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The
Mother of Ducks Lagoon Nature Reserve was favoured from seven proposals
to benefit from a legacy of $20,000 left to the Foundation for National
Parks & Wildlife. The late Eulie Maisie Weeney Sandrey bequeathed
the money for the purpose of “wetland preservation”.
The donation is funding key research in the swampy reserve, a haven for
more than 80 species of birds plus two species of endangered frogs.
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Mother
of Ducks Nature Reserve, Photo Alan Hill |
Project manager Alan Hill of the NPWS Armidale was elated with the decision
to fund the studies that will prepare the Nature Reserve for RAMSAR listing.
“Receiving the funding for this project was absolutely fantastic.
Government funding mainly goes to paying wages and maintaining parks and
equipment. We are limited in funds available to do this sort of work that
allows us to develop an understanding of how to manage these areas.”
Hill will communicate the results of the report to the community to gain
their support in helping to manage the reserve as an internationally recognised
wetland.
“The lagoon is very close to Guyra township and there are lots of
pressures to do things with it that may not be consistent with biodiversity
conservation outcomes” said Hill. “It is important that we
have good answers to back up our management plans and to communicate them
clearly to the community”.
Sixth generation Guyra historian Dorothy Lockyer recalled that the lagoon
was an integral part of the life of the township. It was once used as
a town common, a racecourse and now a golf course and a place to watch
birds.
“On old photographs it was called Lake Nincoola. But that seemed
to change because there were heaps of ducks there. My father used to go
duck shooting a lot but the ducks went when it was drained off in the
fifties. Now you see the swans,” said Lockyer.
Black swans and black ducks are some of over 87 species of birds recorded
in the reserve. Black-winged Stilts, Marsh Sandpipers and Sharp-tailed
Sandpipers now dominate.
The most significant visitor is the migratory Japanese or Latham’s
Snipe Gallinago hardwickii, which is listed under two international
treaties, the Japan-Australia Migratory Bird Agreement and the China-Australia
Migratory Bird Agreement.
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Water
bird viewing platform at Mother of Ducks Lagoon, Photo Alan Hill |
Other
special inhabitants of the wetland include two species of endangered frogs,
the Yellow Spotted Bell Frog Litoria castenea and the Peppered
Frog Litoria piperata. The rare woodruff, Asperula chasophyton,
grows on the levee bank around the lagoon amongst the more dominant tall
spike-rush, common pondweed, Australian sweet grass and the insectivorous
bladderwort.
Neil Sims, a PhD student from Canberra University conducted the Foundation-funded
study into the processes that underpin the biodiversity in the lagoon.
“The lagoon is a focal point for many activities of the local community
and has changed much over the past 100 years. The challenge was to identify
a way to manage the movement of water within the lagoon that would have
a minimum impact on the utility of the lagoon for local communities while
ensuring sustainable levels of plant and animal biodiversity are maintained
over the long term.”
Sims reviewed the kinds of plants and animals that used to occur in Mother
of Ducks Lagoon before it was drained and found the distribution of plants
had changed considerably. He then looked at the inundation requirements
which would best support high levels of biodiversity in future.
The diversity of species found in this rare upland wetland was reason
enough for the Mother of Ducks Lagoon to be listed under the Threatened
Species Conservation Act as part of an endangered ecological community
encompassing 30 wetland areas.
“Birds view their environment over a much larger area than humans,”
said Sims. “Each lagoon within the network on the New England Tablelands
(NET) might be viewed as a separate room in the bird’s home: one
a kitchen, one a bedroom etc. Each wetland is different and may fulfil
a unique and vital part of the lifecycle of the species that visit the
network. The majority of wetlands on the NET have now been altered from
their natural state, which makes every last remaining wetland very important.”
Neil’s studies completed through this bequest will assist in preparing
the nomination of the Mother of Ducks lagoon for RAMSAR listing. “Mother
of Ducks lagoon is a vital link in an intricate regional network of wetlands
that deserves the protection afforded by RAMSAR listing.” said Sims.
Just up the road from Mother of Ducks is Little Llangothlin Nature Reserve,
a wetland purchased by the Foundation after it funded a two year study
of the ecology of the New England wetlands. Donated to the NPWS in 1979
it is already listed as a RAMSAR site.
For Mother of Ducks to join the list would be a fitting memorial to Eulie
Sandrey whose wish was to preserve our wetlands for the future.
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