WILD Blog 02

A New Season Our first season of the Night Walk Adventure saw people from all over the world experience the wonders of the Ocean Beach Conservation area with Whitmore’s Wild. That’s a fair chunk of people who gained valuable knowledge and experience to take with them on the rest of their travels around Tasmania and beyond.

One of our favourite outcomes from a tour is when guests contact us later on in their adventures. They might say they managed to identify a bettong bouncing by their caravan at St Helens, or how they noticed some Tasmanian devil poo on the trail near their house up North, or just that they had so much fun for the rest of their holiday having a few minutes before bed seeing what was in the field by their hut.

As always, the animals in the Conservation Area are wild and free to roam and pass by us as they please. We can never guarantee wildlife sightings, but what we can guarantee is that it’s just as exciting to become equipped with the skills to sight wildlife wherever you go, and to learn these skills whilst in the natural environment of those incredibly unique animals.

It is very rare to see a wild Tasmanian Devil whilst out on foot, but to be in a place special enough to show signs of their habitat, to know they are out there in the darkness, to pass through their land respectfully knowing that they are thriving all around us on the trail- that never fails to give us goosebumps.

As we continue into our second season, we’re more excited than ever to share this special part of the world. We’re excited that our guests are braving the west coast weather, and we’re all embracing it to see how the wildlife behaves differently.

As of November, it’s been a particularly rainy spring! But what does this mean for the fauna of Strahan? Well, one example on the nightwalk is that we can note more success in frog species survival- puddles that have usually dried up by now are thriving with hundreds of tadpoles of various species, and we can also note an entirely new marsh that we hadn’t seen near the trail for the previous years - which after surveying we have found to be home to a whopping six species of frogs, based on their calls. Have a listen to their concert below!

Just to name a few other sightings; we saw our first w

ondering trapdoor spider of the season this week, recently caught a glimpse of the first ever spotted tail quoll seen on tour, have witnessed the shearwaters returning to their burrows, and have had amazing views of microbats feasting on the moths that are out above the path.

As we continue into December, what’s next as the rain passes, the sun comes out and the daylight lingers even longer?

As always, it’s up to the wild to decide that. We’re just here for the show.

Josh Selby, 27/11/2025