Blackville TreeTroff Update

Following my initial report on the TreeTroff installation at Blackville Public School on 4^th November, I made  a quick trip out to Blackville Public School on 15^th December. 

This was  an opportunity for staff, students and myself to gain more understanding of the process of the TreeTroff equipment and program.  Armed with a maintenance schedule  from Wes Leedham, the students took the lead in following the protocol of checking security, removing the camera box and then downloading data.   450 images appeared on the SD card – captured by the camera when movement is detected.  The SD card was loaded onto a Google drive file and we had great fun identifying a number of birds (a magpie, many parrots, a galah, a currawong and one Indian Myna), one domestic rat, and (drum roll …) a squirrel glider! 

The water supply was topped up, the drinker and lines flushed, the safety chain placed back into the drinker (a rescue device if anything small falls in), the batteries and settings  of the camera checked and the camera replaced up in the tree.

Students will enter the data in Term 1 2026 and will be reporting to the Education Department along with other schools.

Overall impressions –  clever children who had retained so much information about the process from the initial day and were able to work together effectively , taking the front foot in managing the maintenance and data download.

I'm excited to see what we will find has been using the TreeTroff over the Christmas break!