For months, it seemed the bush had lost its heartbeat. Yet in the years since, one of the Hawkesbury’s quietest residents the humble bandicoot has been scratching its way back into the story of local recovery.
Bandicoots are small, nocturnal marsupials with a long snout and a habit of leaving neat little diggings in lawns, gardens and bush tracks.
In the Hawkesbury, two species are most often spotted: the long-nosed bandicoot (Perameles nasuta), common across Sydney, and the northern brown bandicoot (Isoodon macrourus), which thrives north of the Hawkesbury River. South of the river, in national parks, the endangered southern brown bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus) holds on in fragile numbers.
Despite their modest size, bandicoots play a big role in bush health. Each night they turn over leaf litter and soil in search of insects, worms and fungi, aerating the ground and helping native plants grow. Ecologists call them “ecosystem engineers.” To lose them would be to lose a vital part of the bush’s natural repair crew.
The Black Summer fires burned more than 5.5 million hectares across NSW, including large parts of Wollemi National Park and the Grose Valley. For ground-dwelling mammals like bandicoots, the fires were devastating. Their shelters were scorched, and foxes and feral cats prowled the exposed ground.
Yet in the months that followed, a curious thing happened. Camera traps set up by conservation group Science for Wildlife across 90 sites, including the Hawkesbury, began recording movement. Among the brushtail possums, wallabies and bush rats, the bandicoots crept back.
Where the fires had been patchy or regrowth was quick, their scratching reappeared in the ash.
Wildlife researchers describe these species as part of the “critical weight range” small enough to be vulnerable to predators, but resilient if conditions turn in their favour. Fresh regrowth after fire, with its flush of shoots and insect life, can give them just that chance.
Pinning down whether bandicoots have truly “increased” in the Hawkesbury since the fires is tricky. Residents certainly report more sightings in backyards from Richmond to Kurrajong. Hawkesbury City Council encouraged residents to help classify footage from monitoring stations, and many delighted volunteers clicked through images of bandicoots snuffling at food trays.
On forums in the lower Blue Mountains, neighbours have shared stories of the long-nosed bandicoot “being back” in the streets for the first time in years.
Formal data supports these observations.
The Atlas of Living Australia, which collates citizen science records, shows a marked rise in bandicoot records in the Hawkesbury since 2020 compared to the years immediately before. While some of that reflects more people using apps like iNaturalist, it also suggests a genuine rebound where habitat is recovering.
Still, ecologists urge caution. In severely burnt zones where canopy and groundcover were stripped bare, recovery has been much slower. And predators remain foxes and feral cats take a heavy toll, especially in fragmented bushland around farms and suburbs. A surge in sightings may represent animals moving more boldly in search of food rather than a secure population boom.
For Hawkesbury residents, the return of the bandicoot is more than a scientific footnote. It’s a reminder that even in the face of disaster, the bush has ways of healing if given the chance. Each dig mark in the lawn, each blur on a night-vision camera, tells a story of persistence.
Next time you notice small conical holes in your garden or glimpse a shy, snuffling marsupial under the shrubs, pause for a moment. The bandicoot is not just a survivor of fire it’s a symbol of the Hawkesbury’s resilience, scratching its way back, one paw full of soil at a time.
Article first published at: www.hawkesburygazette.com
