If using a torch, O’Meara recommends holding it at shoulder height and casting the beam up and around you for best results. Spotlight etiquette You can also get a flashlight that emits red light by itself. They are more efficient because red light generating LEDs are more efficient than filtering white light and it doesn't scatter a beam like a filter that you put in front does. A common brushtail possum on top of a tree at night in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden. Photograph: Manuel Romaris/Getty Images Nighttime is a fundamentally different place for animals than it is for humans – there’s a lot of places where there’s a lot more out at night.”

Experience tells me the same is true for humans – do not shine your torch in your spotlighting companion’s face.Once you get a taste for spotlighting, it is easy to go in deep. O’Meara says keeping a log of what you see and how the animals behave is one great way to do this, especially if you upload that information into a citizen science database. “You might see an animal do something that’s never been seen before.” Or you can get a red light filter which dulls the light for the animal,” he says, confirming that red cellophane works for this purpose. Plenty of headlamps have a red light setting, allowing for longer observation. However, I have done an experiment to use red light for looking at nightjars instead of using a (very weak) white flashlight and concluded that red light doesn't work that well (for me at least). First of all, human eyes are not very sensitive to red light, so it needs to be pretty bright to see anything, which defeats the purpose. Second, it is much more difficult to see plumage if you have only one colour. So I will use a very weak normal torch once again. He recommends Canberra Nature Map, which allows users to upload GPS coordinates for any animal sightings, as well as seeing what other people have spotted. The app’s geographic range now stretches way beyond Canberra. As for the time of night to go, Flies says it depends what you’re looking for. Many animals are active at transition times like dawn and dusk, but some creatures (like the devils he researches) “seem to be active much later at night”. Stillness or motion?

Dr Andy Flies will be giving a talk on Tasmanian devils at the Cradle Mountain Hotel as part of Tasmania’s Beaker Street science festival on 11 August A sugar glider at Crater Lakes national park in Queensland’s Atherton tablelands. Photograph: Suzanne Long/Alamy All experiments that I have done with a red filter on a flashlight have always turned it into a floodlight (it scatters the beam). But what you want is a proper beam with a good throw. Nowadays I just use a (weak, white) headlight (the ones you use for hiking) and because it is handsfree I can observe the birds through my binoculars. This way I don't need much light and still see nocturnal birds reasonably well. I can use a low light level that doesn't seem to disturb the birds much. I have observed nightjars and potoo this way and they just went on with their business, catching moths and kept returning to the same perch. I kept the light level so low that I lost most colour vision, but I still preferred it over red light. Also, with white light you still have the option to switch to a higher level for a few seconds to see the bird's colours, which might disturb the birds, but at least you have this option and you can decide whether this is appropriate or not.A headlamp is a good tool for beginner spotlighters, although a torch held around eye level offers more control. Photograph: Cavan Images/Alamy For Flies, there’s a sense of wonderment that comes from realising that even in a city there are “wild animals out there, surviving at night”. “If you put me out in the middle of a field in five days I’d be dead,” he says. If you’re looking for wildlife at night, the thing you’re looking for is eyes,” says Flies, who is working on a vaccine for the Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease. “If you see a little flash of light, that’s probably going to be an eye. It’s a bit of excitement to realise you’ve caught the eye of this animal, and it was looking at you too.” Flies cautions against using lights that are too bright as they can affect an animal’s night vision.