David Woods, Chris Shaw, Mike Shaw, Georgina Wilson, Dean Goodgame, Ronnie Atkins

Our objective this weekend was to identify how embedded the Cane Toad was in the Victoria River Downs Area. Having had reports of Cane Toads from this station and it’s surrounding outstations, it was important for us to gain an understanding of the situation. The Victoria River was still a large river in this area as the Wickham, Armstrong and the Camfield Rivers all feed into it.

As the Wickham and Vic flow upstream to the west, this makes an easy route for the Toads push west. Particularly when you see on the topographical maps how close the headwaters of the Victoria River and Stirling Creek actually are. Following the Stirling downstream you’ll shortly meet the Negri, which soon meets the Ord River. Not to mention the Wickham’s headwaters coming within Cooee of the West Baines. They’re all quite scary scenarios!

We were heading past V.R.D Homestead on our way to Dashwood Crossing on the Victoria River and spotted some station crew at the yards by the road, so I asked Chris if he would mind stopping so we could have a yarn. That all worked in our favour as Jo the Stockman was glad to tell us where he had seen toads and a rough amount, explained in a very colourful manner. This Info was to save us a lot of time and gave us a better idea of where we would focus the evening’s work.

The Sun set and after setting up camp we looked over the maps and planned to work the western side of the Vic River downstream to Andersons Yard. I checked earlier with Jo that it was O.K. to go down there and was given the thumbs up! Before dinner we all wandered off with our spotlights to check the local area for Toads.

I headed downstream close to the waters edge, back towards the crossing. Over this 600-metre stretch of riverbank I didn’t find any sign of a toad. So I decided to check higher ground away from the waters edge on my search back upstream to camp and sure enough about 20 metres from waters edge was one big lonely female Toad sitting upright on the corner of a big flat rock. This is why checking away from waters edge is important as Toads are found roaming and hunting in this area if habitat is suitable i.e. open flat areas.

The area was checked in all directions by the rest of the crew and no other toads were found. So after dinner we made our way to Andersons Yard and 12 kilometres along, the track was impassable due to a muddy creek blocking our way. . Inspection of this Muddy creek revealed another toad shortly followed by a few more to substantiate a good needed bust of this creek.

After a thorough search of this area we had collected around 35 toads. My dozen I picked up were all between 5 and 10 metres from the waters edge, rustling in the leaf matter on the ground. Most of the toads caught in this area were done so by hearing them first. Toads are definitely not too concerned about being quiet! A trap was set here and needs checking next week

Chris had found a way around the boggy creek via a couple of gates and we had soon arrived at Andersons Yard. As we approached the turkey’s nest more toads were spotted, so the crew in the car stayed to bust the turkey’s nest and set a trap whilst Chris and I headed down to the river from the yard, with the bikes. We dropped down a level and then crossed an overflow arm before reaching the river proper, In this overflow arm we found a muddy puddle infested with Toads, some very large. We filled a large garbage bag, headed back to the car crew to drop off our catch.

We grabbed a trap and took it down to the waters edge opposite Anderson’s yard we put the trap near the pump that was used to fill the turkey’s nest. We set up the trap and found only one around this section of riverbank, although habitat was not ideal.

We met the crew back at camp and as it was near one o clock, Chris and I excused the older members of our crew as some snuck off to the fire and others to bed. We crossed the river to check Mawks Lagoon. The map showed a permanent pool, which would give us another gauge on toad populations in the area using the G.P.S and Quad Bikes we pushed through the bush into this lagoon. It turned out to be very substantial and was holding a healthy population of toads.

As dawn was not far away we made our way back into camp to grab a few hours sleep. Morning was upon us and we counted and dispatched last nights catch. Amounting to 212 Toads with over 85% male. Some very large toads were caught, some as long as 140mm! Camp was broken and last job on the list was to set a trap in Crawford’s Creek by the highway. After that was done we began our long drive home.

A Big thank you to the crew and Special thanks to Chris Shaw who spends his time midweek cleaning and maintaining the Quad Bikes, keeping them in tip top condition. This consumes quite few hours each week but ensure the longevity of our equipment. Next weekend we will be spending time in this area to get a better picture of the Cane toads movements in this area. Thank you all once again for your commitment.