Good morning all,

Firstly, a big welcome to all our new subscribers – it's great to have you onboard! And welcome all to our August edition of the CCWA Citizen Science Newsletter!

Last month we featured a bit about the new WA Bat Monitoring Program. We’ve updated our website with more information about the different opportunities and how to get involved. You can check that out here. It’s also not too late to enter our bat logo comp – more info below!

Next month we’re also excited to run our new Citizen Science survey, Dusk Watch - this survey is designed to be flexible to fit in with people’s busy schedules and doesn’t require too much training or experience to take part. More information can be found below.

We’d love to hear about any Citizen Science events being run across the state – you can let us know about them by completing this form and it might even be featured in our next Citizen Science Newsletter.

I hope you all have an awesome August!

Best wishes,

Kelly at CCWA Citizen Science

CCWA Citizen Science projects

Dusk Watch

We’re excited to launch our new citizen science program, Dusk Watch!

Look, listen and record wildlife for an hour after sunset to help determine and monitor habitat quality, population distribution and impacts from environmental changes.

When: An hour from sunset anytime from September to November (inclusive).

Where: A WA location of your choice!  You can go for an evening stroll at your local park or nature reserve or take part whilst sitting around the campfire. You can even take part in your own backyard – if you do this, we recommend also visiting a local park, so you can compare what you see and hear.

How: Record the wildlife you see and hear via Dusk Watch on the iNaturalist app or by submitting a survey form (to be released soon). We’ve picked 13 species for you to record, however we’d love to hear about any other species you see or hear during your survey too. If you see no wildlife, that’s still important data, so please still submit your Watch!

Who can take part? No matter your age or experience, anyone can take part. No special experience or equipment is required. We only ask you carry out your dusk watch in at least pairs and for children to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

As part of launching the program this year we’ll be running some community Dusk Watches in Perth and the southwest throughout September, October and November. These will be like a ‘night stalk’ and will be complete with bat detectors and will be an opportunity to find out more about taking part in Dusk Watch and some of our other citizen science programs.

Keep an eye on our website and Facebook page to find out when and where these community Dusk Watches occur. 

Please drop me an email at [email protected] if you’re a member of a group and would like to host a community Dusk Watch.

Want to help BLAST some eDNA?

We're running an eDNA biodiversity monitoring pilot study in the southwest. As part of this pilot, we're looking for a couple of citizen scientists to BLAST some eDNA!

Hopefully not to disappoint anyone - you won't be required to blow anything up!

BLAST actually stands for 'Basic Local Alignment Search Tool'. This program is one of the most common tools used to examine and compare DNA and protein sequences.

By joining as an eDNA BLAST citizen scientist you'll have the opportunity to take part in and learn about this exciting new project. Your feedback from taking part will help to directly inform how this project continues to develop. 

The eDNA BLASTing is likely to take place during late September or early October.

Please drop an email to [email protected] if you are interested in taking part or finding out more.

Other citizen science news

Feeling artsy or know someone that is? There's still time to submit a design to out bat logo competition!

What are we looking for: a cute or cool bat for a logo for the WA Bat Monitoring Program!

You’ll have the opportunity to vote for the winning logo from our list of finalists.

Prizes:
Winner: $250
Finalist: Bat-themed hamper

Find out more about the competition here.

Don't forget to let us know about your bat roost!

As part of the WA Bat Monitoring Program, we're on the lookout for bat roosts!

Little is known about bat roosts in WA and the first step in finding out more is to locate them – that's where you can help!

What is a bat roost?

Put simply, a bat roost is literally somewhere that bats hang out!

Bats use a range of different structures to roost in, these can include trees (bats particularly love old mature trees, where they can roost in hollows, under lifted bark and in cracks), crevices in walls or under tiles, in bridges, in caves or old mines and of course bat boxes.

Bats will often roost switch (switch roosts every few days) and/or move roost throughout the year depending on the season. So even if bats aren’t present in a roost now, if they were there previously, then it’s likely a bat roost and we’d still love to hear about it!

Once we have a better picture of roost locations and types, we plan to set up some citizen science roost counts. How this will look will depend on the roosts we find.

Exact roost locations will not be publicised to ensure their protection and the privacy of any landowners that are fortunate enough to host a bat roost (same goes for barn owl roosts – see below).

If you know of a bat roost please let us know at the link below!

Community grant opportunity

The Department of Social Services is offering grants of between $1,000 and $5,000 to eligible not-for-profit community organisations. The funding is to support and enable volunteering to take place in the community.

Amongst other eligible activities, the funding can be used for purchasing eligible small equipment items for use by volunteers, which could include wildlife monitoring equipment, such as bat detectors. It could also be used for training, expenses and engagement.

More information about this community grant can be found here.

Thanks to the Friends of Paganoni Swamp for letting us know about this Community Grant opportunity.

Other citizen science opportunties

Monitoring seagrass meadows

"The Broome Community Seagrass Monitoring Project involves Aboriginal rangers and community volunteers to regularly collect data and monitor the health of seagrass meadows in Roebuck Bay.

The project follows the methodology of Seagrass-Watch, a global, scientific seagrass assessment and monitoring program with over 250 monitoring sites across 17 countries.

They always welcome new volunteers, so why not pop down on one of the monitoring days, walk out onto the mudflats, see dugong feeding trails and fascinating sea creatures whilst contributing to an important data set that helps to monitor the health of the bay." 

There are two more Seagrass Monitoring dates for this year:

Friday 18 August - Tuesday 22 August

Monday 13 November - Friday 17 November

Find out more including how to sign up on Environs Kimberley website!

Recording entangled wildlife

Entanglement in barbed wire, inappropriate fruit netting, discarded fishing line/tackle/netting and general rubbish (e.g. plastic rings on milk bottles) represents a serious risk to wildlife, causing horrendous injuries (frequently causing death).

If you come across any native wildlife entangled in barbed wire, fruit netting, fishing line/tackle/netting or other forms of entanglement you can record it on the Biocollect app.

If an entangled animal is alive or if unsure, please first call your nearest wildlife rescue group before recording its details and location in the app.

If the animal has been deceased for some time, please record this in the app along with a photo for verification purposes and to minimise possible duplication of a recording of a sighting. To minimise undue stress on an injured and already stressed animal, please ensure that the photograph is taken from an appropriate distance.

You can also help reduce the risk of entanglement by snipping plastic rings for wildlife (for example, the plastic rings around milk containers) before popping them in the recycling.

Saving our snake-necked turtles

The Saving Our Snake-Necked Turtle (SOSNT) project is a citizen science and community engagement program to help conserve the southwestern snake-necked turtle.

The project aims to:

• Save the southwestern snake-necked turtle populations from further decline and potential extinction.
• Increase public awareness of southwestern snake-necked turtles and empower the southwestern WA community to contribute to turtle conservation
• Create dedicated teams of ‘Turtle Trackers’ at wetlands/rivers throughout the southwestern snake-necked turtle's range to protect nesting females and their nests.
• Create management plans for the species, both generally and at select wetlands.

Citizen scientists across Perth and the southwest are asked to take part by observing and mapping turtle activity.

There are lots of training and information events taking place through August. You can find out more about them on their website.

CCWA respectfully acknowledges the Whadjuk People of the Noongar nation, along with the Traditional Owners of all Countries where it works. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. CCWA seeks to always walk alongside our Aboriginal partners, recognising their continued connection through land, sea, culture and community.