Bells Swamp – A jewel of a wetland
Posted on 13 January, 2016 by Connecting Country
The Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club have just moved into their 40th year. Way back in 1976, their first ever excursion was to Bell’s Swamp – and they’ve made many visits to it since to view its beautiful old Red gums, to record its waterbirds and to study its wetland plants.
A photo of Bells Swamp by Rakali Ecological Consulting. From the front page of the updated management plan.
This natural ephemeral waterbody just sneaks inside the north-western boundary of the Mount Alexander Shire. It is intersected by the road between Maldon and Bridgewater – which was an issue in 2010-2011 when the extreme drought-busting rainfall filled the wetlands to over-flowing. I’ll never forgot the sight of Pink-eared Ducks and Musk Ducks happily paddling back and forth across this road!
The wetland is also highly valued by local Landcare groups. The Mid Loddon Landcare Network – in conjunction with local ecologists Damian Cook and Elaine Bayes – produced a Draft Management Plan for Bells Swamp in 2010 and have recently updated it to include the information that Damien has continued to collect since the flood in 2011. The plan is a comprehensive guide to its geology and its current vegetation, flora and fauna values. The plan also identifies the threats to these values and proposes management actions to address them. Judy Crocker, Landcare Facilitator for the Mid Loddon Landcare Network, says “Bells Swamp is a very important place for the local community, and as such the Landcare Network was keen to develop this management plan. It’s still in draft form because we consider the plan to be a work-in-progress, and we’ll add in more information as we learn more about the site. We’d love to receive feedback on this document from the local community, and to receive support to implement the management actions.”.
To read a copy of the draft management plan, follow this link (CLICK HERE).
Chris, Connecting Country.
I drive through Bells Swamp every 2 weeks , I’ve been waiting for it to fill again after the big floods in 2010-11 and now it has last week I could not believe the frogs that were on the road , the red gums are looking good
Enjoyed the article and thanks to Damian, Elaine and Judy for sharing the report.
Damian will be talking about Bell Swamps at 7.30 on the 1st of Feb at the Baringhup Hall. Everyone is welcome.
Regards
Roy