birding-aus

Ash Island accessible?

To: John Clifton-Everest <>,
Subject: Ash Island accessible?
From: Mick Roderick <>
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2011 23:19:40 -0800 (PST)
John (and others who have enquired about Ash Island),

Technically the answer to your question is 'no', Ash Island is not "off limits" 
to birders (or anyone else). But having said that, access to the main ponds (ie 
Wader / Swan Ponds etc) is currently very difficult due to a bridge that is out 
on one of the creeks. To access the ponds would require a long walk from where 
the bridge is out or elsewhere on the island. I cannot say how long this bridge 
will be out, but I suggest it will be for the majority of the remaining summer 
/ 
autumn.

There is probably little point trying to access Ash Island anyway. For quite 
some time now it has been almost devoid of "interesting" birds that people 
often 
visit to see. The monthly shorebird / waterbird surveys were conducted on 
Saturday just gone, and very few shorebirds were recorded (a few Eastern Curlew 
and lone Greenshank). For shorebirds I would suggest a visit to Stockton 
Sandspit / Fern Bay foreshore etc would be your best bet (and to answer Mark's 
earlier question, yes the Kooragang Dykes were surveyed by boat last Saturday - 
about 800 Barwit, 100 Blackwit, 70 Greenshank, 100 Curlew Sands, 240 Golden 
Plovers, 2 Red Knot, 2 Common Sands amongst others).

I was fortunate enough to have access to Deep Pond (being my monthly survey 
site 
in the estuary), which is the large freshwater swamp to the east of the railway 
tracks on Ash Island (no public access to this pond is possible from either end 
of Ash / Kooragang Island). On Deep Pond there was a single Wood Sandpiper, 
about a dozen Greenshank / Marshies, 20-odd Black-tailed Godwits and 40-odd 
Black-winged Stilt. A Lewin's Rail was also calling and there were Shovelers 
(2) 
for the first time in nearly a year. 


On a related matter, a good part of Ash Island was gazetted last Friday as part 
of the Hunter Wetlands National Park (minus infrastructure corridors and the 
like). Whilst there was initial plans by NPWS to restrict access to the reserve 
anywhere further than the radar huts near Ramsar Road, recent negotiations 
between them and the Hunter Bird Observers Club have secured access to the main 
ponds (ie beyond Ramsar Road) at all times except for particularly high tide 
events, when the road will be temporarily closed and signs displayed.

In future, it might pay to check tide sizes before visiting the island.

We will keep you posted re: the Dead Mangrove Creek bridge situation.

Cheers

Mick



________________________________
From: John Clifton-Everest <>
To: 
Sent: Thu, 24 February, 2011 9:53:17 AM
Subject: Ash Island accessible?

Is it the case that Ash Island is still off-limits to birders?
John Clifton-Everest
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