‘This is a fascinating story of adventure, comradeship and courage, entwined with a desperate fight for survival.  The backdrop is the beautifully wild domain of the Western Grey kangaroo – the diminishing forest and woodland of an ancient continent.

Everywhere on this planet that man has gone, he has pillaged and plundered with wild abandon.  Whatever he wants, he takes.  If another species stands in his way or can be of some value, then he mercilessly removes, abuses or exploits it.  Most creatures can do very little in the face of such an onslaught, they are simply swamped by the tsunami of greed and technology.  Faced with a shrinking habitat, often this means death.  On occasion, however, an animal becomes determined not to accept, without a fight, its own extinction.

This is a book that takes you to the mystical and often dangerous world of the Australian bush, and delivers you right into the heart of this life and death struggle.  Share the hopes and inspirations, trials and setbacks, the bloodshed and heartache as Bentear, and his brave band of kangaroos, battle for the right to exist.  Forced to cope with all that man and nature can throw at them, they refuse to disappear without a fight.  They turn to each other and their unbreakable bond of friendship, as well as their unshakable faith in their leader, to battle their way out of the darkness that closes in on them.’

George Lilly teaches year eight students at Frederick Irwin College in Mandurah and the book is now part of the senior curriculum in several schools.

Magic at Duchess Street 

It has been a long spring, nestlings and fledglings have poured in as Vicki knows.

We think we have seen it all before – and then the unexpected magic happens!  This is a true story, witnessed from our sun room over three days.

Previous experience has taught us that nestlings bond with us and still can be successfully released.  On the other hand, fledglings don’t want to hang around and bond, they want to be on the wing and free, ready or not.  So when we received two Welcome Swallows who had taken an unsuccessful first flight, we tried a new tack and sat them on the garden trellis where they began to call loud and clear.  Soon out of the heavens soared a few adult Welcome Swallows, they took stock of the situation and sped off into the atmosphere and out of sight – to return minutes later with food for the babies.  This went on all day long, they fed and flew and the babies continued to call for more.  At night I bought them in and then replaced them outside early in the morning.  For three days this continued and then in the late afternoon on the third day, after much flapping and excitement they took off and we lost sight of them.  We found a dead one in the front garden but we feel our two are still up there high in the sky.

But this is not the end of the magic!  We had ten or more New Holland Honey eaters in the back garden.  These are considered an aggressive bird but we discovered otherwise, because while all this was happening first one and then another ventured near the baby Swallows and began feeding them.  By the second day there were eight to ten Honey eaters sitting with the babies, warming and feeding them.  They were even encouraging them to fly by calling them from short distances.  The adult Swallows still came and fed the babies, talk about a combined effort.  Those babies had the fullest crops ever!  But even that is not all because the back yard Doves and Bronze Wings tried to be a part of it all by sitting close and trying to feed the little ones!  How fortunate we are to have witnessed nature at its best and what a lesson to learn.

Mabel

Western Ringtail Habitat Protection Policy and Plan

The Busselton Shire, in particular the vegetation around Geographe Bay, contains high densities of Western Ringtail Possum, Pseudocheirus occidentalis. The Western Ringtail (WRT) Possum is listed as ‘vulnerable’ under the Commonwealth Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and is listed as ‘fauna that is likely to become rare or extinct’ under the WA Wildlife Conservation Act 1950. Busselton Shire contains two of the three key management units, the Lower Swan Coastal Plain and the Capes, identified by the Commonwealth Draft Policy Guideline for the EPBC listed Western Ringtail Possum prepared by Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

The Busselton coastal strip is subject to increasing pressure from urban development particularly around Dunsborough and Busselton. Although some WRT Possum habitat on private land is protected under the above Acts and the Residential Guidelines Policy of the Shire of Busselton, ongoing development is resulting in a loss of the key WRT Possum habitat, Quindalup vegetation complex (in particular Agonis flexuosa), on private land.

The Shire aims to protect and enhance habitat and corridors on public land and protect habitat on private land where possible. To assist, the Shire has engaged a consortium of nghenvironmental, Ecosystem Solutions and Ironbark Environmental and Sustainable Development to prepare a policy and plan to protect and enhance vegetation identified as having high WRT Possum habitat values. This would involve defining and mapping WRT Possum potential habitat in a “broad brush” approach across the Shire, reviewing relevant initiatives and other policies that may apply, and producing a Policy that aims to protect and enhance WRT Possum habitat that can be implemented through the Local planning framework.

For further information on this project feel free to call Shane Priddle: shane@nghenvironmental.com.au on (08) 9759 1985 or Gary McMahon gary@ecosystemsolutions.com.au on (08) 9759 1960.

We can also be contacted at PO Box 685, Dunsborough WA 6281.

"Question the law, the person, the practice that denies justice toward nature and the voiceless."