Linda Beatson has a longstanding connection with Valhalla. She and her late mother were part of the original team who planted tea tree on the coastal and harbour side of the property. It’s a place of quiet reflection for Linda, and a favourite walking spot for her and her dog Chester who is obsessed with sniffing out rabbits.
Initially, Linda began letting us know about trap catches she noticed during her walks, saving other volunteers time and effort. More recently, she’s taken on an active trapping role herself, quickly mastering both the D-Rat traps and Flipping Timmys.
Linda is showing early signs of moth plant obsession. Some of us know the symptoms all too well – an uncontrollable urge to collect every pod in sight, a compulsion to uproot anything oozing that dreaded white sap, and in more severe cases, dreaming about attacking moth plant pods dangling from trees.
On Sunday 29 June, we set off for an afternoon of trapping. Once the moth plant vines were spotted, it was hard to walk away. More time ended up being spent on moth plant control than on trapping. We returned again on 27 July. Chester was in his element; at times looking like he was leaping like a rabbit. Apart from pulling out the odd obvious moth plant vine, we tried hard to stay focused on the traps and not look up too often for fear of seeing pods in trees. Two rats were added to our tally. Linda returned the next day removed a freshly caught mouse from a D-rat trap. She is working towards mastering the DOC200’s and becoming a fully-fledged trapper.
