Family Nature Night held at Mother of Ducks Lagoon, during the Autumn break, brought together over 25 families for an evening packed with fun.

The Southern New England Landcare organized event, held on Tuesday, April 16th, with presentations from guest experts from the Australian Museum and the Northern Tablelands Local Land Services.

The afternoon began with a nature scavenger hunt at Mother of Duck’s Lagoon before a storm chased the eager young naturalists into Bowl’s Club for games, presentations, and dinner.

Emily Hotham and her team from the Australian Museum talked about tracking local frogs, and their search for the Yellow Spotted Bell Frog which hasn’t been seen around Guyra for 40 years.

The Australian Museum team showed off some cool sound tracking equipment used to find frogs by their calls.

Martin Dillon from the Northern Tablelands LLS presented on the Bell’s Turtles and shared tips on how to protect them from foxes, their biggest threat.

The night wrapped up with a frog hunt at the lagoon, where everyone got to see various frog varieties up close.

Attendee Marni Turner commented, “Such a great night, the kids had a ball.”

Funding for this project was provided by New South Wales Government.

A big thank you to our sponsors Bunnings Armidale and BCF Armidale for some great prizes and frog hunting torches.