NGT Out and about — Photos from the field in April

NGT senior ecologist Jono took these beautiful snaps during a recent visit to Tasmania, where he was assisting with the restoration works at Sloping Main. What a spectacular place!

NGT’s Mildura-based ecologists Scott Huntley and Taylar Pay have recently been doing some fish monitoring in the Murrumbidgee. He photographed this tiny baby Murray Cod and a much bigger Murray Cod – what a striking size difference! In the last two photos you can see some great ‘snaggy’ habitat on the River. These snags (trees, branches or roots lodged in the riverbed) are very important for cod as they provide a safe refuge and a surface upon which to lay eggs. In fact, most Murray Cod hang out within a metre of a snag (source: NSW Government Murray Cod Habitat Factsheet).

Tessa and her family had a great time over the long weekend collecting nature observations for the 2025 City Nature Challenge. Using the iNaturalist app. we photographed wild plants, animals, and fungi around Greater Adelaide, and recorded them under Adelaide’s City Nature Challenge 2025 project. We visited Chambers Gully, Cleland National Park, Hazelwood Park and the River Torrens in the city and found a multitude of interesting things. Our list included a Royal Spoonbill, Black-faced Cuckooshrike, Rain Moth, Koala and a dead Redfin Perch (introduced species), among many others. At the time of writing (with less than a day to go) Adelaide project participants had collected a whopping 2668 observations of 861 species! Birds are dominating the top 10 spots, with the Rainbow Lorikeet having the most observations so far. Keep an eye out for next year’s challenge in late April, for a fun way to explore and document nature.