Tom Bullen - a Surreal Landscape
Tom Bullen is not open to the public. It no longer has any water in it to speak of. Yet a walk through, with the Murrumbidgee Field Naturalists, was one of the best of my recent experiences.
The area is an off river storage for StateWater. The inflow is off the Coleambally Canal and the water is returned to the river via a 3km creek from the south west corner.
Recent drought and lack of water has meant that the storage has not been needed. A few pelicans were hanging around with a Sea Eagle keeping and eye on them.
The really interesting thing was walking on the bed of the storage area with the water level marks on the trees above us. Just look at the photo. It was amazing.
If you ever get a chance to get into the reserve, do so.
May 27th, 2008 - Posted in Places to Visit | | 0 Comments
Birding Resources
Ah! The internet. So much information and so little time to find it all.
So you want to go on a trip, or a weekend away and combine it with some outdoors and some birdwatching. How do you know where the best places are and what to look for when you get there?
At Murrumbidgee Field Naturalists we try to provide you with some of that information for our area - Griffith, Leeton and Narrandera in NSW. The best information is shared information. You can go to as many Tourist Information Centres as you like, but without staff who are keen and interested in birds and low impact visiting, you really need word of mouth.
A site like Birdpedia is one that attempts to provide a broad coverage of reserves and good field trip locations. In order to cover the areas they want, they need your help too. If you sign up with them, you can submit your bird lists from your favourite locations and you can write the trip reports too.
A quick look at Birdpedia’s locations for our region show a lack of knowledge, so far. But at least its a start. When you come to visit the Mid Murrumbidgee Valley, or Griffith NSW, check us out first and then see what the rest have to offer.
May 19th, 2008 - Posted in Birding Resources | | 0 Comments
Lake Wyangan Wetlands
From where I live, I can see some of the best sunsets ever. I look out over paddocks to the west with a clear view for many kilometres.
A common sight many years ago was our farmer neighbour silhouetted against the sky with his shovel over his shoulder as he checked out how his watering was going. With his death went an era in water management. And with the change in water management went the almost permanent wetlands that are Nericon and Campbell’s Swamps.
In fact, the whole of the Lake Wyangan Wetlands System has changed in the last 10 - 15 years. Situated just north of Griffith NSW, the wetlands system has no other drainage. Each waterbody contains the run off - or irrigation overflow - from the immediate vicinity. With years of drought, with less water available and with change land use, the quantity of water available for wetlands has decreased dramatically. Areas that were once almost permanently wet and available as breeding areas are now dry and defunct.
But that does not mean that the area is not worth a visit. The birds have moved on from the swamps to the lake itself as the water level in the north basin fall to its lowest levels in living memory. As the water recedes, the mudflats are exposed and are a haven for freshwater waders and even a Common Sandpiper (which turns out to be not so common after all in this area).
So check out the Lake Wyangan Wetlands page on the Murrumbidgee Field Naturalists site.
Have you been to Griffith NSW? Or been to the wetlands? Why not tell us what you think about them.
May 15th, 2008 - Posted in Places to Visit | | 0 Comments
