I used to get to Bicentennial Park (BP) regularly, but haven't visited for
a while.
On the weekend I was disturbed to see a new building being constructed
adjacent to Lake Belvedere, in the corner of Bennelong Parkway and
Australia Avenue. It seemed to be an over-development and poorly situated
close to the spill off areas from the Lake (which is often too full,
forcing waders into the spill off zones or on to other nearby wetland
areas).
On closer inspection there is now a mound of dirt stockpiled on top of what
was previously a small wetland area and reed bed that served as overflow
from the Lake and was a small but excellent habitat for birds, at which I
had regularly observed interesting species including, for example, Latham's
Snipe.
Apparently the new building is an electricity substation, being installed
"to meet the increasing electricity demand from the area's growing business
and residential community":
http://www.sopa.nsw.gov.au/for_business/notice_board/ausgrid_community_notice_on_substation_project
The habitat at BP has supported some interesting species in recent years.
It is seriously disturbing to see good habitat being chewed up my an
unsympathetically placed electricity substation.
I am extremely disappointed that SOPA has allowed this. Hitherto, I had
thought SOPA a reasonably sympathetic manager of the habitat under its
charge but the placement of this substation adjacent to the Lake and the
allowing of stockpiling of building waste on good bird habitat is hopeless.
So, next time you're enjoying a spot of birding around BP you can scratch
this site of your list of places to check for interesting species. It's now
yet another place where you can soak up a bit of extra electromagnetic
radiation and observe the accelerating march towards an urban environment
with negligible biodiversity but lots of pretty playgrounds surrounded by
buffalo grass.
<HR>
<BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
<BR>
<BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
<BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
</HR>
|
