Peter Turland is the owner of Wayamba, a property situated in Pillar Valley, approximately 70km north of Coffs Harbour, NSW. The property is a residence and dedicated wildlife sanctuary, with ongoing bush regeneration and conservation activities in place to preserve the local native flora and fauna. Wayamba is also registered with Land for Wildlife.
The property covers approximately 14.2 hectares, 95% of which is natural forest occurring on a gradual slope from 30m to 20m above sea level. Despite covering a relatively small area, Wayamba houses a diverse rainforest habitat and provides wildlife corridors as well as permanent water sources for native species. The dominant soil type is ironstone/sandstone based with a silty clay texture. The property houses several drainage lines and two significant permanent pond systems which provide habitat for aquatic and wetland species. Nest boxes have been established around the major ponds to assist with wildlife conservation.
Historical burning, grazing and logging activities have degraded the land; however regeneration activities have been steadily improving the property’s natural values since 1995. Vegetation on the property primarily consists of remnant wet sclerophyll forest dominated by various eucalypt species. The three drainage lines on the property house significant dry and sub-tropical rainforest communities.
As the habitat improves more wildlife is found throughout the property, including various macropods, brushtail (Trichosurus vulpecula) and ringtail (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) possums and northern brown bandicoots (Isoodon macrourus). A variety of reptiles, birds, amphibians and arthropods are also found on the property.