John and Gail Dennett are the owners of Erriba Rise, a conservation property and wildlife sanctuary situated in Erriba, Tasmania. Erriba Rise with its extensive 76-acre native parkland, sits on the edge of the Cradle Mountain alpine plateau. From the top of the Erriba Escarpment lush bushland tumbles through natural terraces into the glacially formed Forth valley revealing ancient hexagonal basalt columns. The property also has a separate cabin which can be used for conservation minded people for short stays. The owners’ future intentions are to find a conservation-minded landholder to sell to and maintain Erriba Rise. The property has one of Tasmania’s earliest conservation covenants that protects it in perpetuity and is also a Tasmanian Land for Wildlife sanctuary.
Erriba Rise spans 31 hectares across native grassland, wet sclerophyll-rainforest, old growth gum forests, eucalypt woodland, perched bottlebrush wetlands with mosses, lichens and more. While the owners are not currently actively involved in wildlife rehabilitation, Erriba Rise continues to be used as a release site for recovered wildlife.
There are an extensive number of wildlife species found at Erriba Rise including Tasmanian pademelons (Thylogale billardierii), echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus), bandicoots, common ringtail possums (Pseudocheirus peregrinus), common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), Eastern pygmy possums (Cercartetus nanus), various bats, native rodents, quolls, Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii), bare-nosed wombats (Vombatus ursinus), eagles, goshawks, ravens, Tasmanian native-hens (Tribonyx mortierii), magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen), yellow-tailed black cockatoos (Zanda funerea), common bronzewings (Phaps chalcoptera), green rosellas (Platycercus caledonicus), pallid cuckoos (Cacomantis pallidus), southern boobooks (Ninox boobook), masked owls (Tyto novaehollandiae castanops), tawny frogmouths (Podargus strigoides), kookaburras (Dacelo sp.), honeyeaters, flame robins (Petroica phoenicea), scarlet robins (Petroica boodang), pink robins (Petroica rodinogaster), dusky robins (Melanodryas vittata), grey shrike-thrushes (Colluricincla harmonica), grey fantails (Rhipidura albiscapa), wattlebirds (Anthochaera chrysoptera), superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus), spotted pardalotes (Pardalotus punctatus), Tasmanian thornbills (Acanthiza ewingii), currawongs (Strepera sp.), welcome swallows (Hirundo neoxena) and Bassian thrushes (Zoothera lunulata).
