Platypus Education Group

Please be aware H5 is now present in YRC.

As of 21 August, H5 Avian Influenza has been reported in Sugarloaf Reserve in Christmas Hills.

If you see sick or dead birds or wildlife:
✅ avoid contact
✅ record the exact location and what you observed
✅ report it online or call 1800 675 888

We know our community cares deeply about wildlife and want to help when they see an animal in distress.

Injured wildlife may still need rescue and care, but if birds or wildlife appear sick, or dead, avoid contact and report it so trained responders can safely assess the situation.

🌐For the latest information, visit the Agriculture Victoria website: https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity/animal-diseases/poultry-diseases/H5N1-avian-influenza-H5-bird-flu

One of our wonderful PEG Ambassadors, Coen is giving a talk at the Belgrave Library. He is amazing to listen to and has a lot of knowledge to share around Citizen Science . Make sure you book in.

School holidays meant a smaller session today but we did some Nature Journaling with a hot chocolate!

Here are some Nature Journaling ideas for these holidays. You may want to write or draw.
In a little notepad record:
Date
Time
Weather

Spend 5-10mins on each of these ideas.
1) Go outside. Sit quietly and listen - what can you hear around you. What sounds are nature? What sounds are man made?
2) What can you see? What birds, animals, vegetation, cars, planes etc.
3) Scavenger hunt- find 4 items and draw. They could be a leaf, rock, flower, feather, seed pod, etc.
4) Find four different leaves and do leaf rubbings ( use a crayon or charcoal). You can do this for tree bark too.
5) Cloud spotting- draw the clouds you see. What shapes do you observe. Can you see any animals in them?
6) Draw what you see. Find a spot to sit in nature and draw a scene, tree or shrub as you see it.

The great thing with journaling is there is no right or wrong. There is no mistakes.

What a spectacular night we had last night for our spotlighting walk through Birdsland Reserve 🧡 The sunset put on a stunning show as we walked to the top of the Bunjil lookout, then down through the bush and past the lake all while spotting scarlet robins, looking for fungi and wombat burrows,, and dodging the kangaroos!

And then the night was topped off with homemade pizzas in the pizza oven 🍕 A beautiful autumnal evening with our awesome Ambassadors 💚

On this perfect evening our Ambassadors headed out on a spotlight walk around Birdsland. We saw birds, Kangaroos, an owl, cockatoos. We even found a big wombat burrow. And to finish the night we made pizzas. Thanks to Rob and Ben for looking after the pizza oven and cooking our gourmet pizza’s!!! Ace stayed at the centre and waited for pats!

Another fantastic session with our Ambassadors connecting in with Yarra Ranges Council’s Climate & Environment Strategy. We discussed what we want the environment to look like in 10 years and what we love about where we live. We also played some games to reinforce the importance of water health and what we can all do to keep our environment beautiful 💚🌱💚