Long-awaited irrigation system to aid Geelong’s flying foxes

THE City of Greater Geelong is preparing to install an irrigation system in Eastern Park to help reduce the threat of extreme heat days on the region’s large colony of grey-headed flying foxes.

The camp is the second largest in Victoria and while its size can fluctuate in response to the availability of food, the colony can swell to more than 10,000 during the summer months.

However, the overall population of flying foxes is declining, as the threatened species faces threats from extreme heat, habitat loss and human-made mechanisms such as fruit netting and barbed wire.

The city’s executive director of city infrastructure James Stirton said similar irrigation systems were already in operation at other grey-headed flying fox camps across the nation to help protect the vulnerable species through extreme heat.

Climate sensors have previously been placed in five trees at Eastern Park to monitor temperature and humidity patterns across the gardens and between the flying fox camp’s preferred roosting sites.

“The plan to install the irrigation system is a response to climate change and the expected increase in extreme heat events,” Mr Stirton said.

“The irrigation system will pump water to the top of three poles, distributed throughout the flying fox camp, where sprinklers are located.

“From the top of these poles, the sprinklers will spray water above the tree canopy for short periods of time when the temperature reaches 38 degrees Celsius – this is the temperature at which grey-headed flying foxes begin to experience heat stress.”

It is hoped the system, which will also provide the colony with a water source, will help reduce the number of flying foxes that perish during extreme heat events, with mortality rates sometimes numbering in the thousands.

For experienced wildlife carer Leila Merritt, who joined with other environmental groups three years ago to advocate for its installation, the irrigation system has been a long time coming.

“At the start of every summer season wildlife volunteers that work with flying foxes start worrying way before we get any extreme heat days on how we’re going to manage them,”she said.

“These sprinklers are going to give us huge peace of mind. Our flying foxes are a keystone species. They’re incredibly important for our ecosystem, so it makes it a little bit more worrying that they’re so endangered.

“If we lose our flying foxes… an entire ecosystem can fall apart, so it’s critical to conserve their spaces and stop them from becoming extinct in the future.”

In October last year, Merritt established Bats of Geelong, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the protection, rehabilitation and conservation of the flying foxes in the Geelong area.

Her team of dedicated volunteers will continue to monitor the health of the colony and will be on-hand to care for those that are sick or injured, particularly during extreme heat events.

The project is expected to be delivered by September, before the beginning of the grey-headed flying fox breeding season.

The projected cost of the system is $200,000, which will be funding by a $100,000 state government grant s=ecured by the Friends of Bats and Bushcare Geelong, and a $100,000 contribution from the city.

Sick or injured flying foxes can be reported to Wildlife Victoria by phoning 8400 7300.