If there’s one native animal which can generate heated discussion, it’s the flying fox. Their diet includes fruit, blossoms, nectar and sometimes leaves and at this time of year they are regular nightly visitors to the native fig trees and flowering eucalypts in our forests. In the morning, the ground underneath will be littered with chewed fruit, twigs, bits of flowers and other debris. Their presence is also of course indicated by their continual squabbling and chatter.
Flying foxes are important pollinators of our native hardwood forests and without them the health of commercially important tree species could decline. These trees produce fresh nectar and pollen only at night. Flying foxes also disperse the seeds of many native trees to new areas. It’s always encouraging to find naturally regenerating seedlings in revegetation project areas and the service is free.
Unfortunately, a reduction in the availability of their natural food sources due to clearing, also means that many have developed a taste for exotic fruit as a substitute. For the home orchard, exclusion netting is an efficient way to make sure that you get to pick the fruit. Make sure also that an adequate number of their preferred native food trees have been retained or planted.
White bird netting stretched (not loose) over a frame of polypipe anchored on 4 star pickets provides excellent protection for trees such as tropical plums, nectarines and peaches. Black netting cannot be seen at night resulting in the animals flying into it, becoming tangled, and needing a call-out to the Wilvos. Never attempt to handle the animals yourself.
They may be noisy, and smelly near their camp and roost sites, but flying foxes are an important component of the overall ecosystem, a tourist attraction, and they are protected.
BARUNG NATIVE PLANT NURSERY Open Mon-Fri 8.30am-4pm Saturdays 9am-noon; Next to Maleny Post Office, Riverside Centre Ph: 5494 3151
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