Echidna Crossing the Road at Highfields 21/03/12

Highfields was once an area in which it was common to see Koalas, Echidnas, Gliders and other beautiful Australian animals.  Currently in Highfields there is a large population of feral cats and many residences own dogs, and then there is the problem of the constant bulldozing of many trees to make way for new estates... anyway...  Early this morning I was sad to discover a Large Female Brush tailed Possum that had been hit and killed on the road just out of Highfields, and her "on back" baby also killed on the side of the road.  The baby was a good sized and would have been riding on the mothers back  :(

I was later going back to Highfields for an appointment when I spotted something moving in the grass on the left hand side of the road, on the opposite side of the Charles and Mottee Rogers Nature Reserve,  I slowed down to have a better look and a medium sized echidna was coming out of the grass onto the busy road to cross over to the reserve.  I stopped my car in the middle of the road and put the hazard lights on, and stopped uncoming cars, so I could ensure that no one would hit this gorgeous creature.  We often see echidnas and evidence of them at Our Patch and around the country areas, but it was great to see that they are somehow surviving in suburbia.  Thank goodness for Charles and Mottee Rogers, that they had the foresight to donate this small patch of land to preserve a little patch of nature in what was once dense bushland.

Judi.

Echidna crossing the road to the Bush Reserve at Highfields 21/03/12

Almost there!

Safe in the Reserve :)