Saving water to save a species

It didn’t take long before evidence of a rich cultural history was found. Ancient stone tools, rock art and the connecting of storylines and songlines characterised the first Bidjara cultural heritage survey in August.

Join staff, Jo Axford, Dean Gilligan and Tony Mayo, as they chat about the interlocking conservation measures protecting this unique landscape and its species.

The fight to save a tiny fish could hang on efforts to halt the upstream spread of its invasive foe.

A Striped Rocket Frog has been discovered on Edgbaston Reserve in central Queensland, a significant western range expansion. Normally found on the east coast, it's unusual to see it in the arid zone!

It’s not how some people would spend their holidays; early mornings and late nights, grappling reptiles, camping in wet muddy conditions… Nevertheless, myself and four other volunteers took time off from our regular work to help Dr Pippa Kern undertake the autumn fauna surveys at Edgbaston Reserve in central Queensland recently.

A new home for some of Edgbaston’s Red-finned Blue-eye fish is good news for the critically endangered species. Last week, 27 fish from our captive breeding program were successfully translocated into one of the naturally occurring artesian springs.

It has been a dream come true to spend the last two weeks helping with the spring fauna survey at Edgbaston reserve. I’m resting in the shade of the old, tin shearing shed, like the roos under the trees nearby, with some gusty afternoon breezes keeping it balmy, the sun beating down outside and a 360 degree view of vast open land. How lucky am I?!

Over the last year I was privileged enough to study the ecophysiology of the fish at Edgbaston Reserve for my honours project at uni. Below is a little summary of my impressions of Edgy and my work. Let me say, what a year, what a project, what a place!

Set between the harsh, arid desert uplands and escarpment of the Aramac range and the fertile black soil plains to the south, Edgbaston Reserve is a truly unique and diverse area. Last week Bush Heritage staff began its program of fire management activities on Edgbaston for the first time since purchase of this property.

Travelling through outback Queensland after rainfall is cause for excitement. Semi-arid Australia transforms as the seedbank germinates, floodwaters permeate through Country, and wildlife breeds/disperses while water and vegetation is abundant. Edgbaston Reserve recently provided us an opportunity to witness this transformation in all its glory.

Having never been this far north-west before I wasn’t sure what to expect from my first visit out to Edgbaston Reserve in Central Queensland.

I've been reflecting on how fabulous it is that Bush Heritage provides a workplace where women are urged to succeed in many varying roles, including those in that locals often tell me are 'men’s jobs'.

The artesian springs on Edgbaston Reserve are strongholds for ancient life, such as the world’s only population of the Red-finned Blue-eye fish. Thanks to a three-part conservation approach, their numbers are beginning to recover.

At Edgbaston Ecologist Pippa Kern demonstrates how snakes are more concerned with escaping and hiding than biting people by watching calmly as a released King Brown slithers past her feet. Snakes are wonderful creatures. Respect.

The Red-finned Blue-eye fish is remarkable for being found in just one small group of artesian springs on Edgbaston Reserve in central Queensland. But how did it get there?

Coming from mainly a plant ecology background, it was great to have the opportunity to help out on the recent trapping survey at Edgbaston reserve. We started off the week with digging pitfalls traps. This was a relatively new experience for me and I can confirm its pretty hard work in the high 30˚C heat!

Hard working volunteers, Ann and Frank Ingwersen share their observations and images from a recent round trip to Edgbaston and Pullen Pullen Reserves in Western Queensland.

This year Edgbaston has been humming with activity, as we implement the ambitious plan to recreate artesian spring habitat in order to breed the critically endangered Red-finned Blue-eye fish. And we've had an early success!

Out at Edgbaston Reserve we've been busy getting our artificial springs up and running in preparation for the introduction of the critically endangered Red-finned Blue-eye. This has involved plumbing our new bore to three artificial springs, introducing artesian spring vegetation and invertebrates to create wetlands that replicate natural habitat.

As the new freshwater ecologist at Edgbaston reserve, I have been spending some time exploring the incredible spring complex. Recently I stumbled across an exciting visitor - an Australian Painted Snipe!

A new hole we just drilled at Edgbaston is not boring at all. In fact, it's a new artesian bore and we're very excited about it. It'll replace the old one, which has a cracked head and is wasting precious water.

Rain events and flooding at Edgbaston Reserve allow many species to move between the springs. Unfortunately this is how the small feral pest fish Gambusia (Gambusia hollbrooki) invades precious Red-finned Blue-eye habitat. Freshwater Ecologist Rob Wager and volunteer ecologist Christina Kindermann were fortunate to be able to monitor a rainfall event and the dispersal of Gambusia.

Right behind me something crashed through the spinifex and squawked in a harsh guttural croaking sort of way. I jumped and ran. There was no thought of fight - I thought I was about to be consumed by frogzilla!

Have you ever seen thousands of Plum-headed Finches in one place? Freshwater Ecologist Rob Wager has been watching numbers of this species increase at Edgbaston Reserve.

Edgbaston Reserve is known for its endangered fish, plants and snails living in the artesian springs. It's also home to a variety of reptiles that make you stop what you're doing until they've moved along. In my recent visits to Edgbaston as a volunteer, I've had a couple of encounters with some pretty cool reptiles.

In this post, University of Queensland student, John McLaughlin, shares some of the highlights of a recent iROOS trip to Edgbaston Reserve and explains why it's so important to leave the lecture theatre behind for a while and head bush to experience 'real life' conservation work.

We're fortunate to have recently had Dr Ken Tinley volunteer his time on Edgbaston to give advice on measures to repair and restore problematic aspects of the catchment's run off that were causing problems for the endangered red-fin blue-eye fish.

As part of my doctoral research I've spent a lot of time on Bush Heritage Australia's Edgbaston Reserve. I've guided a lot of people through its plains and pockets with an expectant gaze to the faces of my visitors, looking for a reflection of the excitement I feel, but am always shocked when the sentiment expressed is 'underwhelmed'. So, for my first blog post I wanted to share three tips to help one understand why I think Edgbaston is the jewel of Bush Heritage's Queensland crown.