On Saturday May 21st, Fourteen sturdy souls participated in a malleefowl mound line search through a section of the Wedderburn Block of the Wychitella NCR. The day was jointly coordinated between the WCMN and the Victorian Malleefowl Recovery Group. Participants ranged from interested community members, WCMN and VMRG members, Parks Victoria staff and even a lady from New Zealand. The day began with an induction session on the monitoring techniques and equipment used by the VMRG when conducting line searches and how data is collected and stored. Lunch was had at Doug’s property before we all headed off to tackle the bush. The area chosen for the search had not been formally surveyed before so we were heading into unchartered territories! Because it was the first time many of us had participated in a line search, it was taken at a slow and steady pace and frequent stops were made to ensure the line remained reasonably straight. Some of the bush encountered was very thick and difficult to move through, but we were able to locate two unmarked mounds in the search area. These will now become part of the VMRG monitoring program. We had to abandon the search mid walk as it was becoming dark and cold quite quickly. Most of the group were to be involved in another search on the Sunday, but due to thunderstorm activity, it was cancelled.
The WCMN is looking at conducting these searches annually with the assistance of the VMRG and Parks Victoria, and any one who wants to take part.
Article - Wendy Murphy
Photographs of line searchers - Lynton Schreiver and Joy Hicks
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