Gooseneck Swamp Restoration Trial – November Update
The community monitoring of Gooseneck Swamp is continuing, with Rod from the Hamilton Field Naturalists Club, along with Steve and Jane, kindly assisting by undertaking the monthly bird surveys of the site. The third monthly visit was recently completed.
Other forms of monitoring that are occurring to provide meaningful information on the success of the project include the placement of recording devices to detect the different species of frogs that are calling at the site, water level monitoring, photopoint and vegetation monitoring.
Some images that might be of interest to help visually tell the story of change are below:
Gooseneck Swamp on Day 17 of the restoration trial – open water and stunning reflections
Gooseneck Swamp on Day 79 of the restoration trial – the water is still there, but the warmer weather is driving a fantastic explosion in wetland plant growth
Meanwhile, over the past month water levels have remained fairly stable thanks to a combination of steady inflows from the Wannon River and the successful operation of the restoration trial structure.
Day 37 (2nd October 2013) – 68cm
Day 47 (12th October 2013) – 67cm
Day 79 (15th November 2013) – 67cm
The sandbag weir structure itself is holding up very well, with an estimated 45 cm difference in water level above and below the structure.
The artificial drain – looking downstream over the sandbag weir on Day 79 of the trial – showing the additional depth (and hence significant volume) of water that is restoring and enhancing the wetland values of Gooseneck Swamp.
A final note on Gooseneck Swamp this month is that we are in the process of organising a Community Bushwalk and Information Day, to be held on Saturday the 14th December. More details will be provided soon, but if you would like to see the site for yourself, please keep the date free – we’d love to see you out there!
