Platypus Education Group

21/08/2026

Please be aware H5 is now present in YRC.

As of 21 August, H5 Avian Influenza has been reported in Sugarloaf Reserve in Christmas Hills.

If you see sick or dead birds or wildlife:
✅ Avoid contact with sick or dead wild birds, other wildlife, and their environments.
✅ Record what you see, including the location, date, number of animals affected, and any visible symptoms.
✅ Report wildlife illness or deaths to DEECA using the https://forms.bio.vic.gov.au/wildlife-influenza-investigation or by calling the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888.

We know people care deeply about wildlife and want to help when they see an animal in distress.

Reports should only be made for:
🔵 Clusters of five or more sick or dead wild birds of any species anywhere in Victoria.
🔵 A single sick or dead:
- wild seabird, waterbird, shorebird or bird of prey
- marine mammal (such as a seal, sea lion or dolphin).

Following a report, the Department of Energy, Environement and Climate Action (DEECA) will assess the information provided and determine whether testing is required.

🌐For the latest information, visit the Agriculture Victoria website: https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity/animal-diseases/poultry-diseases/H5N1-avian-influenza-H5-bird-flu

15/07/2026

One of our wonderful PEG Ambassadors, Coen is giving a talk at the Belgrave Library. He is amazing to listen to and has a lot of knowledge to share around Citizen Science . Make sure you book in.

28/06/2026

School holidays meant a smaller session today but we did some Nature Journaling with a hot chocolate!

Here are some Nature Journaling ideas for these holidays. You may want to write or draw.
In a little notepad record:
Date
Time
Weather

Spend 5-10mins on each of these ideas.
1) Go outside. Sit quietly and listen - what can you hear around you. What sounds are nature? What sounds are man made?
2) What can you see? What birds, animals, vegetation, cars, planes etc.
3) Scavenger hunt- find 4 items and draw. They could be a leaf, rock, flower, feather, seed pod, etc.
4) Find four different leaves and do leaf rubbings ( use a crayon or charcoal). You can do this for tree bark too.
5) Cloud spotting- draw the clouds you see. What shapes do you observe. Can you see any animals in them?
6) Draw what you see. Find a spot to sit in nature and draw a scene, tree or shrub as you see it.

The great thing with journaling is there is no right or wrong. There is no mistakes.

30/05/2026

What a spectacular night we had last night for our spotlighting walk through Birdsland Reserve 🧡 The sunset put on a stunning show as we walked to the top of the Bunjil lookout, then down through the bush and past the lake all while spotting scarlet robins, looking for fungi and wombat burrows,, and dodging the kangaroos!

And then the night was topped off with homemade pizzas in the pizza oven 🍕 A beautiful autumnal evening with our awesome Ambassadors 💚

30/05/2026

On this perfect evening our Ambassadors headed out on a spotlight walk around Birdsland. We saw birds, Kangaroos, an owl, cockatoos. We even found a big wombat burrow. And to finish the night we made pizzas. Thanks to Rob and Ben for looking after the pizza oven and cooking our gourmet pizza’s!!! Ace stayed at the centre and waited for pats!

26/04/2026

Another fantastic session with our Ambassadors connecting in with Yarra Ranges Council’s Climate & Environment Strategy. We discussed what we want the environment to look like in 10 years and what we love about where we live. We also played some games to reinforce the importance of water health and what we can all do to keep our environment beautiful 💚🌱💚