Hi all,
Re the native grasslands of Terrick Terrick yes there
certainly are Plains Wanderers there. Occasionally evening spotlighting is
done there with the ranger but this is only once a year at most and very limited
in numbers.Because this is such a rare habitat now and it's management is still
being worked out general access is not allowed(there is little money available
to deal with the demands of the public anyway).Some paddocks have proved more
reliable than others for finding PW's. There has been some money recently to set
up transects and conduct 3 surveys per year intensively covering one paddock.3
local birders including myself have volunteered their time to help.The first of
these took place over 2 nights in June this year. A trial run involved much
disorientation in the dark in a large paddock with virtually no landmarks to
guide us.We did however find 3 PW's. When it came to the the surveys proper we
got the hang of following our transects and covered the entire paddock in about
5 hours.By the end we were all frozen solid and had encountered no PW's!!! This
was the first time I've seen none in half a dozen visits!!! Anyway at least it
was a result.
There is an open day coming up organised by Parks.Not much
chance of seeing a Wanderer in the daytime but I'd recommend it just to see the
wildflowers.The ranger is based in Kerang if anyone's interested,sorry I haven't
any more details than that.
Regards Simon Starr.
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