spot the threatened species?

Look what Bevan caught in his myna trap overnight!!

NSW Threatened Species, Spotted-tailed Quoll. Gorgeous to know they are still around hanging out on the edge of Grafton (not the first one I have seen in Grafton). Interesting that Bevan successfully trapped two foxes prowling around his yard not too long ago. Also interesting that these are one of the species that we are most concerned about with cane toad invasion. Thanks for sharing Bevan - a gorgeous creature! Sharon.

Warregah Island Toadbust 18/11/11

What another great roll up of volunteers - thank you everyone! Eleven toadbusters and 5 of those were junior Landcare volunteers!!

Bethany, Tom, Darcy, Isabella and Sam with some of the cane toads they collected themselves Friday night.

My children and I kidnapped the amazing Bethany who was able to guide and mentor my two and newbies Darcy and Sam. Ros was also a first timer and worked out she was very good at spotting toads and then calling for a small child to come and collect it. It all helps Ros and when you have 5 excited children the adults rarely get a look in! I think I picked up 2 toads out of the 142 we collected.

Bevan, Rob, Sharon and Annie went out the west side of the island with one of the landowners and found very few out there. I am very interested in monitoring our impact at Warregah as it is such a small sem-isolated area. Thanks again everyone for your enthusiasm. We did not see our endangered friend again but the good news is we did not find him flat on the road! Get your gumbies ready for a big night at Maclean/Townsend Friday 2nd Dec. Let Jo, Mel or I know if you can come and I look forward to seeing what is going on in this area. Cheers, Sharon.

Darcy with large female cane toad

Sam with the same large female cane toad.

15/10/11 - Let the toadbusting season commence!

With lightning crackling and rain threatening, 3 intrepid toadbusters set off to Warregah Island to celebrate the start of the official CIA toadbust season. As texted to Secret Agent Davidge "we laugh in the face of danger - ba ha ha!"

It was so nice to catch up with the landholders and they all provided so much support and local information over the phone and on the night. Matt G and Reid from USYD came along to observe Bevan, Ant and I as we bagged 78 cane toads for the night. It was a little hard not to feel like a lab rat a few times!

The best score for the night was finding an endangered frog - absolutely jaw dropping.

Giant Barred Frog (Mixophyes iteratus) - endangered in NSW.

We suspect this big frog took a wrong turn at the bridge.

We also found a Barn Owl on Chatsworth Island on the way home. I love getting out at night!

Barn Owl on Chatsworth Island

So, a little cool still but we would like to think we took a few toads out that were stretching their flippers and thinking about getting up to no good for the night. See you at Brooms Head Friday night! Cheers, Sharon.

CIA Toadbusters plot their attack in Maclean

Last Saturday the CIA toadbusters had a lunch and strategy meeting about cane toad operations for the upcoming season. Firstly, we had to all introduce ourselves as without the mud, headlamps and gumboots, we did not recognise each other! Mel's hair is LOVELY!

It was a wonderful meeting and we now have a clear, focused direction of attack this season. We are going to focus on (1) Woombah, (2) Lower Mororo, (3) Warregah/Ashby, (4) Maclean-Brooms Head and (5) Angouire if we can get there. I'm hoping I can talk a certain Angourie member into driving ops there this season. While there are other areas of toad infestation, it is just not possible for us to get everywhere and these areas are thought to be the most critical and will achieve the most conservation gain.

I left feeling positive and very appreciative of the other volunteers' support and commitment. We will officially start toad ops in October, but Mel and Jo were so keen to get going I think they may have already been out when the rain stopped!

Keep an eye on the website for toad bust dates and see you in the swamp!

Cheers, Sharon.

29/07/11 - a cold night for toading!

Well Dr Matt wanted to go out in July to see if there were any cane toads active. I told him to pack his beanie! It was quite cold, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. The dew did settle on us though as we toured around looking for toads. And did we see any cane toads? One poor juvenile and blow me down if it didn't have a manicure!! This means it was one of the few that Matt, Chris and I had toeclipped a few months ago. Unbelieveable!

We also heard and saw 3 species of native frogs who were very cold and thus allowed us to take their pictures easily enough. A fun night. I look forward to working more with the researchers in the field.

Dainty Green Tree Frog, Litoria gracilenta

Whirring Tree Frog, Litoria revelata

Peron's Tree Frog, Litoria peronii

Then on the way home, I saw my local Rufous Bettong AND I had my camera! It is so awesome getting out at night. Cheers, Sharon.

Gotcha! My local Rufous Bettong. Now Greg will believe me.

6/05/11 - Warregah Island toadbusting in the freezer!

