Bill & Jean
February’s soft release
Bill Berry, descendent of Juniper, and Jean have recently headed to their plentiful soft release site in Batesford, where they will be under the watchful and caring eyes of Felicity and Peter. Beneath a canopy of red gums, Bill and Jean are acclimatising before we open the hatch, having been closed for seven days, this weekend.
It is an exciting time for Bill and Jean, we imagine, to smell their new surroundings and feel all their senses tingle. It is also an exciting time for us, because Bill and Jean are the lucky ones. The ones who made it, against the odds. Preparing to say farewell is hard for us, but it is also a sign that they made it. They are strong and healthy, inquisitive and magnificent. They have come so far in the months they’ve been in care, and they are ready. And so this final hurrah is every facet of excitement. Giddy and nervous, full of promise and trepidation. We wish them, like all those who resided temporarily in this very shelter, a long, wild life. A life full of tall trees, endless canopy cover, more encounters (of the positive kind) with animals other than human (though, if humans they do encounter, we hope they, too, will be of the good sort). Will they go far? Will they stay near the house (where definitely they’ll encounter very good people in Felicity and Peter)? Will Bill roam one way, Jean, the other? Whatever happens, they’ve lived a good time, in the time we’ve known them, free from suffering, and now adventure awaits them, and all the things a spell in care cannot.
We recently successfully returned home to the wilds of St Kilda, a microbat we named Busby. A Gould’s wattled bat, Busby took off at record release-speed, at the site where we found him (on a screendoor in Barkley Street). His whole body vibrated and he was keen to get home. Only moments before, as we noted the fastness of his body zinging in the travel pouch, we thought about how lumbersome, cumbersome we humans must appear, and he proved this true. He was up and away, pretty much, before we knew. So very impressive. Such aerodynamics!
Our second release that night, on the heels of an earlier attempt the week prior, followed a different trajectory. Hans the Younger, a Gould’s wattled bat from the top end of the city, took a peep and sniff of the place where he was found, and climbed into Louise’s cuff; Nope, not tonight.
We’ll try to release Hans a third time, and see if he can sense his family nearby. Wings crossed. For now, like Bill and Jean, a period of waiting continues. Waiting until ready. Ready to soar and be fully wild. Home again.
Heartfelt thanks to Peter for making a beautiful array of ringtail nesting boxes for Bill, Jean, and the descendants of, to inhabit. Such exquisite dwellings!
Thank-you, dear all, for your recent zine orders of Juniper & the Berries.
You can purchase a copy through our online store for a song, and remaining copies, in person, from our stall at the forthcoming NGV Melbourne Art Book Fair in May.
As ever, please note: you need to be a qualified, vaccinated carer to handle megabats and microbats.
Image credit: Bill Berry, on the lip of the nesting box in the soft release trailer, peering out at his new surrounds.
