One of the quickest moving feel good stories of the current fires was about wombats shepherding other animals into their burrows; While the story proved to be incorrect, wombats have proven to be very helpful for the survival of our native friends in this long running drought.
As part of our wildlife monitoring program cameras were set up on a property at Merriwa aimed at some wombat waterholes, and the results were fantastic.
One watering hole was out in the open attracting only emus, goannas and wombats, the other was more sheltered amongst trees and shrubs attracting echidnas, kangaroos, wallabies, possums, goannas and numerous bird species.
Emu and a goanna making use of a watering hole, the hole was around 2 metres deep and 5 metres across.
Echidna, Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Swamp Wallaby and mother and joey Wombat
Musk Lorikeets, Swamp Wallaby mother and Joey waiting for a pigeon, Eastern Rosella, Eastern Rosella and Peewee.
Unsurprisingly most activity was from late afternoon through till early morning often with a number of different species lining up for their turn to drink. The only non native animals seen at the watering holes were European Bees (yes, the cameras are that sensitive).