Creek-&-Tricks

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See Spiders and other wild animals at night
Create a compost in your backyard
Discover the residents of Rowes Bay
Eco-Catchment Tours

See Spiders and other wild animals at night!!
Around creeks and wetlands, and more generally in the wild, there is a very easy way to track spiders and other wild animals at night! You can start in your own garden, and then ask your parents to bring on an exceptional “night trip” outdoors!
All you need is a good torch and your own eyes: this is called : “spotlighting”
All spiders have an ‘eye shine’ at night, meaning that their eyes look very bright and shiny at night when a torch is pointed at them. To see their eye shine, you need to place the torch at the same level as you eyes, i.e. next to your head, against your ear. Whenever you see a very shiny dot, get near it and have a look: it is very likely that is will be a spider!
But you can also see other cool animals this way. Most animals’ eye will be as shiny as the spiders’ bodies, such as possums, crocodiles, leaftail geckos, gliders or wallabies.

Below are the colors of the eye shine of some animals:

Crocodiles: Red
Cats: usually green, sometimes red
Dogs: green/blue
Possums: Pink
Owls: Red
Rats: Orange/Red

Create a compost in your backyard!
What can you do with banana peels, leftovers from your meals, egg shells and other organic waste?
Instead of putting them in the normal bin, you can transform them in a very useful thing by creating a compost!
Composting is an easy way to transform garbage into rich black dirt called humus, that can be used in your garden-thanks to the help of a few microbes and bacteria!
We are lucky to leave in a warm, humid area which is ideal for composting. So don’t hesitate, create a compost in your backyard!
To create a compost you will need a few wooden boards or a bin

Follow these 5 easy steps:

Take 4 wooden boards (or plastic, concrete or chicken wire) of the same size- relatively wide to keep all the waste inside the compost
Build a compost structure by forming a square with the 4 wooden boards- use nails and a hammer to put them together. Place your compost at least 2 feet from any structure
Wet the compost area, inside the 4 boards
Put some twigs, small branches, bark or dry leaves or other similar material on the compost area- this helps to aerate the compost from the bottom
Add your waste!! This can be anything from food scarps and vegetable peels to weeds, braches and animal droppings.

A few hints to help the waste decompose faster:

Alternate your waste with some twigs to allow aeration
Wet the compost before adding some new material
Check your compost regularly to see if it is warm inside- if you feel that is is warm, it means it is working!
Stir your pile with a shovel every now and then

Discover the residents of Rowes Bay!
Did you know that Rowes Bay is one of the most biodiverse environment in Townsville? It is the host of a range of different residents who all have a specific role! Some of them specialise in cleaning and recycling, such as the Sea Cucumber and the Sand Dollar.
Others regulate the abundance on other species such as the Mantis Shrimp and the Sea Star.
Some provide homes for other species like the yellow sponge and the tube worms.
It’s a whole vibrant, interactive community that you can discover in Rowes Bay.
Discover the residents and the suburbs of Rowes Bay in the online walk –through,
or be part of an exciting Eco-Catchment Education Tour!

Would you like to learn more about creeks and catchments in your area?
Join one of our Eco-Catchment Tours!

Creek to Coral’s Eco-Catchment Tours will take you around the creeks of your area- this is your chance to learn about how they work, what kind of exciting animals live there, and how to help protect them! You will see for yourself how creeks are connected to coral reefs, and how humans can impact on them!!

You could even suggest your teacher to involve your school!

You can see features of the Eco-Catchment Tours Here