{"id":2731,"date":"2026-10-13T06:00:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T20:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fogl.org.au\/home\/?p=2731"},"modified":"2026-10-13T07:21:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T21:21:04","slug":"the-snipe-are-returning-heres-where-things-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fogl.org.au\/home\/announcements\/the-snipe-are-returning-heres-where-things-stand\/","title":{"rendered":"The snipe are returning. Here’s where things stand."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It’s been six weeks since our statement on the kangaroo deaths at 10 Fullarton Drive, Paynesville. Here is an update on the fence, the birds and the legal work, and how you can help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Latham's<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The fence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fencing put up in August is still standing. Corridors were opened through it on 27 August, after eight kangaroos died against it in under a fortnight. Opening them was the right thing to do. Our position hasn’t changed. Nothing currently requires the fence on the northern boundary. The Commonwealth approval bars works from starting until an ecologist confirms the snipe have migrated and none remain, and on the bird’s migration cycle that is unlikely before March 2027. We continue to ask that the northern fence come down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The snipe<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 7 September, FOGL members recorded five Latham’s Snipe inside the development footprint, the area where houses are planned. The sighting is logged with BirdLife Australia’s Birdata<\/a>, and you can watch two of the birds here: [video link<\/a>].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Latham’s Snipe flies here from Japan every spring. It was listed as Vulnerable under national environment law in January 2024. Previous surveys have recorded up to 40 on this land, averaging 18, the number that makes a site nationally important. An independent assessment by Associate Professor Birgita Hansen, puts the bird’s habitat here at about 6.3 hectares. The developer mapped just 1.2.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The survey, and our letter to Council<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before any ground is disturbed, the permit requires an “Independent” ecologist to survey the snipe’s habitat. The permit requires an independent ecologist to have no ‘conflicts of interests’ or ‘affliations’ with the development. That survey decides what habitat gets built on and what survives, and if it finds more habitat than was mapped, the plans must be amended to protect it. The community fought for that condition at VCAT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey has been lodged with Council and has not yet been approved. Our solicitor has now written to Council setting out what the permit requires of it. We support Council’s role in this decision, and want the conditions applied as written.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
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How you can help<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That letter is the first thing our GoFundMe is paying for. The appeal is raising $6,000 for the legal work to see the permit conditions kept, and we will publish an account of every dollar. [Thank you to the X people who have already given.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donate or share: [link<\/a>]

Point your phone camera at the code to go straight to the page. Feel free to print it for a noticeboard, shop window or club newsletter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Aerial view of the development site and the Ramsar wetlands at Point Fullarton<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been six weeks since our statement on the kangaroo deaths at 10 Fullarton Drive, Paynesville. Here is an update […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":2657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-announcements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fogl.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fogl.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fogl.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fogl.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fogl.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2731"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fogl.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2735,"href":"https:\/\/fogl.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731\/revisions\/2735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fogl.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fogl.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fogl.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fogl.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}