By Callum Ludwig
24 people passionate about platypi gathered in Yarra Junction hoping to catch a glance of the elusive native critter on Friday 1 March.
A platypus survey was hosted by Upper Yarra Landcare and Healesville Environment Watch Inc (HEWI) gathered near the Yarra Junction Recreation Reserve as the sun was setting for the event.
Secretary of Upper Yarra Landcare Tom Day said it was great to have had really good numbers for a nice evening.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t see any platypus, but it was just really good to learn the skills on how to conduct a proper survey, so I think that’s what everyone took home from it,” he said.
“It was a nice evening to do it because it was nice and calm, there was no cloud cover and no rain obviously, so I think everyone enjoyed it, the mood was really positive.”
Despite the lack of platypus presence, it was not a wasted opportunity as attendees also contributed to an early Clean Up Australia Day effort.
Mr Day said they integrated the clean-up event into their survey efforts.
“We cleaned up rubbish along the Little Yarra river and around the Yarra Junction Recreation Area,” he said.
“I’d say the amount of river that we were able to actually monitor was probably about 200 metres in total, and then we reached property boundaries where we couldn’t walk any further,”
“There’s a chance that the platypus were probably in a bit more of a quieter area because where we monitored was close to the oval, traffic and where people walk their dogs, who scare them off pretty quickly.”
While surveys remain the most accessible way to survey for platypi in local waterways, there are DNA tests which can test for platypus presence in the water even when they are hidden away.
Mr Day said an observation sheet was their method of surveying on the day.
“We split up into groups of three and went along the river at 50m intervals and what we do is we take observations every 10 minutes which includes the cloud cover, the amount of light, any rain etc,” he said.
“The best thing about a group survey like that is that if one group sees a platypus and the platypus happens to be moving up or downstream it stops the repetition of the same platypus being counted more than once,”
“It was just unfortunate that we didn’t see them but they’re more active at this time of year, they’re starting to head out for finding a mate and they tend to be more active at dusk and dawn.”
Upper Yarra Landcare will continue to hold more platypus surveys and other environmental events throughout the year that Upper Yarra residents can get involved in.
Mr Day said it’s always good for people to keep in touch with how our native wildlife is doing.
“We live in such a great area with all these natural resources and streams around and obviously our native flora fauna is important to keep tabs on, especially as we have development and urbanization out in the Yarra Valley,” he said.
