As the temperature warms up we have had the pleasure of seeing the emergence of many Blue Tongue Lizards at Long Reef on Year 10 and 11 Coastal Management, Geography excursions. Blue Tongue Lizards are in the Skink family and this particular species (Tiliqua scincoides) can grow up to 32cm from the tip of its nose to the base of its tail. These lizards are omnivores eating fruits, flowers, snails and small insects.

The above photo is of an individual found next to the golf course on Cherrybrook Technology High’s Year 10 excursion. This specimen is close to fully grown and like the majority of adults have signs of their tough life with missing toes. Whilst very famous this species is also under threat. Each summer many blue tongues will find themselves to slow to cross roads safely or unprepared for introduced predators like cats and dogs. Recent fox baiting in the Warringah shire are what we suspect has led to the population bloom at Long Reef.

Date	Species	Sex	Weight
15/5/2010	Brown Antechinus	Male	50g
15/5/2010	Bush Rat	Female	120g
03/06/2010	Bush Rat	Male	95g
03/06/2010	Bush Rat	Male	145g
03/06/2010	Bush rat	Female	105g
04/06/2010	Brown Antechinus	Male	45g
04/06/2010	Brown Antechinus	Male	55g
04/06/2010	Bush Rat	Female	120g
18/08/2010	Brown Antechinus	Male	65g
18/08/2010	Brown Antechinus	Female	45g
18/08/2010	Bush Rat	Female	105g
18/08/2010	Bush Rat	Female	115g
19/08/2010	Bush Rat	Female	60g
19/08/2010	Bush Rat	Female	70g
19/08/2010	Bush Rat	Female	105g
30/08/2010	Bush Rat	Female	120g
30/08/2010	Bush Rat	Female	75g
30/08/2010	Bush Rat	Female	80g
30/08/2010	Bush Rat	Female	90g

These are the records from Term 3, 2010.

Diamond Pythons, Morelia spilota spilota, are a colour varient of carpet pythons. Carpet pythons have a large range spreading over most of Eastern Australia and the South and North Western corners of Western Australia. In fact, together carpet pythons inhabit the most diverse habitats of any Australian python, though some of the varients are threatened species. This species can grow up to 2.5m and can be fairly solid snakes. A large python will take possums, fruitbats and native rats for meals using constriction rather than venom to subdue their prey. The diamond python is yet another species that unfortunately shares a love for the temperate, coastal environment that humans tend towards, thus, habitat loss is a primary concern to the species.

This particular specimen was found very close to Ku-Ring-Gai Chase NP by Shore teacher Vaughn Brown on the way to their year 11 biology, Local Ecosystems excursion at Camp Kedron and was roughly 1m in length.