Buxton wetland fauna survey
The UGLN fire recovery fauna project has now extended into the Buxton area.
We recently installed our remote sensor cameras at the property of Buxton residents Anthony and Tracy who have a wonderful wetland area on their farm.
The wetland was fenced off a couple of years ago with the assistance of funding provided by the DPI.
The area has regenerated well since the fires and is providing great habitat already to many birds.
Lewin’s Rail at Buxton
Anthony had recently found a road-kill Long-nosed Bandicoot on the adjacent roadside and I found what appeared to be Long-nosed Bandicoot diggings around the wetland.
Unfortunately we weren’t able to get any photo’s of bandicoots. We were lucky enough however to capture photographs of the threatened Lewin’s Rail (Lewinia pectoralis) and also a pair of the more common Buff-banded Rail (Gallirallus philippensis).
Pair of Buff-banded Rail
As well as many native Bush Rats (Rattus fuscipes) and a wombat. We also installed six nest boxes built by the Kinglake Scouts and Rotary on the surrounding Swamp Gums. The boxes are designed for Sugar Gliders and Brush-tailed Phascogales.
The native Bush Rat
Chris Cobern
Fire Recovery Landcare Coordinator
Upper Goulburn Landcare Network
Focus On Fauna 
Lovely pics of shy, retiring birds. And good records. If you get a clearer pic of the rodent, it would be good to try to check whether it’s a Bush Rat (most likely), or our native Swamp Rat.