A Happy New Year and welcome to the Blackbutt Biodiversity Haven blog. We've decided to start this blog as a way of keeping people informed of what is happening at the property and raise awareness in the community.
We are now entering our fourth year of managing the property, with the primary aim of improving the habitat and biodiversity. The primary actions which have been taken to do this are to:
- Remove stock grazing;
- Control feral animals which include goats, pigs, deer, foxes, rabbits and cats;
- Control weeds.
Other activities to maintain the property include:
- Maintaining fire breaks
- Maintaining fences
- Maintaining tracks
We also have an ongoing monitoring program which includes taking annual photos at defined survey points, passive acoustic monitoring to capture an idea of birds, frogs, mammals and anything else that makes a noise! We also have camera traps to identify any passing wildlife.
It's the hight of summer here and today we are travelling around the property to assess the status and identify any work required.
Blackberry is an ongoing challenge at Blackbutt. This one was sprayed last year but
it's still alive in the centre
This is one of 6,000 saplings planted last spring in the SW paddock
by Greening Australia and the Armidale Tree Group
Today we deployed this acoustic monitor to listen for bats
as part of the NSW Bats in Backyards project