Five brave volunteer souls trekked out to Warregah Island for the last time this season to see how the toads were going. One word answer - cold!!

Yes, while Rob, Sharon D, Ant, Beth and myself donned jumpers and gloves, Bevan chose to go the Radiators concert. However, we picked up 309 toads, all except 4 of which were juveniles and they were so cold. They had difficulty moving and were all up around houses and in vege gardens.

How cool is this girl? Bethany braves the cold (and takes another stunning photo).

The fabulous Graham (local landowner) took us out in the farm ute (with a step ladder to get in and out - what service!) and I nabbed one unlucky male sitting in the vegetation along the drains. My theory is that the larger toads have hunkered down in moist places and slowing down but the juveniles need to come out to feed as they have little reserves. Graham said the ground was moving a few weeks ago with metamorphs so these guys were obviously trying to pack on the pounds before winter. Hopefully many will dessicate and there are at least 309 less of them!

Rob casually mentioned it was his 60th birthday, so what dedication? At least he comes out on his birthday as well as Caroles! We will need to reassess whether we go out to Mororo next week. I will make a decision this weekend. Keep an eye on the calendar and watch for a dinner/stars fun night I want to raise at the meeting tonight (no killing anything involved).

Cheers, Sharon.

1/05/11 - Cane Toad Field Day

The inaugrual cane toad field day was a resounding success with approximately 30 people turning up to hear me blab on about cane toads and what landowners can do to reduce the incidence of breeding in farm dams and other waterbodies. I was able to demonstrate exclusion fencing (thanks to my husband!) and talked about all of the control methods available from manual control, to traps and even Hopstop.

Sharon Lehman points out the characteristics of this farm dam that makes it favoured by cane toads in the area.

After my talk, Dr Matt Greenlees gave a spiel on the latest research findings and what they want to do in NSW over the next five years. This really added to the day and everyone commented how interesting Matt's talk was. This gave hope to farmers that there are people working on the research side of things.

After Matt's talk we trekked around the 3 dams on Nicola and Gio's farm and discussed the features of each which made them ideal or not ideal for cane toad breeding. CVCIA volunteers have been visiting this property for over 3 years so we have a great deal of data from the area. Gio and Nicola also do many nights toad collecting and their knowledge of the dams was invaluable.

Clarence Landcare CSO Julie Mousley talks about vegetation that might be suitable for planting around farm dams to hinder cane toad breeding.

After the walk Julie Mousley showed everyone the vegetation that might be suitable for planting or retaining around dams or other waterways to reduce the success of cane toads breeding. Overall, I think the day went fabulously! Many thanks to Bevan and Rob who turned up early to help set up (legends), Julie for helping me organise it and doing so much, Dell for sorting out the lunches and Louise for washing everything up! And many thanks to Nic and Gio for letting us hold the day there. Gio added some wonderful humour to the day and I look forward to doing more of these across the Clarence.

Friday 29/04/11 - Research Trip with USYD Team

On Friday 29th April I took Dr Matt Greenlees and Chris for a tour of some local landowners and dams in the Mororo area. It was a little cold and Matt thought perhaps we had done TOO good a job in some areas as we visited dams I professed to be full of toads and found very few.

Matt showed me the correct way to measure a toad - snout to urostyle.

However, Harry's dam did not let us down and we captured quite a few toads, gave them a manicure and then let them go! I know, it was hard, but I learnt a heap and it got me thinking about next season. Hmmm...

We all got very wet - all in the name of research.
NB. I'm inside the car keeping the notepad & camera dry - very important job! 

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.

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!

Another day donated to conservation....

Well, I spent today power walking the Yamba Golf Course hunting for metamorphs with two lovely researchers from the University of Sydney. We only found 3 metamorphs there! No need to go to the gym this afternoon. Then we headed down to good ol' Green Pools at Angourie and sure enough, found a heap of metamorphs for their study.

Hunting for metamorphs with Weibke and Mitchell today.

Another example of how CVCIA Landcare's knowledge of the area can really help in the bigger scheme of things. This adds weight to my letter to all toadbusters yesterday "Ten reasons to keep going". Cheers, Sharon. P.S. to add to my complete loss of dignity this week, I did a spectacular slip over onto my stomach in front of Mitchell on the golf course. Had to pick my kids up from school covered in mud. Nice.

Yay we made the paper today!

Well done Mel! Your toad in downtown Maclean made the papers print our call for more volunteers. Thanks Daily Examiner (though please ignore the part about a toad hunt this Saturday at Lake Arragan - they made a mistake). http://www.dailyexaminer.com.au/story/2011/03/29/fight-cane-toads-at-a-community-near-you/ Cheers, Sharon.