Lorne resident helps protect yellow-bellied gliders

Most nights, a little after sunset, Mary Lush makes the short trek from her house down the blue gum-lined streets of south Lorne.

Rugged up and with her infrared camera, the biologist is ready to take a sneak peek at south Lorne’s noisiest residents.

They’re territorial. They’re nocturnal. And they’re quick.

“A lot of people wouldn’t know that we have yellow-bellied gliders here,” Mary said.

“They’re a possum but unlike other possums, they have a membrane that runs between their arms and their legs, so when they do a star jump, it spreads out like wings and they glide.

“The first time I saw one glide, it was like a magic carpet the size of a handkerchief, gliding between the trees.

“The rule of thumb is that they can glide twice the height of the place that they jump off.

Community knowledge helps Council

Since getting the infrared camera 18 months ago, Mary has captured photos and videos to map the routes of the gliders and record their lifestyle.

“I admit to invading their privacy” Mary said. “I’ve seen plenty of ablutions and possibly one mating. A key thing is that they never go onto the ground, so trees have to be close enough for them to climb from one to another or glide between.”

The valuable insights were provided to Council, to assist us with tree pruning in the area.

While maintaining public safety remains the priority, including pruning back to sound wood, recent works on dead trees in Beal Street were supervised with the gliders in mind.

“Those dead trees are important parts of glider pathways to other places in south Lorne. Council's pruning of trees on the corner of Beal St and the Great Ocean Road to retain as much height as possible helped keep the yellow-bellied gliders’ routes open,” Mary said.

“After the pruning, I was able to video one moving through one of the pruned trees and taking off from the highest of the remaining branches.”

“If the trees had been cut back further or the stumps removed, they could have been stranded.”

The tracking of yellow-bellied gliders is time-consuming and it can be tedious, but the Lorne resident remains motivated.

Working with a New South Wales wildlife ecologist, she is learning to use a laser to measure the distance of glides, and hopes this knowledge of glider capability will be useful to Council and others.

Noisy neighbours

Three or four yellow-bellied gliders make up the family that calls south Lorne home, according to Mary’s observations.

“I know about six nest sites – or dens – that they use in rotation. There are three higher up the hill and three in this area,” she said, standing on the Great Ocean Road, just up from Lorne Hotel.

“I used to joke that they come out of the pub and go across to the surf club on the other side of the road.”

Even after countless hours spent with the furry friends, Mary can’t quite replicate their sounds.

Yellow-bellied gliders have a characteristic call – they rattle, gurgle, yap and shriek.

“People on the edges of other parts of Lorne can hear other families that live in the forest,” she said.

The bands at the nearby pub don’t seem to worry them.

“They’re quite used to it but on New Year’s Eve they were nesting in a tree near the pub and it was terribly noisy,” Mary said. “They stayed in until the fireworks were over, and then they came out.”

“A bit obsessive”

Mary continues to be inspired by the uniqueness of yellow-bellied gliders living within a township.

“People walk along here all the time. They're quite accustomed to people and I don't know if they really feel threatened, because they're way up there, and we're way down here,” she said.

“When you get one close up, it will be quite curious and have a good look at you.”

 

She says she has become “a bit obsessive” with her passion project.

“I think it's to do partly with my age,” she said.

“You reach a stage when you realise it's amazing you're alive at all, but also that any living creature exits. It’s a fascination with the ability of organisms to find a place to live and succeed.”

Asked what the Lorne community could do to help the yellow-bellied gliders, Mary said: “Take a leaf from the Council’s book and give some thought to the highways in the sky.”

Fast facts on Yellow-bellied gliders

• Listed as vulnerable by the Environment Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and the Flora & Fauna Guarantee Act 1988.
• Largest of gliders in the Otways.
• Living trees supply them with shelter (in hollows), food (sap, nectar, pollen and insects)
• Rely on trees as interconnecting highways to move safely through their habitat.