A few weeks ago I met up with a well known Canberra, and beyond, personality called by his adoring public Tim the Yowie Man. Tim and I met on a cool winters morning at about 600 mtrs elevation in the hills west of Canberra to set a camera trap and an audio recorder on an old forestry trail  on Gibraltar Creek , initially with the hopeful intention of recording a lyrebird or two and recording their song. Tim wrote a column in the Canberra Times recording the experience and I thought it was a very good read but I could be biased.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-life/tim-the-yowie-man-call-of-the-wild-20170717-gxcjez.html

We left the camera and recorder out for 7 days which resulted in the photographs and video of a few swamp wallabies, a lyrebird, a wild dog and an unknown animal that we suspected of first glance of being a spotted tailed quoll. The 11 second video (below) was shown to the people at the wonderful Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve who could not positively identify it as a quoll but other suggestions pointed at the likelihood of it being a ring tailed possum. A quoll is a lot rarer.

Here is a compilation of results of the setting of the camera trap Tim and I left located on the Gibraltar Creek ACT. Set on the 15th June - collected on the 22nd of June.

The area I am setting cameras and audio recorders is the new eastern section of Tidbinbilla. The area follows down the Gibraltar Creek until it starts meandering on the lowlands and rural leases. I have found this area to be particularly rich in native wildlife some areas being dense old growth but others showing remnant regrowth from human interaction in years past.

I'm also interested in the interaction of feral species with the ecosystem having filmed a feral cat and wild dog (dingo?) in the area in weeks gone past. The footage is being used in another project and will be uploaded once that is finalised. This little creek seems very active going by some well established undergrowth animal pathways. I'm not sure how long I will leave it there and I took a little video.

Tharwa is an interesting little village to Canberra's south with a long history pre-dating Federation. It is also the location of several sightings of the fabled hairy man known generally today as the Yowie. I have had an interest in local hairy man sightings for a long time and have written about the historical yarns in years gone past on this blog.

This report comes from Dean Harrison of the Yowie Hunters research group and involves the tale of a sighting between Tharwa and the Apollo Road Turnoff.. I was on a walk down that way today and took a few minutes video..

Final setting of a remote camera on Gibraltar Creek in the Australian Capital Territory. The camera was only out for 5 days and it was fortuitous arriving early to collect it as the batteries, having endured sub zero temperatures, were totally exhausted. There was not much native wildlife collected apart from a duo of wombats going for a stroll.

Disturbing to record however was a lone feral cat prowling past the camera. I had not collected the image of a cat in the area before. Unfortunately for the native wildlife a cat can kill up to a dozen native animals a day. They are a scourge on the ecosystem. I recorded some video..