Rogerson Road

With weather remaining on our side this month at Rogerson Road, construction works were able to continue. The works included four separate concrete pours to produce two custom-sized concrete headwalls, these two headwalls alone saw a total volume of almost 100 cubic metres of concrete.

Environmental Rescue at Rogerson Road

What happens when a handful of bats put a major flood restoration project on hold? When it came time to replace three large steel storm water drainage pipes with reinforced concrete pipes ones on Rogerson Road, McKees Hill, project coordinators discovered at least half a dozen micro bats had made a hole in one pipe, their home.

Myotis Macropus

One of Australia’s most fascinating species because they’re the only bats in Australia to capture fish for food. They have large feet which they use to trawl for food near the water’s surface. Work crews had to play a waiting game until two juvenile bats were old enough to fly. But then the challenge was - how to catch the youngsters and offer them an alternative roosting venue. Eventually patience and thermal imaging cameras confirmed the two young bats took to the skies for the first time, just after sunset on 1 May 2024.

That night the hole was sealed and a timber bat box installed as an alternative roost. Four bats settled into their new home but the remaining two had to be caught and housed in the box. Once the culvert work is complete it’s hoped all the bats, and their box will be relocated into the new concrete pipes.