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The bush at its best

Posted on September 23, 2011

By GRANT MAYNARD

KEEN Mildura naturalist Roger Lonsdale can’t remember when the Murray Sunset National Park looked so good.

NATURAL BEAUTY: Rainbow over Lake Hardy, a member of the Pink Lakes chain.

Certainly not during the past decade, he says.

The bushland in the park is alive with activity and growth at the moment, the legacy of the heavy, and unseasonal summer rains that fell earlier this year.

While we cannot forget that those rains wreaked havoc in our urban areas – flooding homes and businesses – they have been a great boon for the bush.

Everywhere you look, Roger says, you can see the benefits of the first decent falls many areas had received for more than a decade.

The bush is a riot of flower colours, new green growth and a cacophony of sound as both the flora and fauna revel in the conditions.

Roger was one of about a dozen members of the Sunraysia Bird Observers and Conservation Australia (SUNBOCA) group that spent a recent Saturday exploring the Murray Sunset National Park.

Using the ability of a squad of four wheel drive vehicles to tackle any terrain, the group made their way from Mildura to Trinita, and then onto Mount Crozier before heading for the Pink Lakes, drinking in the sights and sounds of the rejuvenated bush all the way.

“It was fantastic,” Roger said. “I encourage people to get out there and see it for themselves.”

Roger, and his fellow SUNBOCA members, are no strangers to exploring the bush surrounding the Sunraysia irrigation area. They plan weekend day trips about twice a month, and conduct regular week day bird count surveys for the Mallee Catchment Management Authority (MCMA).

While birds are the main focus, all the groups 35-plus members are keen naturalists who enjoy both the flora and fauna that their volunteer work brings them into contact with.

They have also been known to undertake longer trips into the bush as they help scientists better estimate the populations of our native bird species for conservation management purposes.

Earlier this week for example, group members were counting birds in New South Wales, in an area designated as the ‘Koorlong Offset,’ adjacent to the Australian Inland Botanic Gardens.

Then, early next month, they are off to the Scotia Sanctuary, north of Wentworth in New South Wales’ Western Division, for the same purpose.

Still later in the month, they will visit Ned’s Corner Station to undertake another survey for the MCMA.

“We really enjoy it,” Roger said. “There’s nothing like getting out in the bush… amongst nature.”

He said one of the most heartening and reassuring things his group had seen in the Mallee Sunset country was the virtual resurrection of trees thought to be long dead.

“It is quite amazing how they are making a comeback,” he said.

“Like they are coming back from the dead. They are now sprouting lots of shoots and looking a lot healthier.”

He described the native flowering plants as “spectacular.”

As well as being a keen naturalist, Rioger, like many of his SUNBOCA counterparts is also a keen photographer and felt compelled to share these snapshots from the day with his fellow Mildura Weekly readers and at the same time encouraging them “to go bush.”

To find out more about the SUNBOCA group, and its activities, contact president, Pauline Bartels on 5025 3773, or secretary, George Kerridge, on 5023 3278.

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