New Common Myna Control Officer in Clarence Valley

I would like to congratulate Kevin Noble on his successful appointment as the new Myna Control Officer in Clarence Valley (pop… woo hoo…. fizz – that’s me popping the champagne and cheering!). And we all know he will be ably assisted by the divine Ms Laura Noble. Well done guys, you deserve it after all your hard work.

Congratulations to Pam again for securing this funding and Pam will be the Project Manager for this contract. Stay tuned for much excitement in myna world. I cannot express enough what a delight and joy it is to have so much support and friendship from so many of you. I am happily backing down from many of my start up jobs and please note the blank, dumb look that will come over my face when you ask me a myna question next – I will say “ask Kevin and Laura!!”.

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.

CIA and CVC win Community Action Grant for Common Myna Control

We have just found out that the amazing funding application machine that is Pam was successful in her Community Action Grant application with Clarence Valley Council for Common Myna Control. Over $18,000 has been granted. Well done Pam for all your persistance and hard work. The Clarence Valley Common Mynas are doomed, doomed I say. Mwah ha ha!!