Woodlands for Wildlife Workshop to help Lake Clifton fauna

Simon Cherriman from The Re-Cyc-Ology Project demonstrates how to build, install and monitor nest boxes at our Woodlands for Wildlife Workshop recently held at Lake Clifton

Landholders at Lake Clifton recently enjoyed a nest box building demonstration and learnt how to identify and create habitat for native fauna at our Woodlands for Wildlife Workshop, presented by Simon Cherriman and Danielle Crichton from The Re-Cyc-Ology Project.

Banksia and Tuart Woodlands on the Swan Coastal Plain are listed as a Threatened Ecological Community as extensive clearing has reduced these Woodlands to small remnant patches. Today, there are less than 40% of these Woodlands remaining. This legacy of land clearing has left a deficit of wood hollows for our threatened mammals, marsupials, microbats and birds.

It takes at least 250 years for small wood hollows to form on most trees, although climate change, fungal pathogens, invasive species and altered fire regimes can severely impede tree survival and development of hollows. With a critical loss of natural wood hollows, carefully designed and installed artificial nest boxes help maintain populations of threatened and other native fauna. During this workshop, Simon installed a new habitat box at the Lake Clifton Community Centre, that PHCC will monitor and maintain.

PHCC thanks Simon Cherriman and Danielle Crichton from The Re-Cyc-Ology Project for presenting this engaging workshop, and to all the landholders who attended. With such united passion to improve habitat for native fauna, there is optimism for the future of our local obligate hollow-dependant species.

Copies of Simon’s book “Hollowed Out? – A story of tree-hollows, habitat loss and how nest-boxes can help wildlife in south-western Australia” is now available for sale at PHCC.

This workshop was funded by the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program and the Shire of Waroona