Main Club, 9 August 2026

John Cresp, a member of Birdlife WA, led this walk on a beautiful, sunny, though chilly, Sunday morning, starting from the car park off Moondine Drive, an area dominated by Flooded Gum and Swamp Paperbark, where he spends a lot of time birdwatching. His knowledge and observational skills made for a very interesting walk for us all, with over 50 species observed, including 24 waterbird species.

Three Tawny Frogmouths and several Nankeen Night Herons were highlights, and a Swamp Harrier was circling above the lake – a common sight at Herdsman. A Wandering Whistling-Duck was also seen. These are very rare this far south, but this one has been around for over a year.  The complete list can be seen at the office.

John has noticed that in recent years some of the ground-feeding insectivorous birds have almost disappeared in this area – notably the Yellow-rumped Thornbill and the Splendid Fairy-Wren. But the birds that feed higher in the trees, such as Pardalotes, Weebills, the Purple-backed Fairy Wren and the Spotted Scrub-Wren, are still there. It is thought that this decline may be due to either cat predation or weed spraying.

As well as birds, two species of frog were heard – the Western Banjo Frog (Pobblebonk) and the Slender Tree Frog (one seen on a Bulrush leaf). Another highlight was a Hairy Mary caterpillar. An unexpected sight was a guinea pig! Its owner had obviously left food to attract this escapee for recapture. A full bird list is available on the webpage report.

Mike Gregson