Photos – top LHS Sugar Glider and Bottom LHS thanks to Mary Erian, Liverpool City Council. RHS Blue Box, photo by Greater Sydney Landcare.
On Friday 29th January 2021, a small group of interested Landcarers went for a twilight walk in a small reserve near Liverpool, NSW. Previously known for Green and Golden Bell Frogs, the reserve is well connected to the Georges River and its natural corridors, but is little known or frequented.
The highlight of the walk was the numbers of Sugar Gliders spotted on and around the oldest tree on the site. It seemed the large Blue Box (Eucalyptus baeuriana) was home to a family who had a healthy litter this season. The sight was a lovely one, and almost coincidental considering the group had just been introduced to the importance of old growth trees for habitat on the Cumberland Plain, and elsewhere.
Sugar Gliders ran up and down the tree, its branches and flew around the canopy in close proximity to the mother tree. Atleast 6-8 of them. This was a great site for those on the walk, as it was for some of the participants an event that they had never done before, and dodging the spider webs and drizzle was well worth it!
Lt Cantello Reserve is part of a Saving our Species project coordinated by Greater Sydney Landcare Network and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. The spotlighting event last week is part of an awareness raising campaign for the site, educating the community about the importance of the habitat at remnant reserves.
If you would like to be a part of another spotlighting event at this or other Cumberland Plain/ western Sydney sites please email Local Landcare Coordinator xuela.sledge@greatersydneylandcare.org
Likewise, please contact Xuela if you would be able to spare a few hours a month to help restore such important places, for animals like the Sugar Glider to thrive.
Thanks to Liverpool City Council for supporting and being a part of this event and the Cumberland Plain Restoration Program, and the Environmental Trust for its financial support of it.
