A familiar screeching in the air and rustling in the trees has returned to the Tamworth landscape as the cool change heralds the return of the city’s most controversial residents, the flying fox colonies.
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Up to 170,000 of the protected species were estimated to have occupied the city last year, and while council’s Manager of Regulatory Services Ross Brigg expects that number to reduce this season, he admits there is no real way of knowing, or accurately tracking their movements.
“The dry and hot weather may stop them coming, they may have also cleared the place out last year, we just can’t tell,” he said.
“On the other hand if the trees are heat stressed they can sometimes do one last big flower to regenerate.”
“If I was going to have a bet I would say that we might not get the same numbers, it really depends on what happens on the coast.”
The CSIRO do try and track the colonies across the state, while councils also network with each other.
“We generally get a shout out if any large colonies have left the coast – we haven’t heard anything at this stage,” Mr Briggs said.
While TRC understand that the large colonies are not ideal for people who live in the vicinity of where they roost, such as along the Peel River on the eastern edge of the town, the bats protected status mean that TRC have very few options in regards to moving them elsewhere.
“We generally get a shout out if any large colonies have left the coast – we haven’t heard anything at this stage
- TRC Manager of Regulatory Services Ross Briggs
Last year council did clear out some of the “exotic trees and shrubs” along those areas of the river in a bid to curb the roosting, and although it will once again have a limited impact that thinning out will continue where possible.
“They are fairly heavily protected, so the only thing we can do is concentrate on reducing impacts on residents,” Mr Briggs said.
“There are no available grants at the moment, although we will continue to look for anything that comes up.
“There is funding available for car covers, water tank diverters, clothes line covers and other means to lessen the impact – anyone interested should contact TRC’s customer service officers.”
The Tamworth branch of The Nationals will take a motion to the NSW Conference in June that will allow residents to use non-lethal dispersion methods, although once again there are no guarantees.
“Dispersal costs a lot of money, and takes a really concentrated community effort,” Mr Briggs said.
“In Singleton at Burdekin Park a large number of community members were out every day with drums and lights to stop them roosting.
“But you then have to follow them around until they roost somewhere that is deemed acceptable - they like being close to the river and the CBD so we just don’t know where that would be.”