It may have been the night of the first frost of 2026, but the stillness provided perfect conditions for Woodend Landcare’s Nocturnal Neighbours event on April 18th. Twenty-five locals were lucky enough to grab tickets to this sold-out event, which was the first of four free community activities hosted by Woodend Landcare as part of the Fauna Discovery Project.

Before venturing out spotlighting, John Harris (Principal Zoology/Ecologist, Wildlife & Ecology), provided an informative presentation, introducing everyone to what native animals we might see in Woodend at night. We learnt what indigenous birds, bats, frogs and marsupials have been recorded within 5km of Woodend over the last 20 years, including curious facts about their lives. John showed photographs and played each animal’s call, so we could identify them by sound, even if we couldn’t see them hiding in the dark.

John also described various techniques, that professional fauna ecologists use for identifying nocturnal fauna and the animal ethics involved. He demonstrated an infrared camera, a camera trap, and showed some footage from these devices that has recently been obtained from private properties along Five Mile Creek.

Primed with this information and our new appreciation of the nocturnal world, we ventured out into the dark, our eyes and ears at the ready. Our first nocturnal neighbour was discovered a mere 50m from the Woodend Community Centre – a Brushtail Possum in the tree above the skate park. Then another near the pool and two Ringtail Possums near the tennis courts.

While youngsters Ivy and Ian kept count of Brushtail and Ringtail Possums, respectively, we also heard frogs, bats and the VLine train. At the end of our hour walking a few hundred meters along Five Mile Creek between the swimming pool, Jeffrey’s St and the new netball courts, Ivy and Ian had recorded 8 Brushtail and 7 Ringtail Possums.

Funded through a grant from Landcare Victoria, more events for the Fauna Discovery Survey Project will be held in Spring. Like this spotlighting activity, numbers will be limited as the greater the number of people, the more noise and disturbance, scaring away the wildlife we wish to see. Tickets for these future events will be available in September.