Look who’s been hanging around our Long Swamp restoration site! – Another record of an Australasian Bittern

Australasian bittern near Nobles Rocks

Australasian Bittern near Nobles Rocks

This curious and nationally endangered Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus) was snapped on our wildlife camera during NGT’s Long Swamp restoration works near Nobles Rocks. This project was funded with the support of the Victorian Government, and was detailed here earlier in the year.

In our most recent works, we pumped sand to the site and repurposed the existing ~7000 sandbag trial structure (completed in 2015) as the core of a permanent, recreated dune.
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Australasian Bitterns are usually extremely cryptic (hard to spot), but this one passed through early each morning to inspect the progress of our sand pumping. The restoration of wetland habitat at Long Swamp is a significant gain for bitterns and other wetland species, so their consistent presence at the restoration site (where we have seen multiple birds on a number of occasions since 2014) is hugely encouraging.

Look for a more details about our Long Swamp restoration works in a coming edition – we have a lot to tell!

This project has been funded by the Victorian Government’s Biodiversity Response Planning program and is helping to ensure that Victoria’s natural environment is healthy, valued and actively cared for.

Jonathan Tuck