Orchardist Guy Gaeta said he had noticed the flying foxes on his Orange property west of Orange but damage to his cherry crop was minimal.

"Probably about 50 kilograms of fruit," he said.

"You can loose up to up to 500 tonnes if they come and visit your place."

Mr Gaeta said at this stage, netting was keeping his cherries safe, which was backed by another Canobolas orchardist, although the latter said once netting was removed for harvest, the race was on to get the unprotected fruit off trees.

"I took notice about two weeks ago and they were flying north from where they roost, about nine or ten at night there were some flying around," Mr Gaeta said.

"I had a little bit of damage, I was thinking it might have been possums but it was bats, they come back to the same tree."

Paula Charnook from Thornbrook Orchard said her orchard's fruit had also been spared by the flying foxes.

In the meantime, this weekend's forecast rain could be the bigger obstacle for the district's cherry growers with Mr Gaeta saying picking was in full swing to beat showers expected on Friday and Saturday. And he said he was still on guard for flying foxes.

"They come without notice," he said.

The appearance of the grey-headed flying fox and the little red flying fox in numbers has become an annual event in Orange since 2010.

This year a colony returned to its Ploughmans Lane camp late last month while in previous years they have roosted in Cook Park and homes in that vicinity.

The grey-headed flying fox is naturally distributed along Australia's Eastern seaboard. Its preferred habitat is gullies and rainforest, where it feeds on eucalypt blossoms and rainforest fruits however experts say it has an amazing ability to find food when its natural sources are taken away.

The grey-head flying fox was listed as vulnerable two decades ago when coastal development led to a decline in numbers.

Meanwhile, the equine industry is on alert after the discovery of a new strain of Hendra virus, which is more widely distributed than previously thought.

The virus can be transmitted from flying foxes to horses, and from horses to people.

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