How can you Help?

Times for our wildlife can be difficult. There are many things that they have to contend with now that their habitat is being encroached on more and more by human habitation. Building a house for one human family may destroy the houses of many native creatures - birds, possums, bandicoots, native rodents, lizards, frogs - all the little creatures.

There are many ways that you can help our native wildlife. Put up wooden boxes for birds and possums. Try to ensure that they are at a suitable height for the intended occupant. Make the hole the correct size. Birds do not want possums to come visiting when they have young ones in the next. Possums do not want ducks in their boxes (yes, ducks will lay eggs up off the ground!). Ensure the opening in the box faces away from the weather - a box that gets rained in will not get used. Check that the tree you are putting a possum box in is a food source tree. Make sure that the animals have easy access - putting a box half way up a bare trunk with no access means the box will not be used. Try to sit the box in a fork or on branch and secure it to the tree.

Dreys are also very useful. A drey can be made by using two hanging wire baskets, connecting them to make a ball shape, then stretching or removing the wire to allow for an entrance and exit, just in case unwanted visitors come calling. Line it with the coconut fibre inserts that hanging baskets come with. Hang the drey in a sheltered position in a tree.

Encourage birds and other creatures to your garden by the way in which you design it. Remember that native Australian trees thrive here!! They are also a great food source. The more flowering trees you plant, the greater the bird life you will have. Bird baths are also a great source of water for our natives. But don't forget that little animals need water too, and place a bowl or small bird bath on the ground for easy access. Plant ground covers, and native grasses to encourage and protect frogs and lizards. Old fallen logs make great houses too. Large branches that fall from trees can look decorative and be useful. Sugar cane mulch or any sort of mulch around your trees helps to drought protect them, and also supply cover for the little creatures.

There are other ways to help our native animals too. You can join a wildlife group as a carer (if you are over 18) or perhaps you would just prefer to be a support member. Support members pay their membership fees, and receive the newsletters and mail outs, but do not do the caring of the native animals. Sometimes people join as support members while they are working, and then when they retire from paid work, become caring members.

Wildlife groups are always appreciative of donations, which are used for the benefit of the animals. Aviaries that are no longer in use, cages -especially cockatoo size cages, are also more than welcome when they are donated.

If you like to sew, perhaps you could make possum/kangaroo pouches. These are always in demand. Fabric used must be suitable to breathe ie flannelette is great, and clean old nappies are wonderful! The animals must not be able to chew and ingest the fabric. Fleecy fabric like that used in windcheaters, is also suitable for pouches for possums. Kangaroos need something a little stronger to take their weight. A possum pouch is usually sewn on three sides, all seams neatened to prevent fraying and approximately just a little larger than an A4 size piece of paper folded in half. However, we need pouches in many sizes, as critters tend to start off small and grow larger!!

Contact a group near you to ask what you can do to help.

Habital or Garden?

Are you aware that around two thirds of pre-European settlement bushland has now been eradicated from our country? Most of this bush has been removed so that we humans can colonise areas already colonised by native species.
Often the creatures that lived on our land before we did are not taken into consideration when a new housing estate is being built. Oh, yes, should the species being endangered by a national icon, like the koala, a large stink is usually made in the press, and some concession is made to preserve the habitat of the creature. But what about all of those creatures that are not so widely known and not so widely loved?
As a wildlife carer, and possum lover, I do not like it when people say to me “Oh, it’s only a possum! It’ll move elsewhere!” or “A snake? Where’s the shovel?” This shows the ignorance of people in general and Australians in particular.
As humans, we are often very house proud. We like a nice house to live in and to have our gardens looking ordered. We take into consideration the well being of our pets, but all too often fail to take into consideration the welfare of our natives, cutting down trees with nesting cavities and moving dead fall from our land. These places are homes for native creatures.
In south east Queensland, there has been an identification of 134 species of wildlife that depend on hollows for survival. Good habitat that can support a diverse wildlife population may have three to 10 hollow bearing trees per hectare, each with as many as thirty hollows of varying sizes – after all not all of our wildlife is the same size. Tree hollows are an integral part of the ecosystem of our country, and the older the tree, the more liable it is to fall down, the more hollows it has.
If there is a real need to remove older trees, try to ascertain from the tree removalist if they can save some of the hollows for re-installing in other trees. Put up some habitat/nest boxes to supplement those already built by Mother Nature. There are some species that like their boxes or hollows to be horizontal i.e. Kookaburras and Lorikeets.
Know that nest boxes in trees are not the only cover you can supply. There are many ground dwelling species as well. Take into consideration that Brush Turkeys like gardening too. Be aware of the local lizards. Supply them with ground cover and grasses so they can go about their business like the rest of us. In our particular area we have Legless Lizards and Beared Dragons.
When supplying next boxes consider the fact that our wildlife don’t just find a hollow and move in – they are picky too! Factors such as the height and depth of the box, where it is situated, insulating from the weather, be it rain or sun, all play a factor in whether a box will be used. If you are concerned about damaging trees by attaching boxes, do what I do. I insert the wire that is holding the box up through a piece of black garden piping, so that no wire touches the tree, only the box. You can also use galvanised self drilling screws, as they have a less harmful effect on the tree. If you remove the box though, make sure you remove the screws.
Also be aware of natural predators. As much as we like to think that nature is all cuddly and furry, there are creatures out there that prey on those cuddly and furries - being eaten is part of the natural process of nature. The strong survive, to make a species stronger, and everyone needs to eat.
The decision on who is to survive is not ours to make. We can give our creatures a second chance, but we can’t molly coddle them – this is not what caring is about.
As carers and human beings, we are here to give a helping hand, to try to repair some of the damage done by humans on a delicate environment. Put up some boxes, drop a few logs, plant some trees, but also let nature take its own course.
Beverley Clarke ©