Tuesday, 10 September 2024

Rushworth Field and Game

Rikkie-Lee TYRRELL (Northern Victoria) (13:48): Last week I was invited to the Rushworth Field and Game club’s new clubhouse at the old Rushworth tennis club location. The clubhouse has been fixed up by the members over the past few months with a new lick of paint, plumbing and some construction work. It now serves the membership of 70-strong to get together, to meet and socialise. The members are also quite dedicated to the conservation of our native wildlife, so they construct from scratch parrot nesting boxes and henhouses, which serve as safe nesting sites for our wetland birds. They also include local schools in the construction process, where hands-on skills are developed for our youngsters. Members Graeme and Charlie showed me the construction process and materials used, then we headed off to the Rushworth golf course, where a few of the nesting boxes are located in the trees. While these nesting boxes are constructed to attract native parrots and kingfishers in the area, there are other wildlife who have taken up residency in these boxes. The local possums and gliders create their own nests out of these little homes in the trees. It is wonderful to see these boxes and houses going up in local areas and encouraging our native species of both feathered and furred wildlife to multiply in numbers. There is a dedicated Facebook page for the club where visitors can keep track of what species are currently using the nesting boxes and henhouses for breeding. I would like to thank the Rushworth Field and Game club for their time in explaining everything and answering the many questions I had.