Woody Pt Night Stalk

Well, what a beautiful night for roaming around the bush  in the Woodman Pt Nature Reserve. We all rendesvoused at the isolation hospital in the old Quarantine Station, which is now a recreation camp for kids. This place is teeming with history. Check out this link. Woodman Point Quarantine Station.

The whole area dates back to the 1800′s so you can imagine what would have been around at that time. The reserve itself is made up of old Tuart trees, which have huge hollows and consequently house a large number of nocturnal life. The lower vegetation is wattle and other thick scrub. We wandered along the track and found the crematorium which is really spooky. You could close your eyes and almost smell the disease ridden bodies burning away. It took four hours to completely incinerate a body. At that moment we arrived there a flock of pelicans flying in a “V” formation flew overhead. A sign of forbidding events ahead……

Continuing moving silently along the sandy tracks we spotted a family of three Kookaburras sitting on a old gum tree. These critters reflect no eyeshine so the only way to see them is to look for their underbellies which is a whitish colour. They cast a bleary eye upon us then went back to sleep.

Wolf spiders were spotted on the ground with the torches. Their eyes sparkling like diamonds, mesmerising us, like luring their prey closer and closer. The kids were ecstatic to discover how small they are and how easy they were to find after a little bit of instruction from the guide.

Turning a corner we heard the call of a male Southern Boobook owl. He was calling out for his mate which came to him shortly after. She started some low drumming noises indicating their prey was moving about. As a group travelling along the path we tend to scare little critters from their hiding places. The owls started following us, calling out in their haunting voices.. We were flushing out the game for them. They were hunting the rats which scrounge around in the forgotten ammunition dumps that are scattered in the area.

Walking down into a low lying section of a track our noses detected the musk smell of a fox. It wees around the bush marking its territory. Another animal on patrol…

A little further on some animal gave a blood curling scream which caused the hairs on our skin to rise. What on earth was that?, someone asked. It seemed to be moving around us like something watching and waiting……Suddenly, it flew over us, silent and deadly, making no sound with its wings. It was a Barn owl.

With its sharp beak and immensely strong talons I’d hate to be a rat wandering around.

The guide carried a bat detector which burst into a frenzy emitting  a “Tick Tick” sound. Flying really fast in the sky was a micro bat. Hunting with its powerful echolocation these flying mammals consume 1,000 mosquitoes per bat per night.

On the return trip back to the start more Wolf spiders were found. By this time the kids were really getting their eyes in and picking up the eyeshine. Arriving back to base we enjoyed a cuppa dished up by the Nearer to Nature volunteers Jess & Paula.

All in all a most rewarding night hunting the hunters.

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