Bush sign posts

 

"This is MY patch !" says the local wombat

Distinctively "squarish" Wombat scats and scratchings

If you've spent much time in the bush here in Lake Macquarie, you will have seen the territorial scat piles that Wombats leave to mark their territory.  If they're fresh (like the one above) you can't miss the scratchings and unmistakeable smell of fresh earth and stinky poo !    

Wombats are friendly herbivores, that eat nothing but roots and leaves.  There has to be a joke there somewhere.  They are extremely common in the Hunter Valley, though unless you're driving in the bush at night you usually won't see them.  But you'll certainly see where they have been. This is a typical example of their scat markings - they'll leave a gift somewhere unmissable - such as the middle of a bush track, surrounded by scratchings to make it even more obvious. The smell from this pile made my nose hairs curl as I walked past it yesterday.  "Mine, Mine, MINE !" it screamed.  

The funny thing you will notice about Wombat poo is that it is typically square.  So next time you're in the bush and see unmistakeable, matchbox-sized cubes of poo perched carefully on a rock in the middle of a track, you know what left them !