The eroded vegetated dunes of Inverloch hold more that most of us could imagine.
By Ed Thexton
TWO bits of news have caught my attention: First up the council approved the extension of the Surf Parade path to Goroke Street. While I would have preferred a gravel rather than concrete path, I’m pleased they’re not removing any more foreshore vegetation to construct it. We’ve lost over 40 metres of dune vegetation in the past decade and we can’t afford to lose any more.
The most exciting news is the discovery of an Eastern Ground Parrot in Inverloch, near the coastal foreshore. And these two items are linked, if you’ll allow me to explain.
TWO bits of news have caught my attention: First up the council approved the extension of the Surf Parade path to Goroke Street. While I would have preferred a gravel rather than concrete path, I’m pleased they’re not removing any more foreshore vegetation to construct it. We’ve lost over 40 metres of dune vegetation in the past decade and we can’t afford to lose any more.
The most exciting news is the discovery of an Eastern Ground Parrot in Inverloch, near the coastal foreshore. And these two items are linked, if you’ll allow me to explain.
An elusive Eastern Ground Parrot was discovered in Inverloch. As its name suggests this parrot is almost entirely terrestrial, running rather than flying. Flights when they occur, are short, low and end with a sudden drop into the ground cover. It’s rarely seen, even where it’s known to occur. The nearest, latest recording was in 2016 on Cape Liptrap, and it took the dedicated birder three years and 100 hours in full camouflage to catch a brief sighting!
Our Eastern Ground Parrot was found because it was injured and despite Bunurrong Wildlife Care and veterinary assistance it couldn’t be saved. But its discovery is truly remarkable, firstly to come across such an elusive creature at all, but secondly to find it in such an unlikely urban location. It demonstrates that every scrap of bush has habitat value, even those bits that the well-informed lay person may dismiss as of no significance. Clearly, the Eastern Ground Parrot with its patchy coastal population demonstrates the potential.
It exemplifies the value of Inverloch’s coastal reserve, that long slender fringe between the town and the inlet and the ocean. In a tourist town where natural values are the attraction, this vegetation receives scant management attention. Imagine if it received the attention its location deserves and was managed purposefully to maximise the appeal for visitors and residents, including to attract the wildlife that is so admired. We need an ongoing works program with the twin objectives of maximising people amenity and wildlife habitat.
Our Eastern Ground Parrot was found because it was injured and despite Bunurrong Wildlife Care and veterinary assistance it couldn’t be saved. But its discovery is truly remarkable, firstly to come across such an elusive creature at all, but secondly to find it in such an unlikely urban location. It demonstrates that every scrap of bush has habitat value, even those bits that the well-informed lay person may dismiss as of no significance. Clearly, the Eastern Ground Parrot with its patchy coastal population demonstrates the potential.
It exemplifies the value of Inverloch’s coastal reserve, that long slender fringe between the town and the inlet and the ocean. In a tourist town where natural values are the attraction, this vegetation receives scant management attention. Imagine if it received the attention its location deserves and was managed purposefully to maximise the appeal for visitors and residents, including to attract the wildlife that is so admired. We need an ongoing works program with the twin objectives of maximising people amenity and wildlife habitat.
Photo: Susan Hall We all feel the loss our vegetated foreshore dunes, the loss of beach amenity and the threatening of infrastructure. But also, unrecognised by many is the habitat loss. Inverloch is rich. The Atlas of Living Australia records 233 bird species within a five-kilometre radius, but here even the once common birds, especially bush birds, are becoming uncommon.
Although we’ve lost 70 metres of the Inverloch beach to coastal erosion in the past decade, there has been some compensation. Have you visited the Inverloch lagoon lately?
The mouth of Andersons Inlet is one of the most geomorphologically dynamic places in Victoria. and that makes for a very rich and evolving habitat.
When the lagoon on Ayr Creek first appeared around 2017, it was described by some as “a stinking cesspit” and it did smell a bit. Over time it’s become a place of increasing environmental richness. Birdwatchers have observed 77 species in and around it. The beach nesting birds including hooded plovers, red capped plovers and pied oyster catchers nest on occasions, and swans, pelicans, ducks, coots and grebes are there nearly all the time.
Then there are the international migratory birds, like the red necked stint, which flies about 23,000kms on a round trip to Siberia each year. A heroic flight for a bird about the size of a Tim Tam!
Although we’ve lost 70 metres of the Inverloch beach to coastal erosion in the past decade, there has been some compensation. Have you visited the Inverloch lagoon lately?
The mouth of Andersons Inlet is one of the most geomorphologically dynamic places in Victoria. and that makes for a very rich and evolving habitat.
When the lagoon on Ayr Creek first appeared around 2017, it was described by some as “a stinking cesspit” and it did smell a bit. Over time it’s become a place of increasing environmental richness. Birdwatchers have observed 77 species in and around it. The beach nesting birds including hooded plovers, red capped plovers and pied oyster catchers nest on occasions, and swans, pelicans, ducks, coots and grebes are there nearly all the time.
Then there are the international migratory birds, like the red necked stint, which flies about 23,000kms on a round trip to Siberia each year. A heroic flight for a bird about the size of a Tim Tam!
Inverloch lagoon. Photo: Susan Hall
This lagoon that didn’t even exist 10 years ago is a biodiversity hot spot right in town.
The Ayr Creek feeds the Ayr Creek Lagoon. This seemingly insignificant drainage line demonstrates what can be done with the coastal reserve through Inverloch. After decades of work led by the South Gippsland Conservation Society it now supports a continuous indigenous vegetation corridor. And this work continues. Since Covid the 600 metre lowest reach has been worked on to rehabilitate the indigenous vegetation. Although just a narrow slither, with the adjoining local residents, the Conservation Society is working with the council to develop more habitat from the ground up.
It’s recognising and demonstrating that even though an area of vegetation may be tiny weeded or eroded, it has value. Linked together it has even more.
It is time that the metropolitan expectations of our visitors and new residents were met by the quality of professional indigenous vegetation management work that is required to make Inverloch a compelling natural experience.
We need to start managing these remnant patches of vegetation, no matter how small, because we don’t know what we have there and what we stand to lose, whether that’s a fish, reptile, frog, bird or mammal.
The Ayr Creek feeds the Ayr Creek Lagoon. This seemingly insignificant drainage line demonstrates what can be done with the coastal reserve through Inverloch. After decades of work led by the South Gippsland Conservation Society it now supports a continuous indigenous vegetation corridor. And this work continues. Since Covid the 600 metre lowest reach has been worked on to rehabilitate the indigenous vegetation. Although just a narrow slither, with the adjoining local residents, the Conservation Society is working with the council to develop more habitat from the ground up.
It’s recognising and demonstrating that even though an area of vegetation may be tiny weeded or eroded, it has value. Linked together it has even more.
It is time that the metropolitan expectations of our visitors and new residents were met by the quality of professional indigenous vegetation management work that is required to make Inverloch a compelling natural experience.
We need to start managing these remnant patches of vegetation, no matter how small, because we don’t know what we have there and what we stand to lose, whether that’s a fish, reptile, frog, bird or mammal.