Last Sunday, August 23, I had a wonderful time exploring the eastern reaches of the Wombat Forest, with Gayle Osborne and Trevor from Wombat Forestcare. Our mission: find owl roosts and most especially breeding trees. These records are crucial to have any effect on planned burn regimes.

First stop, Bullarto reservoir. While it was gorgeous to see these incredibly old candlebarks, the splash and pellets below one old tree looked to me to be more like Boobook, Kookaburra or a Chough roost – the poos or ‘splash’ was not very big, and the pellets were composed entirely of insect remains – no fur or bones.

Gayle showed me a Bassian Thrush sitting tightly on a nest in some Blackwoods. Never thought I would see that!

To be continued …