SATURDAY 26th MARCH

11am Craig Webb

Title: Raptors, Rescue, Threats

The Raptor Refuge is a centre of excellence for birds of prey in Tasmania. Craig started this amazing facility 20 years ago and with his small team of passionate people including his Son Ziggy who has grown up with the birds, The Raptor refuge is a thriving point of Rescue/rehabilitation and Education via our amazing guided walk n Talks.

Craig will discuss and show via powerpoint what they do to achieve great results for not just returning injured Raptors back to where they belong.  Learn about the world class facilities and the 1800RAPTOR hotline.

11.30am Don Knowler

Title:  The Peregrine and his successors, a century of wildlife writing in the Mercury

Last year The Mercury marked 100 years since a column on wildlife first appeared in the newspaper. Michael Sharland, who wrote under the pen name of The Peregrine, wrote his initial column on April 7th 1921 and continued for 60 years, to be followed by Len Wall and, for the past 22 years, Don Knowler.

Don Knowler writes the "On the wing" column in the Sunday Tasmanian. He has been a journalist for more than 50 years, starting out as a messenger boy in London's Fleet Street in the 1960s. He went on to became a foreign correspondent in Africa and North America before starting a new life in Australia with his family. He is the author of several books on wildlife including "The Shy Mountain", a work about kunanyi/Mt Wellington.

12pm  Dr Clare Hawkins

Title:  Population monitoring for the people: guiding and tracking raptor conservation measures

Find out exactly how rewarding and useful it is to take part in NatureTrackers project Where? Where? Wedgie! What's needed? What's been achieved so far? It's a rigorously designed annual survey through which you can help monitor Tasmanian raptor population trends and guide conservation efforts. The more participants, the more swiftly we can detect when any of these beautiful species need some extra help. You may not always see a raptor, but 'zeros' are equally valuable to the monitoring — and every survey involves not only a useful scientific contribution, but also a day in Tasmanian nature with friends and family. Surveys are needed all across the state: you might get a different angle on a familiar spot, or discover a patch of Tasmania you never knew existed. Participants young and old also have the chance to learn through the Where? Where? Wedgie! education resources, including their Expedition Class program, and to branch out into other NatureTrackers projects too. Get the latest news and spend some quality time appreciating Tasmania's incredible raptors.

Dr Clare Hawkins has researched and advised on wildlife population monitoring and conservation in academic, corporate, governmental and non-governmental organisations. Her research has covered the conservation and ecology of various mammals (including Madagascar’s fossas and flying foxes, and Tasmania’s spotted-tailed quolls and devils). As DPIPWE's threatened species zoologist, she advised on Tasmania’s threatened fauna management from 2008 to 2017. Following a Churchill Fellowship focussing on citizen science, she joined forces with the Bookend Trust, a not-for-profit organisation specialising in environmental education for all ages. Based at the University of Tasmania, she collaborates with numerous individuals and organisations to strengthen citizen science participation in mapping and long-term monitoring Tasmania’s threatened species - through a series of ‘Extinction Matters’ BioBlitzes and, from 2018, the NatureTrackers program. This program so far comprises ‘Where? Where? Wedgie!’ and ‘Claws on the Line’; an acoustic monitoring project is in development.

12.30pm  Rosie Hohnen and Kaylene Allan

Title:  Management of cats on Bruny Island to support wildlife

Feral cats continue to drive biodiversity declines across Australia and globally. Managing cats remains a big challenge in Australian conservation, and controlling cats on biodiversity rich islands is increasingly being viewed as a powerful means of conserving species in the long term. Management of feral, stray and domestic cats has been occurring on Bruny Island since 2016, to protect Bruny's unique wildlife including little penguins, hooded plovers and short-tailed shearwaters. In this talk we'll outline the current project (2020-2023), discuss Bruny's unique domestic cat management By-Laws and challenges, and delve into some of the new cat management tools that might help us manage feral cats more effectively in the future.

Rosie is a threatened species ecologist, interested in understanding the drivers of species declines and what we can do about them. She has worked on projects around Australia that aim to deliver on ground management actions that support threatened species, such as cat eradication and threatened species projects on Australian offshore islands. She currently works for NRM South managing the Bruny Island Cat Management project, and contributing to other projects that work to conserve swift parrots and eastern quolls.

Kaylene is the Cat Management Officer with Kingborough Council and has a background in natural resource management, community health and development. She has been involved in the project since its inception in 2016 and understands the importance community engagement in achieving conservation outcomes.

Title:Shorebirds and the Robbins Island Windfarm

Robbins Island in the far northwest of Tasmania, is surrounded by almost 100km2 of intertidal mudflats with extensive saltmarsh throughout the Robbins Passage - Boullanger Bay wetlands. There is a proposal to construct a windfarm on the island, with up to 120+ turbines with maximum tip height of 330m. The Robbins Passage - Boullanger Bay wetland system supports 12,000 shorebirds (February 2022), the majority of which migrate to Tasmania from Siberian breeding areas. The area is recognised internationally as an Important Bird Area (IBA) and a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) - contributing to the conservation of global biodiversity. The talk will discuss the proposal, the shorebirds that use the area and a summary of the concerns for shorebirds, raptors and woodland birds from the proposal.

Dr Eric Woehler is convenor of BirdLife Tasmania. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers and almost 200 technical reports. He has undertaken research on seabirds and shorebirds for more than 40 years in the Antarctic and Subantarctic, and Tasmania. He is currently leading a research program on the CSIRO's RV Investigator undertaking seabird and marine mammal surveys around Australia. He was awarded an OAM for his services to bird ecology in 2021.

2pm Anthony Albrecht and Simone Slattery
Title: The role of Arts in conservation

Anthony and Simone of the Bowerbird Collective seek to bring their audiences closer to nature through the arts. Five years ago, they began to feel an urgent sense of responsibility to contribute their crafts to conservation efforts, and have since created multiple acclaimed, bird-focused projects including 'Where Song Began, 'Songs of Disappearance' and 'Life on Land's Edge'. Having performed throughout Australia and internationally, and with recent success on the ARIA charts, this talk will be a reflection on the intersection of arts and science, and the successes and challenges this duo have faced.

Anthony and Simone will be performing on Saturday Evening.  See the evening events tab for more details and to book direct

2.30pm Senator Peter Whish-Wilson
Title: Warming Oceans and Seabirds

Healthy coastal marine habitats are obviously important to many species of sea birds. The loss of critical Tasmania inshore marine habitat linked from warming oceans and invasive sea urchins, such as the rapid and significant decline of giant Kelp (macro cystis), has been felt most acutely off Bruny Island. While it is generally understood what impacts such habitat loss have had on commercial fish species, what do we know about the impacts on sea and shore birds? What can be done to restore or replace such marine habitats, including an update on new exciting restoration work including at Bruny Island's Trumpeter Bay.

Peter has been an Australian Greens Senator for Tasmania since 2012. He has portfolio responsibility for Healthy Oceans. During his time in the Senate, he has vigorously pursued marine issues including opposition to whaling and illegal fishing, the environmental damage from super trawlers and salmon farms, the impacts of plastics and micro-plastics on marine life, shark mitigation and deterrent measures, the impact of climate change on the marine environment and protection of the Great Barrier Reef. He has also been a strong advocate for the protection of Tasmania’s little penguins.

3pm Jason Smith
Title: Cultural Burning

 Learn about ancient Aboriginal cultural land management with Palawa man, Jason Smith. Mosaic or cool burning practices, prepare the Country to be burned, promotes the growth of native flora and has little to no impact on fauna, but instead preserves nesting and burrowing sites.