Bat Night at Machattie Park
Friday 17 March | 6:30pm - 8:30pm
WHEN: 6:30pm - 8:30pm
WHERE: Machattie Park, Bathurst
COST: FREE event, bookings essential. Bookings can be made via Eventbrite.
Did you know that flying-foxes or budharu in the local Wiradjuri language, are the largest flying mammals in Australia? and in a single night of foraging, can travel up to 50km from camp?
Join us at Bathurst’s historic Machattie Park to find out more about these incredible native animals and how vitally important they are to the survival of our great Australian bushland forests!
Learn more about the important ecological role that flying-foxes play in our environment, and what Bathurst Regional Council is doing to ensure the survival of this vulnerable species.
The two hour event will feature educational talks by NSW Department of Planning & Environment ecologists Matthew Mo and Libby Timmiss, and a guided wildlife tour of Machattie Park’s seasonal flying-fox colony before we watch the splendour of a flying-fox fly-out on sunset.
You're invited to bring your own picnic to enjoy as we watch the flyout to end the evening, and if you can, bring along a pair of binoculars so you can view the flying-foxes up close!
This is a family-friendly FREE event. Bookings are essential and can be made via Eventbrite.
Event Speakers
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Matthew Mo
Matthew Mo is a senior project officer at the NSW Department of Planning and Environment and coordinates the Saving our Species conservation project for the grey-headed flying-fox. He also coordinates the NSW Flying-fox Consultative Committee. His work is published in a number of peer-reviewed scientific journals including Australian Zoologist, Pacific Conservation Biology and Human Dimensions of Wildlife. -
Libby Timmiss
Libby Timmiss is a project officer at the NSW Department of Planning and Environment and manages the NSW coordination of the National Flying-fox Monitoring Program and the grey-headed flying-fox stream of the multiregional species funding program. In 2017, Libby submitted an Honours thesis on spatial factors influencing the establishment and occupancy of Australian flying-fox camps. This work is published as a peer-reviewed article in the Australian Journal of Zoology.
The Wambuul Macquarie River Bathurst Flying-fox Camp Habitat Restoration Project is part of the Flying-fox Habitat Restoration Program assisted by the New South Wales Government through its Environmental Trust in association with Local Government NSW, and Bathurst Regional Council.
