The 1,005 hectare ecologically-significant Devilbend Natural Features Reserve, which includes Devilbend and Bittern Reservoirs, is the largest and most important freshwater habitat for waterbirds on the Mornington Peninsula. The area supports a high diversity of flora and fauna including 162 bird species which are known to use the reservoirs and adjacent bushland.

Significant species include national EPBC-listed:

• Australasian Bittern (E)
• Growling Grass Frog (V)
• White-throated Needletail
• Satin Flycatcher.

Also present within the reserve are State-listed:

• Blue-billed Duck (E)
• Little Egret
• Lewin’s Rail
• Southern Toadlet (E)
• Eastern Long-necked Turtle.

Citizen science data collected as part of the Crew at Daangean Turtle project has identified a worrying downward trend in the local population of Eastern Long-necked Turtle, whose nests are opportunistically raided by foxes during the turtle breeding season. With foxes implicated in numerous fauna extinctions across mainland Australia, introduced predator control is considered a top priority, particularly for the protection of vulnerable ground dwelling avian, amphibian and mammalian species.

This project will provide a strategic and coordinated landscape scale introduced predator control program targeting Red Fox populations within the Devilbend Natural Features Reserve and three surrounding catchment areas (Devilbend-Hastings, Merricks-Coolart & Balcombe-Moorooduc). Funding will provide education and ongoing on-ground control to reduce predatory pressure and improve outcomes for the threatened species that call Devilbend home.