Better late than never – winter rain hits south-west Victoria

Better late than never – winter rain hits south-west Victoria

Most of us in the south-west of Victoria will have noticed that is has been unusually dry this winter. A positive Southern Annular Mode has been directing the moisture laden westerlies down toward the south pole, and many rain stations have recorded monthly totals well below average. But in a late reprieve, we received some useful totals over the past week.

It was great to get an update from Tim Hill at Tiverton to report that after 50 mm of rain over the weekend, a wetland Greg and I did some work on in June, had filled. This is one of several potential sites we have identified for restoration works under the Victorian Volcanic Plain Landscape Wetland Restoration Program, funded under the Victorian Government’s Biodiversity Response Plan.

Initial works to regulate drainage at Tiverton

A comparison of photos taken during the works (above) and as of Monday this week (below), provides a satisfying point to end what has been an otherwise disappointing winter rainfall season. Hopefully a resumption to some form of normality, and a transition to a wetter phase for the remainder of the year will see us out and about to document the response of plants and wildlife across this and other recently restored wetlands. And with that, I’d love to hear from anyone else who has a site where they think some drain regulation works might be worth trialing.

The results following recent rainfall (Photo: Tim Hill)

You can find out more about the VVP Wetland Restoration project via the flyer below, sending me an email, or giving me call (0401 208 171). Please feel free to send the flyer on to anyone you think might be interested.

VVP-wetland-restoration-flyer-A4_V2_FINAL2

Lachlan Farrington