Landcare volunteers in Kangaroo Valley have been working for 4 years on a reptile project, making artificial rocks and placing them out on rocky ledges as potential homes for Australia’s only endangered snake, the broad-headed snake (Hoplocephalus bungaroides). Known to reptile enthusiasts as “broadies”, the population of this species, which lives only on the sandstone escarpments of the Sydney Basin, has dramatically declined because its winter habitat has been removed by the bush rock industry.
To date, we have put in place about 450 habitat rocks – over 300 artificial rocks, as well as over 100 sandstone slabs relocated to better positions, on several sites in western Kangaroo Valley. A similar effort is underway at Illaroo. The work is based on scientific trials in the Wollemi, Yengo, Dharawal and Morton National Parks which show that if the rocky habitat is replaced and enhanced, the reptiles will return.
Would our cheap artificial rocks, costing very little and made by volunteers, provide suitable homes for this endangered reptile? We built upon the science published by experts, using various additions to the concrete (fibres and organics) to improve their suitability as habitat – their size, their thermo-insulation qualities, and to encourage biological colonisation.
But would it happen here? Only one way to find out! The problem, however, is that only specially licensed people can legally inspect the artificial rocks, as they are now critical habitat for an endangered species.
Landcare has contracted GAIA Research, the team led by Garry Daly, as our monitoring consultant. Previous searches had found that, after only six weeks following placement, one quarter of the artificial rocks had been occupied by the velvet gecko, the favorite food of the broadies. This was a great sign. The most recent inspection went even better. An inspection in late April of just 50 artificial rocks revealed one live, healthy female broady, one shed broady skin (meaning another had been there) and importantly the snake’s prey, 11 geckos and one skink.
The Valley site is now teeming with reptiles. A larger survey will be done in July. But, if the April sample is any guide, we could have a substantial recovery of one of our local endangered species. And all through the work of a small team of committed and knowledgeable volunteers trying to do as much as they can.
