Leeton Wetlands Forum and Bird Fair.
Part 1: the wetlands forum.
Organised by members of the Fivebough and Tukerbil Weylands Trust, a five
day nature fair was held in Leeton, south-central NSW, from Wednesday 22 to
Sunday 26th November.
Over 100 attended the wetlands forum which was held over three days.
The first day, Wednesday, was a coach tour of local wetlands which I booked
on but missed (having spent the previous week at Binna Burra in Lamington
National Park).
Speakers on the Thursday and Friday included:
* Pat Murray of Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority (MCMA) who
spoke on wetlands of the Murrumbidgee basin. Most of the world's wetlands
are degraded and those of the ZMurrumbidgee basin are no exception;
* Roger Good ~ on the imporance of the wetlands (mainly bogs and fens) of
the Snowy Mountains and how their management could be improved;
* Marcus Wright (MCMA) ~ on environmental flows;
* Fiona Little (Uni of Adelaide) ~ on the history of the Murrumbidgee as
revealed by diatoms
* David Little ~ on the chain of ponds theory (natural sequence farming)
which was a subject featured on 'Australian Story' recently;
* Rob Kelly ~ how Murrumbidgee irrigators are rehabilitating Barren Box
Swamp and saving water for the Snowy River;
* Mike Schult ~ how the 5bough and Tuckerbil swamps, Ramsar wetlands, which
are being managed for waterbirds, including Bitterns;
* Ross McDonnell, ranger of the new Yanga National Park near Balranald
which includes vast wetland areas;
* Richard Hunter, CEO of the Bird observers Club of Australia;
* Robyn Molsher ~ the NSW Ramsar Managers Network;
* Bruce Gray ~ Ramsar Wetlands;
* Anne Jenson (Uni of Adelaide) ~ the importance of that most
under-appreciated plant Lignum;
* Darly Nielson ~ the ecological consequences of increasing wetland salinity;
* Matt Herring ~ brolgas ~ Matt has persuaded many irrigators to create
suitable wetlands for brolgas and waders on their properties;
* Gillian Gilbert of the RSPB (which, despite an introduction from the
local mayor, does NOT stand for the Royal Society for the Prevention of
Birds) who spoke on restoring habitat for Bitterns in the UK;
* Iain Taylor of Charles Sturt University who spoke on 14 bird species
which feed in local rice fields and how conditions could be enhanced for
these birds;
* Rick Webster ~ terrestial bird populations in State Forests of the
southern Riverina;
* Geoff Lamour ~ migratory shorebirds and problems which they face;
* Dean Gilligan (Narrandera Fisheries Centre) ~ native fish in the
Murrumbidgee basin;
* Robyn Watts ~ manageing wetlands for fish and amphibians;
* Sky Wassens (CSU) ~ frogs.
In summing up, Iain Taylor gave an impassioned plea for us to persuade
politicians to take action to deal with climate change.
All speakers made use of power point presentations and had thoroughly
prepared their presentations. The organisation was outstanding and the
venue perfect.
Speaker at the Forum Dinner was Sean Dooley who gave an amusing illustrated
address about his Big Twitch.
Most participants visited Fivebough Swamp and were impressed with the vast
number of Glossy Ibis which come in to roost each evening. There were
thousands of waterbirds on the swamp, including hundreds of Black-winged
Stilts, scores of Avocets and ducks, and some of us saw Baillons Crake,
Little Bittern and Australasian Bittern.
There appears to be no water restrictions in Leeton and the lawns on some
quite ;large housing blocks were covered in water. In fact, at some time in
the recent past, Painted Snipe fed on one of these wet lawns.
Part 2, the Bird Fair, to come
Keith Stockwell, Moama.
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|
